Wednesday, Dec. 11, marked the one-year anniversary of the abrupt emergency closing of the westbound Washington Bridge, a crisis whose full effect will take years to sort out.
Gov. Dan McKee and RIDOT Director Peter Alviti can always fall back on how a potential tragedy was averted and no lives were lost. However, even with a relatively fast response to open replacement westbound lanes, Dec. 11, 2023, initiated ongoing aggravation for motorists and merchants in and around Providence, due to worse traffic at peak times and the related psychic fallout.
It remains unclear when a new westbound bridge will be ready for use, although the two-step procurement process for picking a contractor is underway, with the initial selection of four firms. Walsh Construction Co. II LLC and a joint application submitted by American Bridge and MLJ Contracting Corp. are two finalists competing to rebuild the westbound side of the Washington Bridge, McKee announced Tuesday in a nod to the anniversary of the bridge closing.
After initially downplaying the effect for motorists, McKee has struck a more sympathetic tone and via a ProJo op-ed he defends his leadership: “As painful as the last year has been for everyone who depends on the Washington Bridge, my administration has made significant progress since March 14, when we learned that the affected span was, in fact, beyond repair and needed to be replaced.”
But the full story of what and how things went wrong has yet to be told, and it’s unclear how much the state’s litigation in the case will recover. And although the roots of responsibility for the bridge debacle extend into the past, the effect of the situation and the state’s response loom over the steadily approaching 2026 race for governor.
CLIMATE CHANGE: While poor nations are bearing the brunt of climate change, you need not look far to see the effect in Rhode Island. More intense rainstorms now cause periodic flash flooding on a greater number of streets around the state, while the state this week issued a drought advisory due to the scant amount of rain until this month. When it comes to the state’s crown jewel, climate change is “the biggest existential threat facing Narragansett Bay and it will probably be the central focus of Save The Bay’s work, frankly, for the next 100 years,” Jed Thorp, STB’s director of advocacy, said this week on Political Roundtable.