U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg toured Rhode Island's Washington Bridge this week with Governor Dan McKee, Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) Director Peter Alviti and other state officials.
Less than a week after announcing the westbound side of the Washington Bridge will have to be demolished and rebuilt, Secretary Buttigieg visited Rhode Island to tour the bridge and speak with state officials about the impact on the Ocean State.
“We saw what’s going on with the beam, we saw what’s going on with the need to stabilize the structure, the unique cantilever structure that led to the situation in the first place,” said Buttigieg in a statement.
Buttigieg inspected the bridge with RIDOT Director Peter Alviti, checking out the exact spot where the issue was found.
“We’re on now the part of the cantilever structure that we found found the defects in,” said Alviti. "One of the engineers noticed a pin a tension rod had severed and that’s what started the chain of events that led to additional investigations and found additional defects.”
“There is a very real risk that residents would’ve found out through a collapse, when instead, it was found out through an inspection,” said Buttigieg.
With a project of this magnitude comes many regulations, and sometimes hurdles, with Buttigieg saying the U.S. Department of Transportation will continue working with the state to make sure they’re able to stay on schedule.
RIDOT estimates the project to be complete by September 2026.
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Source: ABC6 News
