Rhode Island Awards Contract for Interstate Upgrades

The Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) is planning to do some reconstruction work on a series of bridges along Interstate 95.

RIDOT received one bid for the job and awarded a $625 million contract to the consortium of Skanska USA, McCourt Construction and Aetna Bridge. After some negotiations, the contract was awarded Wednesday.

This isn't the first time Rhode Island found limited interest in construction projects. Earlier this summer, the state did not receive any bids to rebuild the Washington Bridge.

The Skanska USA joint venture will design the road and bridge changes. They will also complete the construction.

Rhode Island received a federal grant worth $251 million to help pay for the I-95 project, which was estimated to cost $723 million last month.

The I-95 project includes:

• Rebuilding 10 highway bridges along the I-95 corridor from the Providence River to the Pastore Complex in Cranston
• Slimming down Route 10 from Park Avenue to Elmwood Avenue
• Reworking the Amtrak Northeast Corridor electric catenary lines under two bridges
• Improving the flood-prone drainage on I-95 near Eddy Street
• Adding a dedicated right-turn lane from Park Avenue west to Elmwood Avenue north
• Repaving I-95
• Re-striping highway lanes "for compatibility with autonomous vehicles"