Area congressman calls for federal help to reopen RI bridge lanes to ease traffic woes for Mass. commuters
U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss says he is continuing to work with federal highway officials to get the Washington Bridge in Providence repaired as soon as possible.
“The closure of the Washington Bridge on I-195 is a major disruption for Bay Staters traveling to Providence, making commutes longer and limiting access to one of the biggest cities in New England,” Auchincloss, a Newton Democrat, said Wednesday on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The westbound lanes of Interstate 195 over the bridge, which carries more than 90,000 vehicles a day, were abruptly closed Monday afternoon due to the failure of structural components that dated to 1968.
Spanning over the Seekonk River, it is the gateway to Providence and thousands of workers from Southeastern Massachusetts use it. The sudden closure has created massive traffic congestion on the highway and roads in East Providence, Providence and Seekonk as motorists seek alternate routes.
Auchincloss, whose district includes Attleboro, Seekonk, Rehoboth and the Fall River area, also posted a video of him questioning Shalien Bhatt, the administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, during a hearing Wednesday on Capitol Hill.
The congressman asked Bhatt about federal financial and technical help in getting the repairs done quickly, citing the speed of repairs to an I-95 bridge in Philadelphia and another bridge in California. The bridge in Philadelphia collapsed after a truck carrying gasoline crashed and caught fire in June. It opened in two weeks after emergency repairs.
"As you know this closure has been hugely inconvenient to tens of thousands of my constituents and also Rhode Island residents as well," Auchincloss said.
Responding to Auchincloss, Bhatt said the other bridges were emergencies, whereas the Washington Bridge closure was a failure of 1960s components. However, he said funding was available for the repairs under other federal bridge programs.
“We will do everything we can to get that bridge open as soon as possible,” Bhatt said.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg spoke on Tuesday with Rhode Island Gov. Daniel McKee about repairing the bridge, Bhatt said.
On the other side of the bridge, the Rhode Island’s congressional delegation released a statement earlier this week saying they are seeking federal funds to speed up emergency repairs.
U.S. Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and U.S. Reps. Seth Magaziner and Gabe Amo said they wrote to Secterary Buttigieg urging the government to free up existing funding that could accelerate completion of the emergency work on the bridge. They also asked for technical assistance from the federal government to optimize work on faster repairs, lane shifts, detour design and shuttle buses.
By: David Linton
Source: The Sun Chronicle