Rhode Island AG halts Washington Bridge demo to preserve lawsuit evidence

EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Rhode Island’s Attorney General has brought work on the westbound portion of the Washington Bridge to a grinding halt.

The office is saying that they need to preserve evidence for the state’s lawsuit against companies involved in the bridge.

The Rhode Island Department of Transportation begun demolition work just over a week ago, with several road closures on the Providence and East Providence sides of the bridge.

A closure on Waterfront Drive was set to begin last night, but according to RIDOT, it has been delayed.

In a joint statement to ABC6 the AG’s office and Governor McKee’s office said in part:

…the engineers for RIDOT, in cooperation with the state’s legal team, have reached the point in the demolition of the Washington Bridge where work must be paused to preserve evidence for the legal case.

One of the companies working on the bridge, Aetna, is also one of the companies being investigated by the state.

The question now is why RIDOT began demolition work before the evidence the AG is looking for was preserved.