UPDATE: Overweight Truck to Stay Put for Now

By: Tim Studebaker

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Email: tstudebaker@abc6.com

**6:58PM UPDATE: RIDOT released the following statement in regards to not moving the over-sized truck:

"Safety is our first priority at RIDOT. Prior to issuing a permit for the super load truck to proceed, RIDOT sat down to negotiate an MOU to assure that the company would meet its obligations for the costs this incident has incurred.  The parties were not able to reach an agreement.  RIDOT is not willing to pass these costs on to the taxpayers of Rhode Island as the costs were incurred as part of an illegal act. Baycrane should never have proceeded down our roadways without a permit."

**6:30PM UPDATE: Bay Crane released the following statement Friday evening:

"Bay Crane Northeast has submitted an application to the RIDOT for an oversized load permit that would allow the movement of a piece of machinery, which was delivered into Quonset Point on behalf of a customer. Earlier today, it was determined that the terms that the RIDOT sought to impose in conjunction with the issuance of the permit were unreasonable. Similar terms have never been mandated by the RIDOT when oversize load permits have been issued in the past. At this point, the RIDOT has not denied the permit based upon any sound engineering premise. Bay Crane anticipates working with the RIDOT cooperatively to ensure the safety and welfare of the public, to accomplish the movement of the piece of machinery as soon as practical."

**6:00PM UPDATE: The DOT has informed ABC6 that the plan to move the truck Friday night has been changed.  The truck will not be moved Friday night.  ABC6 is awaiting a statement detailing the new plan.

Original Story:

WARWICK, R.I. – The 560,000 pound truck that was on its way to Massachusetts when it was stopped for being too heavy for Rhode Island state roads has been sitting at a Park and Ride in Warwick since late last month.  The DOT has now figured out the best course of action to get it to its destination.

The truck drove over several bridges before it was stopped.  Those bridges have been inspected, and there was no damage found.  If the truck had continued up I-95, it could have caused damage to more bridges along the way.

RIDOT director Peter Alviti says, "If that were the case, it could have caused either temporary or permanent closure to the Route 95 corridor. You can imagine what impact that would have been both from an inconvenience standpoint and from an economic standpoint.”

The state put in a lot of work to find a new route and make sure it’s safe.  That cost the state money.

Alviti says, "There have been literally over 50 engineers and personnel working long hours to do the structural analysis on probably over 100 different bridge structures on alternate routes to be able to define the route that’s most safe for this to travel."

Bay Crane, the company responsible, will pay those costs.

Temporary reinforcements will be in place along the new route, and inspections will also be done on every structure before and after the truck crosses.

Alviti says, "Even in the path that it’s going now, if any damage is caused to any of the structures, the company will be wholly responsible for that."

The truck will travel through Warwick, East Greenwich, Coventry, West Greenwich, Scituate, Foster, Glocester, and Burrillville, mostly along Route 102.  Any road closures would be temporary, and the truck will have a police escort.

The truck is scheduled to leave at 8:00 Friday night, and it should take about 10 hours to reach the Massachusetts border.

©WLNE-TV / ABC6 2017