Buttigieg tours Washington Bridge with McKee, Alviti, other officials

EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg toured the Washington Bridge this morning with Governor Dan McKee, 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, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete 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.

Buttigieg walked along 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.

“And 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.” 

Initial estimates to demolish, build and replace the bridge are between 250 and 300 million dollars, with RIDOT aiming for the project to be complete by September 2026.

“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 US Department of Transportation will continue working with the state to make sure they’re able to stay on schedule. 

Pointing to the I-95 bridge collapse in Philadelphia last year, where they were able to swiftly get that highway re-open. 

“There is that kind of time pressure, we can clear any bureaucratic hurdle that’s being driven by the physical construction and the timeline that is set for how that can safely be done,” said Buttigieg. 

The Washington Bridge’s westbound side shut down, causing backups and delays along 195, congestion on back roads and small businesses on the East Bay dealing with severe revenue loss.

Buttigieg says his number one concern is the design of the bridge, putting out an alert across the country to make sure no other bridges are designed as the Washington Bridge was.

“We’re going to build this one to last 100 years,” said Alviti.