Gov. McKee defends condition of eastbound side of the Washington Bridge

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Governor Dan McKee took questions on the state of the Washington Bridge on Monday, one day before he was set to deliver his ‘State of the State’ address.

A new report shows the eastbound span, that now carries six lanes of traffic, is in the same shape as it was before the traffic pattern changed.

“You’re going to have people out there telling you different from what you’re hearing today,” McKee said. “The bridge is safe, bottom line.”

The governor made references to satellite images and videos from a YouTube engineering channel that called into question the health of the eastbound span of the bridge, which was renovated in 2008.

“You’re gonna have people from out of the country with satellites, other engineers who aren’t even bridge engineers tell you differently,” McKee said. “I want to tell the people in the state of Rhode Island: we’ve done the work, the bridge is safe.”

State leaders made public a November inspection report they said shows no significant change from an April inspection.

“We’ve taken a new look at this and coupled that with increased inspections and additional maintenance capabilities,” Rhode Island Department of Transportation Director Peter Alviti said. “All of these things combined not only make that bridge safe now, but it will remain safe for the duration of the time we need to use it.”

As a lawsuit against a number of engineering companies the state blames for the breakdown of the westbound span continues, Alviti said extra steps were taken to reassure everyone that the recent inspection is legitimate.

“We created redundancy by companies that are not involved in the lawsuit,” Alviti said.

This all came as state leaders said people were largely back to their routine of using the bridge rather than avoiding it.

“We’re back to about 95% of the total amount of traffic in both directions as it was prior to the closure of the bridge,” Alviti said.

Alviti said minor repairs will continue on the Washington Bridge, but re-emphasized that they are routine business and no cause for concern.

Officials said there will be another inspection in April.