I-195 west bypass lanes expected to open this weekend

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Following the closure of the westbound lanes on the Washington Bridge, officials will hold daily press conference with updates until further notice.

“This is the top priority in the state of Rhode Island right now, number one, and unless there is a life or death circumstance in some area, it’s all hands on deck and the people in the state of Rhode Island should realize this is the number one priority for me as governor and the administration,” Gov. Dan McKee said.

Officials said they’re continuing to cut down traffic times for drivers, citing a significant improvement from Tuesday.

“In fact, the travel times in most cases have been cut down to either half or less than half for the time it took folks to take those detours yesterday, our goal is to get them back to where they were before this happened,” Rhode Island Department of Transportation Director Peter Alviti said.

Temporary lanes on the westbound side of the Washington Bridge, which were originally expected to be open in two weeks, will likely be open by the weekend.

That process will take two lanes from Route 195 east, meaning there will be two eastbound lanes and two westbound lanes once it’s done.

“We have a high confidence level of completing it this weekend that should bring the travel times down to not what they were prior to this emergency but closer to it,” Alviti said.

The response to shutting down the westbound lanes on the Washington Bridge is still a work in progress. Officials are also working to implement a 500 passenger ferry from Bristol to Providence.

“We are working to deploy that in a very short period of time, I’m talking like a week, maybe two weeks,” Alviti added.

In addition to the ferry, Alviti said RIDOT is working with RIPTA to provide shuttle service between Providence Port, Kennedy Plaza, and the train station, as well as parking facilities in Bristol.

McKee also reacted negatively when he was asked about if there would be any upcoming changes at RIDOT.

“So I’m not going to answer those questions, we’re here to talk about an emergency,” McKee said. “That’s out of line, you may be talking about it but the people I’m talking to are very pleased with what’s happening right now.”

RIDOT also implemented a webpage with updates of the latest detours.