Even if the Trump administration hangs onto hundreds of millions of federal dollars already promised to Rhode Island, the state will have more than enough money to build a new westbound Washington Bridge, Transportation Director Peter Alviti said Thursday.
Alviti said more than $600 million has been allocated for the bridge and a series of improvements along Interstate 95 in Providence, and that the money does not fall into the categories being restricted by the White House.
RIDOT remains in regular contact with federal transportation officials about trying to spur the release of the funds, Alviti told a joint House-Senate Oversight hearing at the Statehouse.
“But in their absence, we have the funding in place through the GARVEE debt [capacity],” he said referring to a form of borrowing for transit projects known as Grant Anticipation Revenue Vehicle Bonds, “and other sources that I outlined for you to be able to build the bridge. So we’re moving ahead.”
There were few other fresh revelations during the almost three-hour hearing.
Sen. Mark McKenney (D-Warwick), chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules, Government Ethics and Oversight, noted at the outset that a lawsuit being led by Attorney General Peter Neronha against 13 state contractors limited Alviti’s ability to discuss the roots of the bridge crisis and why it happened.
The westbound Washington Bridge was abruptly closed on an emergency basis in December 2023.
Lawmakers pressed Alviti to answer when the new westbound bridge will be complete and how much it will cost.
He answered by saying what he and Gov. Dan McKee have said before: that a final contractor for the project is slated to be selected in June, and that the cost and timeline will be detailed at that point.
Rep. Pat Serpa (D-West Warwick), chair of the House Oversight Committee, prefaced the questioning of Alviti by lambasting the Rhode Island Department of Transportation.
“My biggest concern is that Rhode Islanders have lost their faith in the Department of Transportation and that hasn’t been fixed yet, and I don’t know how we’re going to fix that,” she said, pointing to how the state has yet to settle on a contractor, more than a year after the closing of the bridge after an initial RFP attracted no bids.
Rep. June Speakman (D-Warren) was one of the few other lawmakers to speak critically of RIDOT.
While Alviti touted improvements in travel times on the bridge, Speakman said she continues to hear from frustrated constituents.
“The East Bay residents have moved in their processing of the situation from sort of anger and confusion to resignation about the traffic, and now we hear a lot more about the concerns of the stress on the [eastbound bridge, which is carrying traffic east and west] because we spend so much time on it,” she said.
While the installation of monitoring equipment on the eastbound bridge is only partially complete, Alviti said the bridge is being monitored on a daily basis, and he said it can safely carry its increased traffic.
Alviti said RIDOT has improved hundreds of bridges in recent years and he said the replacement of the westbound Washington Bridge is moving more quickly than with the Francis Key Bridge in Maryland.
“I’m very pleased, let me tell you, with the progress and the effort and I couldn’t be more proud of these people behind me,” he said, referring to RIDOT staffers, “at the level of effort and the kind of results that they have been getting.”
“I don’t know what construction you’ve done,” Alviti added. “I’ve built 290 bridges, and let me tell you, this one is going faster and better through the procurement process, the subsurface explorations, the demolition, than any projects this state has ever seen even before my time, and we intend on keeping it that way.”
This story was reported by The Public’s Radio.
