The westbound Washington Bridge that carries I-195 is expected to be rebuilt by November 2028, Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee said Friday, setting a target for a return to normalcy for Rhode Island drivers.
The state picked the Chicago-based Walsh Construction Company to construct a new westbound span and expects the project to cost up to $427 million, McKee said.
The announcement comes a year and a half after the sudden shutdown of the bridge that carried roughly 90,000 cars a day across the Seekonk River from East Providence to Providence.
After initially planning to repair the faulty bridge, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation contracted the Aetna Bridge Company to demolish it for $97 million. In the interim, RIDOT reconfigured the eastbound span to carry traffic in both directions.
A 2024 review by a Connecticut-based engineering firm suggested the new bridge could open between March and September of 2026. The engineering firm McNary, Bergeron & Johannsen said initial cost estimates pegged the price of the project at $250 million to $300 million.
Last August, the state sued 13 companies involved in work on the shuttered bridge, and has largely been tight-lipped about the problems that caused the closure. In May, an investigation by The Public’s Radio and Rhode Island PBS found that RIDOT may have missed critical signs that could have warned of the bridge’s deteriorating condition years before it was forced to close the bridge.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
