Rhode Island officials should have been aware of the problems that eventually led to the abrupt closure of the westbound Washington Bridge, according to a detailed forensic audit of decades of the bridge’s inspection reports and other documentation.
The 64-page analysis by engineering firm Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc. is dated April 2024, but was only made public by Attorney General Peter Neronha on Friday. The contents of the analysis were first reported by WPRI.
The report does not point to a specific person, company or issue that ultimately caused the bridge’s closure. The Rhode Island Department of Transportation was “entirely justified” in closing the bridge in December 2023, the auditors found. But they also found that those responsible for the bridge’s condition should have understood prior to the emergency closure that the bridge had problems.
“Many of the issues highlighted in this report show that program managers, bridge inspectors, and designers should have and could have been aware of problems that were developing,” they wrote in the report.
In particular, the auditors called out the bridge’s post-tensioning system, a system of steel cables run through concrete to strengthen sections of the bridge. In May, The Public’s Radio and Rhode Island PBS reported that it did not appear that RIDOT ordered inspectors to conduct the kind of tests, similar to an x-ray, that could have given a picture of the deteriorating condition of the post-tensioning system. Transportation regulators in other states regularly conducted these kinds of tests on bridges with post-tensioning systems, The Public’s Radio and Rhode Island PBS found.
“Given experience within the industry with poorly grouted post-tensioning systems on other bridges, more attention should have been given” to signs of deterioration, the auditors said.
The report recommends that RIDOT should review the other structures it oversees that could be considered complex, and review its processes for following up on the recommendations given in inspection reports.
The audit of the Washington Bridge has been expected for months. The state hired WJE Associates to look into the causes of the bridge failure. The report released by Neronha on Friday is marked as a draft and dated April 5, 2024. It is not clear whether there is a “final” version of the report and why the report was not made public.
Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee has said the people responsible for the bridge’s sudden closure would be held responsible.
The state is suing 13 companies, it says were involved in building, maintaining, or inspecting the bridge throughout the years. It is unclear whether anyone from RIDOT or other state agencies has been found to have been at fault, and McKee has continued to support the agency and Transportation Secretary Peter Alviti.
On Sunday, McKee shared a statement in response to questions from The Public’s Radio.
“As part of the legal case, this report was previously provided by my administration to the state’s attorneys handling the case, and later shared by our attorneys with the defendants during the discovery process,” McKee said in the statement. “The court has denied the defendants’ motions to dismiss this case, determining that it is worthy of moving forward. We are going to allow that process to continue. I’ve said from the very beginning that the legal process will deliver accountability. That has not changed. As this lawsuit is currently ongoing, I cannot comment further.”
At a news conference on March 14, 2024 — the same day McKee announced the bridge would need to be replaced — he promised there would be accountability.
“The day of reckoning for those who are responsible for the position that we’re in and the position that the people of the state of Rhode Island are in,” McKee said last year, “that day is coming and it’s coming very soon.”
