77 RIDOT Road Construction Projects Planned For 2019

The Rhode Island Department of Transportation has planned 77 active construction projects on bridges across the state this year. On Friday, the department kicked off the 2019 construction season at the Interstate 295 bridge over Plainfield Pike on the border of Johnston and Cranston. These projects will bring down the number of structurally deficient bridges in the state, which have been rated the worst in the country.

"We have another banner year for construction, with hundreds of millions of dollars of construction underway and scores of new, well-paying jobs rebuilding Rhode Island," Governor Gina Raimondo said. "We're delivering on the promises in RhodeWorks to pull us out of the bottom of lists that talk about poor roads and bridges and move us toward a day when we'll rank among the top states in the country with a well-maintained transportation system."

Three out of the four bridges in the I-295 project are classified as structurally deficient. All built between 1968 and 1969, the bridges carry 82,000 bridges per day. Throughout the project, crews will repair the north- and southbound bridges over Planfield Pike and two other bridges nearby which carry the highway over a aqueduct for the Providence Water Supply Board. During construction, traffic will be shifted to temporary bridge sections in the median, allowing crews to complete the project without a detour.

Over the course of the year, construction is planned for 177 bridges, totaling $716 million. RIDOT said that projects will be a combination of bridge repairs, replacement and preservation.

"We have more construction happening on our roads and bridges than at any time in RIDOT's history, and people are seeing the improvements, the strides we are making," said RIDOT Director Peter Alviti Jr. "This 2019 construction season will be another major down payment on our comeback story to deliver a safe, high-quality transportation system."

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