RIDOT Celebrates Early, Under-Budget I-95 Bridge Replacement

PROVIDENCE, RI — The Rhode Island Department of Transportation celebrated the early, under-budget completion of the $10.8 million Oxford Street bridge project on Interstate 95 on Thursday. Thanks to accelerated bridge construction methods, the department was able to wrap up construction six months early and about $500,000 under budget.

"The quick replacement of the bridge is a testament to the project management model we’ve adopted at RIDOT, with skillful coordination of all our road and bridge projects," Director Peter Alviti said. "At the Oxford Street Bridge, we replaced an entire highway bridge deck in one of the busiest stretches of highway in Rhode Island in less than two months with little traffic disruption. This is truly amazing."

The aging bridge, located just past Thurbers Avenue in Providence, was completely replaced over the summer using a series of lane shifts and splits that kept the bridge open to traffic throughout construction, which was planned during the summer months to take advantage of lower traffic volumes. This approach helped save several months, the department said.

The bridge was replaced using pre-fabricated beam components from Northeast Extreme Tee, or NEXT, that were installed side-by-side to quickly build the new bridge deck.

The 56-year-old bridge was located in one of the busiest corridors in the state, carrying an average of 160,000 vehicles per day.