Federal Grant To Help Fund New Bridge on Davisville Road

The Rhode Island Department of Transportation will replace the aging bridge over Frenchtown Brook on Davisville Road, thanks to a federal grant meant to encourage the use of new construction technologies.

The $520,000 grant will help defray the cost of the estimated $2.5-million project, which is expected to go out to bid in late summer, according to DOT spokeswoman Dana Alexander Nolfe. Construction is slated to begin late this year or early next year.

The grant is part of a $9.5-million federal program to fund 15 projects in 13 states and Puerto Rico, each of which will employ more efficient construction techniques aimed at reducing costs, time of construction and traffic congestion, while improving safety. The projects will include use of prefabricated bridge elements, precast concrete pavement slabs, warm-mix asphalt, road safety audits and paving techniques on the road shoulders to reduce traffic accidents.

"President Obama has urged us to win the future by encouraging American innovation," U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a release. "This money will pay for technologies that will help states build smarter, better, faster, cheaper and with less impact on the traveling public."

The DOT will replace the Davisville Road bridge, which straddles the East Greenwich-North Kingstown line, using precast concrete materials to reduce the need for future maintenance and reduce construction time to about six months, two months faster than similar projects using tradition methods.