Demolition of Old Sakonnet River Bridge Delayed

Residents looking forward to the day that the old Sakonnet River Bridge is demolished will have to wait a bit longer.

The expected demolition of the bridge has been delayed due to environmental permitting and a National Environmental Policy Act Revaluation.

RI State Rep. John G. Edwards of Portsmouth and Tiverton, posted an update on his Facebook page and said that “apparently [the demolition] is not happening as quickly as we all had hoped!”

The state Department of Transportation received comments from the National Marine Fisheries Service indicating that there are endangered species in the project area. They asked the DOT to complete a “section 7 consultation”

That means an assessment must be completed before any federal agencies can sign off on the NEPA Revaluation document prepared for the project, Edwards said.

“This process can take anywhere from 6 to 9 months,” Edwards said. “This also has to be completed and accepted before we can submit the permit applications for the demo.”

The plans are at about 90 percent completion, Edwards said. It is now the environmental permitting that has caused the delay.

The project is now expected to be advertised in June of 2016.