Rhode Island Bridges Rank Fourth Worst In the Nation

A report released last week by Transportation for America, a Washington, D.C.-based public transportation advocacy organization, maps and rates the structural integrity of all 600,000 bridges in the United States.

According to the report, 163 of Rhode Island's 754 bridges are structurally deficient or 21.6 %: the fourth highest in the country. Although that doesn't mean that more than one in five bridges is unsafe, what the study does note is that improvement is needed.

The report lists four Woonsocket bridges that have been deemed deficient, with only one officially slated for repair. The Hamlet Avenue Bridge, which carries Route 122 over the Blackstone River, is owned by the state and is expected to see interim repairs by the end of this year, with work starting in the spring.

The South Main Street South Arch, also crossing the Blackstone River, was built in 1903 and surveyed by Transportation for America in September of 2008. The Privilege Street Bridge, built in 1961, crosses Mill River, and was last viewed in June of 2009.  On Harrison Avenue, the Railroad Bridge, built in 1913, carries Harrison over the Providence/Worcester lines and was inspected in June of 2009. All three were found to be structurally deficient, and city officials are not yet sure when or if Woonsocket will receive the funding for improvements.

"Every year, we put them in for the TIP program, and if you're lucky, you get picked," explained Scott Sanford, CADD Engineering Specialist for the city of Woonsocket. TIP, or the Transportation Improvement Program, determines the schedule for obligating federal funds to state and local projects.

"We want to fix every bridge in the city and by these reports, we try to prioritize," said Sanford. The three deemed structurally deficient by Transportation for America are at the top of the city's list. "We submit a wish list and hope that something can get done."

In the report, each bridge's structural integrity is rated from 1 to 10 on three metrics: Deck, Superstructure and Substructure.

The substructure connects the bridge to the ground, the superstructure rests on the substructure and supports the deck, and the deck is the part of the bridge that directly carries the traffic.

Bridges that scored 4 or lower on any of the three metrics were considered structurally deficient.

The Privilege Street Bridge, crossed by about 14,400 cars each day, scored 6 for Deck and 4 for both Superstructure and Substructure. The South Main Street South Arch, which is trafficked by 28,200 cars daily, scored 5 for Superstructure and 4 for Substructure. The Harrison Avenue Railroad Bridge services 4,500 cars a day and scored a 4 for Superstructure and 5 for Substructure.

"Those are probably the highest priority, but every bridge in the city needs some kind of work," said Sanford. "They're not in danger of falling but if they don't get fixed, we may need to reduce capacity."