Off it goes: Center of old Sakonnet Bridge floats to Fall River

Massive truss taken away by barge

By Jim McGaw
Posted 4/13/18

PORTSMOUTH/TIVERTON — A big part of the Sakonnet area’s past floated north up the Sakonnet River, into Mt. Hope Bay and on to Fall River Friday afternoon.

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Off it goes: Center of old Sakonnet Bridge floats to Fall River

Massive truss taken away by barge

Posted

PORTSMOUTH/TIVERTON — A big part of the Sakonnet area’s past floated north up the Sakonnet River, into Mt. Hope Bay and on to Fall River Friday afternoon.

The massive center span of the old Sakonnet River Bridge, which workers from S&R Corp. cut away from the Portsmouth and Tiverton sides and lowered onto a barge assembly the day before, is long gone.

For Jim Sattel of Portsmouth, who was busy taking photos of the tugboats being moved into place around the barge Friday morning, the bridge’s demolition was bittersweet. 

He said for “sentimental reasons,” he’ll miss the old bridge, which opened in 1956 to serve as the Route 24 connector between Tiverton and Portsmouth before the new span replaced it in 2012.

“We took it for granted when it was up there,” said Mr. Sattel. “I didn’t realize how much I’d miss it until they built a new one, with its gaudy lights and all. I think we’re losing a treasure, but I guess it simply got to a point where it was inefficient to keep it up so they had to build a new one. But you miss things like this.”

Mr. Sattel, a retired physical therapist who now sells some of his photographs, lives near Pirate’s Cove in Island Park and had a good view of the span.

The former bridge “was in so many of my pictures, well before the new bridge was put in,” said.

A frequent visitor to the demolition site over the past few days, he said it was interesting to watch crews from S&R Corp. — contracted by the R.I. Department of Transportation (RIDOT) for the first phase of the demolition — cut the bridge apart and lower it to the barge.

“They had to be really precise in terms of bringing it down,” Mr. Sattel said.

Another faithful observer was Daniel Dyer, a 30-plus-year Tiverton resident who can see the bridge from his Main Road home.

“I’m glad to see it go,” Mr. Dyer said of the old bridge. “It’s been sitting here like a sore thumb. It’s too close to the (new bridge’s) walkway, and you can’t see up the river.”

Mr. Dyer said he was impressed by the jacking system that was used to lower the bridge onto the barge. 

The center span was lowered down onto four columns on the barge assembly, each stacked with metal blocks. Lifts were used at the bottom of each column and workers kept removing the bottom block as each column got progressively shorter until the truss was lowered onto the barge.

“The process keeps going over and over and over — that’s how it works. I hear there’s only two sets of those in the world, he said.

Mr. Dyer was asked which of the two bridges he prefers.

“To be honest with you, I don’t know. (The new bridge) wasn’t built right,” he said, noting he’s seen plenty of cracks in the concrete while walking the pedestrian/bike path.

The “green monster” was originally scheduled to be separated from the Portsmouth and Tiverton sides on April 6, then lowered onto a barge platform and floated up Mt. Hope Bay.

However, foul weather didn’t permit the job to start right away. Then on Monday, S&R Corp. told RIDOT that more stability was needed in the barge assembly first.

The center span is being cut apart in Fall River. The steel is going to Mid City Scrap metal dealers in Westport, Mass., where it will be cut to size, loaded on railroad cars and delivered to a number of domestic steel mills, largely in the midwest, according to Mark Gitlin, the company’s general manager.

First phase

This is the first phase of the demolition project, which began in March 2017. After the center truss is removed, removal of the remaining steel superstructure is scheduled to be completed in July.

The second phase will include removal of the in-water and land-based substructure, perhaps with use of controlled explosives as it did for part of the railroad trestle adjacent to the old bridge, RIDOT said.

RIDOT does not yet have a cost estimate for the second phase, but intends to begin work as soon as possible after completion of the first contract. Mr. Richards said he anticipates completion of phase two to be in late 2019 or 2020.

The old Sakonnet River Bridge was originally opened in 1956. It was closed in 2012 with the opening of the new bridge. 

Sakonnet River Bridge, RIDOT

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Meet our staff
Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.