State officials announced during a press conference this morning that two finalists had been chosen to compete for the bid to build a new westbound span of the Washington Bridge, one day prior to the one-year anniversary of the closure of the bridge on Dec. 11, 2023.

The two chosen finalists were selected out of a larger pool of four applicants to the state’s RFQ (request for qualifications) period that wrapped up this month. The two finalists include a joint venture between American Bridge Company and MLJ Contracting Corporation, with the other finalist being the Chicago-based Walsh Construction.

“They are impressive companies and we are very excited to be working with them both in the coming months,” Governor Dan McKee said.

American Bridge Company and Walsh both have storied histories with bridge building across America. Some of the American Bridge Company’s more famous projects include fabrication work on the Empire State Building, constructing the original span that connected Oakland and San Francisco, and the Bayonne Bridge that connects Staten Island and New Jersey in 1931, which at the time was the longest arch superstructure in the world.

Walsh, which McKee said was recognized as the as the largest bridge building company in the world, has built multiple recognizable spans in the area, including the I-95 Q-Bridge in New Haven, Conn., and the Whittier Bridge in Amesbury, Mass., as well as the I-90 Westbound Innerbelt Bridge in Cleveland, which at the time of its construction was the single largest contract awarded in the history of the Ohio Department of Transportation.

MLJ Contracting was recently awarded a $238 million bid to restore the Brookyln Bridge.

The official request for proposals (RFP) will be issued on Dec. 18 of this year, and that will launch a 6-month process for each firm to provide technical concepts outlining how they will build the bridge and what their scheduled timeline and costs for the construction of a new bridge would be. A final technical proposal from each firm is due by May 16, 2025.

“On June 6 (2025) we will know who the winning team is, what the bridge is going to look like, how it is going to be built, how long it will take to build, and how much it will cost to build it,” said RIDOT Director Peter Alviti.

Alviti said that the winning bidder will be chosen based on an evaluation process that will be visible to the public.

Regarding how the project will proceed with the ongoing demolition work of the existing westbound span, Alviti said that between June 6, when the firm is chosen, and December of 2025 when the demolition of the existing bridge is completed, the chosen firm will be conducting the preliminary work to hit the ground running.

“That six-month period provides for a seamless transition from the demolition to construction,” Alviti said. “It’s been a long road. With more than a few bumps in it, but it’s smoothing out…There’s a clear path ahead for us to build a new bridge and we want to thank the people of the state of Rhode Island for their patience. (Mayor Bob DaSilva) and the governor for their patience, although we’ve tried it on several occasions.”

Questions on accountability
Both Governor McKee and Alviti were asked multiple questions from press regarding how the past year unfolded, and what measures were being taken for the public to feel as though accountable parties were being held responsible for the failures that led to the closing of the bridge once it was learned to be in such a critical state of disrepair.

“I would have liked to have had a lot more notice on the day I had to decide to shut the bridge down. But I can’t really go backwards on that. I believe that we are holding the people accountable that were responsible to give us that advanced notice,” McKee said. “Remember, we were doing an $80 million repair on a bridge that was beyond repair. I can’t go backwards, all I can do is make sure that we protect the taxpayers by looking for accountability for the people I think had the responsibility to tell us in advance that the problem pre-existed. We’re doing that.”

McKee admitted that the state erred in quickly announcing timelines after the initial closure of the bridge — including one early estimate that the bridge could be reopened within 90 days — which turned out to be impossible. But when asked if anyone responsible for oversight of the bridge within state agencies had been fired or reprimanded within the year since the closure, he and Alviti were both adamant that there was no evidence that anyone from inside state government had been responsible for the lapses that led to the bridge’s advanced state of decay.

“I have no evidence at this point that points to anyone inside DOT,” Alviti said. “The decisions that we made were based on advice that was given by consultants.”

“I think the public wants accountability and we are pursuing that accountability through the lawsuit,” added McKee. “That might not be the answer that some people want. They want to see heads rolling. But I’m not going to do that just because of the politics or the optics of it. We’re going to need a reason to do that. I believe that we are holding the parties accountable that the public wants us to hold accountable. And I believe that we will be successful…on the lawsuit.”

McKee reasoned that the state has shown prudence in treating the problem seriously and promptly, pointing to aforementioned lawsuit with allegedly responsible parties leading to the bridge’s critical failures; the over $220 million they have received in federal grant money to aid the construction of the new bridge; along with $1.2 million that was given through state grant funding to be disseminated to East Providence businesses to cover business losses during the first three months of the bridge’s closure prior to bypass lanes being opened on the east side of the bridge. Those grant award letters went out last week, as we first reported.

When asked by a reporter if the new timeline for construction meant that the bridge wouldn’t be completed in 2026 after all — another prediction that had been made by state officials — Alviti didn’t commit either way.

“I’m not going to make any predictions on what these companies are capable of,” he said. “Let’s wait and see.”

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