Bristol expert says: ‘This plan has no innovation at all’

Geologist Patrick Barosh asserts DOT’s Silver Creek bridge solution is not the only one

By Christy Nadalin
Posted 5/24/19

Patrick Barosh, Ph.D. has different ideas about the Rhode Island Department of Transportation’s (DOT) plan to shut down the Silver Creek bridge on Route 114 next summer.

“It’s …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Register to post events


If you'd like to post an event to our calendar, you can create a free account by clicking here.

Note that free accounts do not have access to our subscriber-only content.

Day pass subscribers

Are you a day pass subscriber who needs to log in? Click here to continue.


Bristol expert says: ‘This plan has no innovation at all’

Geologist Patrick Barosh asserts DOT’s Silver Creek bridge solution is not the only one

Posted

Patrick Barosh, Ph.D. has different ideas about the Rhode Island Department of Transportation’s (DOT) plan to shut down the Silver Creek bridge on Route 114 next summer.

“It’s just a dinky bridge, it shouldn’t hold this town hostage for two months,” said Dr. Barosh.

Dr. Barosh is a Bristol resident and an environmental and engineering geologist whose work has led him from prospecting in Alaska for the U.S. Geological Survey and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, to the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, where he has consulted on railway safety and the general geology under the Tibetan plateau.

In 2012, he wrote, “A city upon a hill: the geology of the city of Boston & surrounding region,” a comprehensive account of Boston’s geology; he has also extensively researched earthquake hazards in the northeastern United States. He has long been keenly interested in Silver Creek, because it sits nearly dead-center on a long and active geologic fault line. The bridge itself had never really crossed his mind — until recently.

It’s safe to say he is very well-versed in the structure of the earth and the many ways that man can manipulate it to suit his needs. And he is not too impressed with the DOT plan that calls for a complete closure of the Silver Creek bridge in July and August of 2020.

Nor did he feel that the public forum held on the morning of Tuesday, May 21, offered any new information. “They were light on details,” he said of the DOT delegation. “They seem to have decided what they are going to do, and they were telling us. It wasn’t too satisfying.”

It’s a stark contrast to what Dr. Barosh found researching his book about the geology and building of Boston. “Starting in colonial times, the engineering was so innovative,” he said. “This plan shows no innovation at all.”

“You’ve got to raise the level of the bridge here by at least 2 feet” to account for sea level rise to plan for the next 100 years. But as he sees it, raising the roadway will have serious implications for the building housing the Sip ’n Dip coffee shop, which is sitting in a depression that stretches from the Beach House Restaurant to the north, to the Century 21 office to the south.

Another complication is the DOT’s suggestion that the bridge is historic and certain elements of it must be preserved. Though appreciative of local history, Dr. Barosh thinks a plaque noting the bridge’s original construction would better honor the structure’s history, rather than preserving underpinnings that would not be visible from the roadway at any rate.

“What we see around here is construction fill,” he said, standing beside the bridge and referring to the land on either side of it. “These are not historical rocks.”

As far as the road closure, he says DOT has not provided an adequate explanation for why their plan does not include diverting traffic using a temporary bridge on the grass strip immediately west of the roadway. “There’s room here to keep at least one lane of traffic flowing, if not both.”

“It’s just a simple thing for them,” said Dr. Barosh about DOT’s plan. “I don’t think they’ve really thought through the consequences or the alternatives, of which there are a lot of each.” For such a small project, he admits there are a lot of variables as well as alternatives. “They could do a pre-fab, they could do a lot of the work off-site. There are all kinds of things that could be done.”

2024 by East Bay Media Group

Barrington · Bristol · East Providence · Little Compton · Portsmouth · Tiverton · Warren · Westport
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.