EAST PROVIDENCE — As anyone who has driven a car around East Providence knows full well, since the sudden closure of the westerly side of the Washington Bridge on, Dec. 11, getting here is still relatively uncomplicated. It's leaving the city that's the biggest problem.

That is the case for a significant number of school employees, including at least a third of the teachers in the district. Local officials estimate that between 35 and 45 percent of instructors are not residents of East Providence. Many of them, in fact, live in Providence and places north along with the West Bay cities of Cranston, Warwick and West Warwick, as well as other points south.

Anecdotally, teachers living just across the Seekonk/Providence Rivers in the Capital City have had no problem getting to buildings here on time, but it has taken them more than an hour an a half to get home.

Even as dismissal times at each level of instruction — high school, middle school and elementary — have been reduced by an hour, teachers who left their schools Thursday at approximately 2 p.m. were still stuck in traffic as of 4 o'clock.

The central office, helmed by Superintendent of Schools Dr. Sandra Forand, not only changed departure times to hopefully help both students and staff get home on time, it's been understanding as well in the morning, as employees make their way into work.

The schools switched to remove learning briefly, on Wednesday, Dec. 13, then returned to buildings under a modified slate on Thursday, Dec. 14. They finished the week again with in-person classes Friday, Dec. 15, under the early dismissal schedule.

One teacher, who wished to remain anonymous, said instructors "have been and continue to be consulted" about the situation around distance learning and dismissal times, adding, "the administration has been very good about it."

A bit of good news came in time for the Friday morning, Dec. 15, rush hour, when the Rhode Island Department of Transportation announced two bypass lanes on the eastbound side of the Washington Bridge were open to traffic headed west on Interstate 195 from East Providence to Providence.

The westbound bridge closure just about paralyzed motorists in East Providence, stifling movement around the city and especially at its main entry points and on the crucial thoroughfares.

School students and families felt the brunt almost immediately, forcing the decision to go remote last Tuesday and making the afternoon commute an arduous one.

The last buses on Wednesday didn't get kids home until around 7 p.m., that time, like most traffic, improved a tad by the next evening when the final pupils got off the vehicles around 5 o'clock. Part of the reason for the latter was East Providence Police cruisers were used to help usher the buses through the maze of detours and snarls.