Governor Dan McKee and Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) Director, Peter Alviti, announced during a press conference on Tuesday that demolition had resumed on the Washington Bridge, and that the state has restarted the bid process to solicit work to rebuild the bridge after their first bid process ended with no takers.

While the Governor would not provide a tentative goal for the completion of the project as a whole, he did announce that the state hoped to award the winning bid for the rebuilding contract by June 6, 2025.

Before that can happen, however, the state is sending out a “request for qualifications” to form a short list of contractors that have the capacity to do the work required. Two finalists will be chosen in December, who will submit their formal plans over the winter.

In an effort to "encourage participation in the RFP", the state has offered $1.75 million to the contractor not chosen for the work "to help cover the costs associated with crafting their technical and cost proposal".

Demolition resumes after halt
On Sept. 17, demolition work to the decrepit span of bridge — which uprooted life for tens of thousands of daily commuters after it was suddenly shut down on Dec. 11, 2023 — halted in an effort to gather evidence for the state’s ongoing lawsuit against 13 contractors they claim bear responsibility for the bridge’s deterioration leading to its sudden closure.

But on Tuesday, state officials announced that the demolition work had resumed, and that the chosen contractor, Aetna Bridge Co. (also one of the contractors named in the lawsuit), will now be removing the pilings and piers from the water, which had been a point of contention prior. That means the expected date for the span to be fully removed has been extended about a full year — from an anticipated completion date of January 2025, to December of 2025.

The full cost of that demolition, originally projected at $46 million, was now also being renegotiated, according to McKee, due to the changed scope of work.

RIDOT has also scheduled a public meeting via Zoom, taking place on Thursday, Oct. 17, to discuss updates on the demolition process for affected residents in the area. They said that they will hold off on starting noisier elements of the demolition, such as jackhammering, until Sunday, Oct. 20, after that meeting takes place.

You can register for the meeting by clicking on this link.