The westbound side of the Washington Bridge that carries Interstate 195 over the Seekonk River in Providence, Rhode Island, has been closed due to a “critical structural failure” discovered in an inspection.
According to news reports, the repairs will take three months, with traffic diverted to two lanes on the eastbound side of the bridge. The bridge carries around 100,000 vehicles a day.
The Providence Journal published images of the bridge problems it says were uncovered in a December 8 inspection. The report quoted the director of the state’s department of transportation as saying “we averted a major catastrophe here.” The span was last inspected in July, according to the report.
The eastbound span had been reconstructed within the past 15 years, according to the Journal report, and planning had been underway for the westbound work. That project, scheduled to be done by 2026, was estimated at $78 million. No estimates for how the emergency closure will affect those costs are available.
