Rhode Island secures $95.6 million INFRA grant to replace Washington Bridge; total funding now $220.98 million from federal grants. Demolition underway, completion expected by Dec. 2025. Previous grants have aided state infrastructure upgrade.
Photo courtesy of RIDOT
Last May, RIDOT estimated the price tag for replacing the bridge would include $58.2 million for demolition as well as $368.3 million for the design-build process.
The effort to replace the westbound Washington Bridge in Providence, R.I., got a major boost Oct. 16 as the state's U.S. Senate and House representatives in Washington, D.C., joined with Gov. Dan McKee in announcing a $95.6 million Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) federal grant for the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT).
Together with a previous $125.39 million MEGA grant, awarded by the National Infrastructure Project Assistance program, that the state was awarded in September, Rhode Island has now received the almost $221 million it requested from the federal government to fully fund the bridge project, according to a news release from McKee's administration.
The new monies are being made available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which Rhode Island's two Democratic U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse supported and was signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2021, delivering a 50 percent increase in the amount of available funding for INFRA grants.
The additional resources also have helped improve Rhode Island's roads, bridges, public transportation and water infrastructure over the last three years.
The Washington Bridge, which spans the Seekonk River connecting East Providence to Providence and has a daily traffic volume of 90,000 vehicles, was shut down on Dec. 11, 2023, after RIDOT discovered broken anchor rods that put the bridge at risk of failure.
"Securing this federal investment has been a top priority," said Reed, a leading member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. "Now the state must utilize this $220.98 million in federal funding to accelerate progress toward a new bridge that meets capacity and safety needs now and, in the future."
He added, "[Rhode Island] must put this money to work and keep the public updated with a clear timetable for progress."
The infusion of INFRA money to demolish the old structure and build a new Washington Bridge "fills in a major missing piece of the funding puzzle to ensure the state can get the job done right," explained Whitehouse, who helped author the INFRA program as a senior member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. "We will continue to work as a delegation to secure whatever the state needs from the federal government to fix this situation for drivers."
RIDOT Has Already Started Razing Bridge
Demolition of the bridge has already begun, noted McKee's press release. Last May, RIDOT estimated the price tag for replacing the bridge would include $58.2 million for demolition as well as $368.3 million for the design-build process.
Now, though, the state will pay its demolition contractor another $38.4 million to tear down the piers and beams underneath the westbound lanes of Interstate 195 on the Washington Bridge, according to an agreement inked Oct. 16 and obtained two days later by Rhode Island Current, an independent, nonpartisan digital news site that covers state government and public policy.
The amendment to the existing contract with Warwick, R.I.-based Aetna Bridge Co. marks an 84 percent increase over the existing, $45.8 million deal, which only covered the demolition of the superstructure, and not the piers, beams, and footings beneath it. Adding in another $10 million in demolition-related costs not included in the contract, the first phase of the project now totals more than $96 million.
Rhode Island Current reported that state officials originally planned to keep the substructure beneath the thoroughfare intact for potential reuse in the replacement bridge. However, expert companies brought in to consult on the rebuild plan all said that the aging substructure posed too big a risk — and expense — for a contractor to want to preserve it.
At an Oct. 15 press conference, McKee and RIDOT Director Peter Alviti first revealed the change order with Aetna, expanding its scope of work to include the new substructure demolition.
The company was awarded the initial demolition contract through a competitive solicitation that closed in June. It comes with a Dec. 15, 2025, completion date — nine months later than the end date if Aetna was only in charge of tearing down the main bridge thoroughfare.
In accordance with the typical 80-20 split between federal and state cost shares for infrastructure projects, RIDOT will be responsible for paying $7.7 million of the extra $38.4 million price tag, with the new federal grant funding covering the remaining share.
Separate from the demolition and rebuild costs for the Washington Bridge, RIDOT also estimated costs of approximately $46 million for emergency expenses, including work to stabilize the old bridge and estimated funding to account for both state and municipal safety and transportation-related expenses.
"Securing a second major federal grant marks another important milestone in our work to build a brand-new Washington Bridge," McKee said in a statement. "We know that ensuring this complex project, if done right, will take time, but it's encouraging to see demolition resuming this week, the rebuild bidding process moving forward, and additional federal dollars coming in."
Rhode Island Has Benefitted Greatly From Federal Grants
Prior to its latest INFRA award, Rhode Island previously received grants from the federal program for a quartet of other construction projects. They include:
- A $60.3 million INFRA grant in 2019 to rebuild the Northbound Providence Viaduct.
- In 2020, $65 million to overhaul R.I. Highway 146.
- An $82.5 million grant in 2022 to upgrade the Pell Bridge.
- Another $81 million award earlier this year to create a "missing move" between I-95 and the state's Quonset Business Park.
Additionally, the state has now received two MEGA awards to fund the Washington Bridge, totaling $125.39 million.
These grants come on top of a $251 million federal Bridge Investment Grant the state's delegation in Washington secured earlier in 2024 to repair 15 bridges along the I-95 corridor in Providence and Cranston.
In the future, Rhode Island is due to receive a total of $255 million in bridge formula funds over the life of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
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