Bid date set to expand Anderson water treatment plant
ANDERSON — A bid date of March 18 has been set for the expansion of the Lafayette water treatment plant.
The Anderson Board of Works on Tuesday approved the request of Neal McKee, superintendent of the water department, to set the date to accept bids.
McKee said the planned work would expand the capacity of the plant from 10 million gallons per day to 14 million.
He said the work is expected to start in May or June.
The city is issuing $130 million in bonds over the next three years to upgrade the water system.
The council has already approved $9 million in American Rescue Plan funds, and the Anderson Redevelopment Commission is providing $19 million toward the project.
All the work is scheduled to be completed by September 2029, with work on the initial phase starting later this year.
Included in the first bond is the beginning of a process to replace lead service lines in several neighborhoods and at scattered sites. It also includes the development of two new wells north of the city that will include a new line to the Lafayette treatment plant and a new transmission line from Cross Street to the water tank on Eighth Street.
OTHER BUSINESS
The Board of Works approved a contract with DC Construction in the amount of $252,838 for the resurfacing of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard near Madison Avenue.
City Engineer Matt House said the estimate was $247,970 for the paving work.
The board approved a contract with EP Collaboration in the amount of $32,800 that was requested by the Anderson Community Development Department.
The contract runs through 2030 and includes work on the consolidated strategic plan and fair housing.
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RI lawmakers reviewing cost estimates for Washington Bridge rebuild
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — State lawmakers are proceeding with caution after Gov. Dan McKee announced that it will cost $427 million and take until at least November 2028 to rebuild the westbound Washington Bridge Friday. McKee said the state has hired Walsh Construction Co. of Chicago to rebuild the heavily traveled bridge that abruptly closed to traffic in December 2023 after a structural failure. SEE ALSO: Washington Bridge rebuild will cost $427 million and take until 2028 In a statement to 12 News, R.I. House Speaker Joseph Shekarchi said lawmakers will be reviewing McKee's cost estimates and will 'evaluate the impact on the budget that the House Finance Committee is preparing.' 'Rhode Islanders who rely on the Washington Bridge have had their daily lives disrupted for nearly 18 months,' Shekarchi said. 'As the bridge project moves forward, [the House] will continue its work ensuring the [McKee] administration is accountable.' R.I. Senate President Valarie Lawson's reaction to McKee's cost estimates was similar. Lawson, who represents East Providence, said the Senate Finance Committee will also be taking a closer look at the cost estimates to rebuild the bridge, 'but all Rhode Islanders deserve safe and reliable transportation infrastructure.' 'Rebuilding the Washington Bridge as expeditiously as possible remains a top priority for me and my constituents,' Lawson said in a statement. 'No one has felt the impact of the bridge's closure more than the residents and small businesses I represent in East Providence.' State officials initially estimated in early 2024 the bridge would cost between $250 million and $300 million, though they cautioned at the time those figures were highly preliminary. A later, more concrete estimate put the price tag at $368 million, making the new $427 million estimate a 16% increase. The new timeline is also considerably longer than state officials' earlier goal of having the new westbound bridge open by August 2026. Asked by a reporter if he took accountability for the inaccurate early estimates, McKee replied, 'I think that we got it right.' He said they had tried to do the project faster but changed course when experts told them it wasn't possible. The rebuild contract is only one part of the overall cost of the Washington Bridge crisis. When demolition and emergency costs are added to the overall total, taxpayers are currently expected to pay $571 million for the infrastructure failure, according to a Target 12 analysis of state documents. More than 96,000 vehicles drove over the westbound I-195 bridge each day before the closure, according to the R.I. Department of Transportation. The state has since rerouted traffic on the eastbound Washington Bridge, a newer span, to go in both directions with additional lanes. TARGET 12: How RI will spend $571M on the Washington Bridge RIDOT Director Peter Alviti said the new bridge that is slated to open in 2028 has been designed to carry 80,000 vehicles every day for 100 years. (Alviti said he expected daily traffic to be lower than pre-closure levels because of the reopening of the Henderson Bridge, another connection between Providence and East Providence.) It will have five lanes instead of four, and I-195 West in East Providence will be widened by removing a lane on the approach to the bridge. There will be a new on-ramp from Gano Street and a new off-ramp to Waterfront Drive. The new bridge will also be shorter than the old one, requiring fewer piers, and will be made to look similar to its predecessor. Walsh is eligible for up to $10 million in incentive payments if the company can get the bridge done sooner than planned. On the flip-side, the company would face $25,000 a day in penalties if it fails to meet the timeline. Advance work will begin next month. Ted Nesi and Eli Sherman contributed to this report. Download the and apps to get breaking news and weather alerts. Watch or with the new . Follow us on social media: Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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4 days ago
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How RI plans to spend $571 million on the Washington Bridge
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Gov. Dan McKee announced Friday that taxpayers will spend $427 million to rebuild the westbound Washington Bridge by November 2028 — but that figure doesn't reflect the full cost of the project. A Target 12 analysis of monthly status reports, along with new documents released Friday, shows the total cost of the infrastructure crisis has grown to $571 million, a roughly 21% increase compared to estimates from nearly one year ago. That figure is roughly double state leaders' earliest estimates of how much it would cost to demolish and replace the bridge, which they initially pegged at between $250 million and $300 million. They had also suggested the new bridge would be open by the fall of 2026, more than two years earlier than is now expected. State leaders say they are now confident about the $571 million and insist it can be paid for with already earmarked taxpayer funds through a mix of debt, federal grants and leftover money from COVID-19 aid. The funding sources break down as $335 million in borrowing against future federal transportation funding; $221 million in federal grants won last year; $108 million from the state's cash account for capital projects; $35 million in redirected pandemic relief money; and $15 million from a prior bridge award. MAIN STORY: Washington Bridge rebuild will cost $427 million and take until 2028, McKee announces Alexandra Leslie (aleslie@ is a Target 12 investigative reporter covering Providence and more for 12 News. Connect with her on Twitter and on Facebook. Eli Sherman (esherman@ is a Target 12 investigative reporter for 12 News. Connect with him on Twitter and on Facebook. Ted Nesi contributed to this report. Download the and apps to get breaking news and weather alerts. Watch or with the new . Follow us on social media: Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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4 days ago
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Washington Bridge rebuild to cost up to $427M. Expect to drive on it by late 2028.
Rhode Island Department of Transportation Director Peter Alviti Jr. goes over the timeline to rebuild the westbound Washington Bridge at a State House press conference on Friday, June 6, 2025. At left is Gov. Dan McKee. At right is Walsh Construction Company Program Manager Charles Parish. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) The completion date and cost for a new westbound Washington Bridge is finally here. But it will take two more years and $59 million more than expected to resurrect a new thoroughfare connecting Providence and East Providence. Gov. Dan McKee unveiled the November 2028 target completion date and an up-to-$427 million contract cost at a State House press conference Friday. The long-awaited news comes nearly a year-and-a-half after state officials halted all traffic on the westbound highway after engineers discovered broken anchor rods that put the bridge spanning the Seekonk River at risk of collapse. State officials originally sought to rebuild the bridge by August 2026 at an estimated cost of $368 million. 'I understand that this has been a challenging time for those who rely on the Washington Bridge, especially in the early days before we were able to restore six lanes of traffic,' McKee said. 'We owe it to you to deliver a bridge that is safe and will ultimately make your lives easier.' Tasked with constructing the new bridge is Walsh Construction Company. The Chicago-based firm worked on the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge on Interstate 95 over the Quinnipiac River in New Haven, Connecticut, along with the Interstate 90 Westbound Innerbelt Bridge in Cleveland, Ohio. For this project, the firm will draw from its design of the Chain of Rocks Bridge in St. Louis, Walsh Program Manager Charles Parish told reporters. 'It's not often that you get to build the same project twice, or the same bridge twice,' Parish said. 'But our ability to do that on the new Washington Bridge gave us the confidence to commit to both the price and schedule that we're sure we can meet.' The state's plan calls for five lanes of travel over the new bridge, along with an onramp from Gano Street in Providence and a new offramp to Waterfront Drive in East Providence. The original bridge had four lanes. Construction is scheduled to begin next month, which overlaps with the ongoing demolition of the existing bridge. Demolition contractor Aetna Bridge Company is expected to complete its work by the end of 2025. During that time, Walsh will secure permitting, workers, and pre-fabricate material to rebuild the bridge, Parish said. Walsh will be paid at least $339 million to build the new bridge, with incentives and contingencies that could bring the total cost up to $427 million. The deal also has built-in daily penalties of $25,000 for exceeding the project deadline. With demolition and emergency repairs, the entire project adds up to $570 million, which is 'well within what we budget,' McKee said. McKee's administration has identified more than $713 million in financing available for the project over the last year. That includes $35 million in remaining pandemic relief aid, $107.6 million from the state's capital plan fund, and up to $334.6 million in Grant Anticipation Revenue Vehicles bonds, which allow the state to borrow against future allocations of federal transportation money. The state was also awarded nearly a pair of federal infrastructure grants worth roughly $221 million. The grants were temporarily frozen under President Donald Trump's initial flurry of executive orders, but released to Rhode Island in late March. However, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha, in a lawsuit filed with 19 other states in May, warned that funding could still be at risk due to a federal directive tying infrastructure grants to compliance with the Trump administration's diversity and immigration policies. McKee said he does not believe federal funds will be taken away from the project. 'We have the sign off from [Transportation] Secretary (Sean) Duffy,' the governor said Friday. Also unclear: how the new price tag will impact the state's budget. House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi said in a statement that legislative leaders will review the governor's announcement as they shape a final fiscal 2026 budget. 'As the bridge project moves forward, the House of Representatives will continue its work ensuring the administration is accountable,' Shekarchi said. Walsh was one of two finalists vying to rebuild the bridge after the state issued its latest bidding window last December. The other proposal came from a joint venture by American Bridge and MLJ, firms based respectively in Pennsylvania and New York. Rhode Island Director of Transportation Peter Alviti Jr. said both companies were qualified and made similar technical proposals. Walsh's proposal projected around $340 million in hard construction costs, while American Construction and MLJ's bid estimated nearly $387 million. Because it did not win the state's tentative contract, the losing bidder will receive a $1.75 million consolation prize for participating, as set out in the state's solicitation. It took two rounds of requests or proposals to yield any firm bids, a sore spot that McKee's critics continue to seize on, including his potential 2026 Democratic gubernatorial rival, Helena Buonanno Foulkes. 'Governor McKee's catastrophic failure to manage the Washington Bridge has impacted countless Rhode Island families and businesses, forcing them to endure longer commutes, lost wages, and economic hardship,' Foulkes said in a statement Friday. But McKee said he has no regrets. 'As far as I'm concerned we're in a good spot,' he said. 'The people in the state of Rhode Island know that the funding is there, the time schedule is there, and we have a quality bridge-builder to actually execute the project.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
