05-06-2025
McKee to reveal cost, timeline, winning bidder for Washington Bridge on Friday
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — A year and a half after the abrupt closure of the westbound Washington Bridge, Rhode Islanders are set to learn how long it will take to build a replacement and how much it will cost.
Gov. Dan McKee will hold a State House news conference Friday at 10 a.m. to announce which of the two finalists has won the contract for the new bridge, his office announced. The state closed the 56-year-old bridge with almost no notice during rush hour on Dec. 11, 2023, after a structure failure was discovered, leading to major traffic problems and widespread than 96,000 vehicles traveling on I-195 Westbound drove over the bridge each day before the closure, according to RIDOT. The state has since rerouted traffic on the eastbound Washington Bridge, a newer span, to go in both directions with additional lanes.
While the bridge was initially expected to reopen within a few months, further inspections revealed it couldn't be salvaged, and is currently being demolished. The state's effort to engineer a quick process for constructing the new bridge failed last July when no companies bid, leading the administration to regroup and change its approach.
The two finalists chosen in December as part of the new bidding process were Walsh Construction of Chicago and a joint venture between American Bridge Co. of Pennsylvania and MLJ Contracting Corp. of New York. The governor's office describes both as 'nationally recognized bridge building groups.'
The losing bidder will be paid $1.75 million as a consolation prize for participating in the process.
During his monthly interview on 12 News at 4 last month, R.I. Department of Transportation Director Peter Alviti described the proposals presented by both groups to officials as 'very impressive.' The bidding process is secret so no information has been released about their plans.
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The state initially estimated the new bridge would cost $368 million and be open by August 2026. Officials long ago stopped saying if they thought those goals were still achievable, though they never ruled it out, either. Rhode Island's congressional delegation has so far secured $221 million in federal grants to help offset the cost of the bridge project.
In the meantime, a separate $98 million project to demolish the old westbound bridge is proceeding. Demolition of the substructure was completed on Feb. 21. The state expanded the project last year to also include demolition of the old bridge's underwater substructure, and that work is expected to supposed to be finished by mid-December.
Separately, the state has filed a lawsuit against various companies that worked on the bridge over the years.
McKee and Alviti have repeatedly expressed confidence in the structural integrity of the eastbound bridge, which now has considerably more weight on it due to the added westbound vehicle traffic as well as temporary concrete barriers. Alviti said last year he still expects the eastbound bridge, built in the 2000s, to hold up for its full expected lifespan of 75 years.
Ted Nesi (tnesi@ is a Target 12 investigative reporter and 12 News politics/business editor. He co-hosts Newsmakers and writes Nesi's Notes on Saturdays. Connect with him on Twitter, Bluesky and Facebook.
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