Washington Bridge demolition ordered paused to “preserve evidence” (updated)

Late in the day on Tuesday, September 17th, the steady-stream of demolition noise dwindled to a stop. Shortly after the media started to become aware of this and asked questions, a statement from RIDOT was sent to RINewsToday:

“Joint statement from the McKee Administration and the Attorney General’s Office: The engineers for RIDOT, in cooperation with the state’s legal team, have reached the point in the demolition of the Washington Bridge where work must be paused to preserve evidence for the legal case. The goal is to be able to continue demolition as swiftly as possible while ensuring important evidence is preserved.”

Timing came as RIDOT had announced that also starting last night at 10 p.m. and lasting until 11 a.m. Monday morning, September 23rd, a section of Waterfront Drive in East Providence at the I-195 overpass would be closed for bridge deck and beam demolition of the old Washington Bridge.

Demolition had caused havoc in the Gano Street, Wickenden Street area as businesses and homes were rattled by the constant, especially overnight noise, particularly jackhammering. A noise that could be heard echoing all the way to Cranston.

The announcement of the Waterfront Drive closure also came with an announcement that demolition activities using jackhammers would now be limited to daytime hours only, and that work would take place 24 hours a day with other demolition activities taking place during evening hours. Jackhammering was estimated to continue until mid-week next week.

AG Neronha talks legal matters on the bridge:

Listen to the latest public interview with Attorney General Neronha during his interview with radio talk show host Matt Allen on his WPRO show, September 17th:

Max Wistow and John Savage are the attorneys for the state of Rhode Island looking into the bridge, what happened, who may be held responsible, and to pursue recoverables. In making the statement regarding the bridge, AG Neronha says he is working while speaking with Wistow and Savage.

There is reference in this interview of a Forensic Report on the bridge. This has not yet been made public. Both AG Neronha and East Side Sen. Sam Zurier have talked about creating a public portal so the public can stay informed, as much as possible, all along the way.

What next?

Bridge demolition has included the storage of key pieces that may be needed to determine the origins of the failure, or to document the poor construction methods and/or materials, in an offset location operated by J. R. Vinagro. Items are stored at their Johnston facility.

13 companies are named in the state’s law suit. It is unclear if any of the companies had requested the preservation of evidence action – or if it originated with “the state”, be that the AG’s office or Wistow/Savage’s offices.

RIDOT posts almost daily updates on the Washington Bridge. Notably the last statement and others ends with this:

“All construction projects are subject to changes in schedule and scope depending on needs, circumstances, findings, and weather.”

This is a developing story