The good news first: The state Department of Transportation says work on the Middle Road bridge over Route 4 will be done by Wednesday, Aug. 20, one week before the start of school.
The bad news? Route 2 north of Division Street in Warwick will be closed intermittently from Tuesday, Aug. 19, through Wednesday, Aug. 27, as a new bridge is put into place to replace the Barton Corner Route 95 bridge over Route 2.
From a RI DOT press release:
The Barton Corner Bridge carries four lanes of I-95 plus two auxiliary lanes at a busy interchange with Route 2 on the Warwick/West Warwick line. It provides direct access to the New England Institute of Technology; another limited access highway called Route 4, the gateway to South County; and one of Rhode Island’s busiest retail corridors.
… Using accelerated bridge construction, we’re building two halves of the bridge on land adjacent to the overpass, and will move them into place when ready. This lets us build the bridge much faster compared with conventional construction methods, which would have taken twice the time. This approach also allows us to do the work with no impact to Interstate traffic prior to installation.
To install the bridge, we’ll “drive” them into place using self-propelled modular transporters, the same devices we used to move the Iway’s signature arch bridge onto barges at the Quonset Business Park before we floated them up Narragansett Bay to Providence.
Putting the new bridge in place will require the following road closures on Route 2:
- Tuesday, Aug. 19, from 10 p.m. through the Wednesday, Aug. 20, morning commute.
- Friday, Aug. 22, from noon through the afternoon commute.
- Sunday, Aug. 24, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Tuesday, Aug. 26, from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 27.
The state awarded the $6.4 million contract to replace the failing bridge to D’Ambra Construction, which started construction last fall and plans completion this fall. The new bridge is being built next to the original bridge.
The Middle Road bridge renovations began June 23, closing the major town artery to east-west traffic. According to DOT spokeswoman Rose Amoros, the project is scheduled for completion Aug. 20.
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Am I missing something or what? The Middle road bridge is to be “finished” in a week or so . Just today, I drove under it on Rt 4 and fully expected to see a fresh coat of paint on this horrible monstrosity but no, it still looks like it belongs in Baghdad or Detroit. Am I being too picky or is this the way we “finish” projects in this state?
Guess I’d better check it out! Thanks for the comment.
Hi Elizabeth, I was wondering whats going on with the Shell by the showcase cinemas? It was closed and fenced off this evening.
Jerome, I’ll look into it. Thanks!
They won’t be painting it until the Fall.
From a July 14 Facebook comment by the RIDOT – original post on July 11 – “Thanks for your comments. The steel will be painted from under the bridge on Route 4 as part of night work sometime this Fall.”
Thank you for the follow up on the Middle Road Bridge. Part of what makes your news site so timely and valuable.