EP Bridge Held Up by "Damn Lincoln Logs" to Be Replaced in 80 Hours

EAST PROVIDENCE, RI—In just an 80-hour period, the state Department of Transportation expects to shave a year of construction time off a bridge replacement project for the dilapidated East Shore Expressway bridge, beginning Friday night.

The rapid bridge replacement involves the demolition of the existing bridge, repairs to the the bridge foundations and in what will be a spectator-worthy event, the installation of the entire new bridge superstructure that has been sitting on large supports next to the bridge in anticipation.

The project will cause some traffic impacts beginning Friday at around 9 p.m. The DOT said that Interstate 195 East's Exit 7 to the East Shore Expressway will be closed along with a section of Warren Avenue under the bridge. Only local traffic will be able to go through the Pawtucket Avenue and Highland Avenue intersections.

Exit 8 will remain open to Warren Avenue, but traffic will only be able to turn left and head east toward Seekonk.

After the demolition, workers will use large dollies to lift the new bridge off its supports, drive it down Warren Avenue, move it into position and plop it on the new foundations. Crews will then install a new riding surface and everything should be complete by 5 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 13.

The DOT has a clause in its contract that rewards the contractor up to $9,000 every hour the bridge is open ahead of schedule and penalizes it if late.

The DOT is hosting a website, www.dot.ri.gov/expressway, for updated images of the project.

The completed bridge will enable the DOT to lift a weight restriction that has been in place on the bridge for more than four years. The bridge has gained notoriety for the wood blocks used as supports as its has steadily crumbled. Vice President Joe Biden said on a trip to the Ocean State earlier this year that "you’ve had Lincoln Logs holding the damn thing up."

The East Shore Expressway Bridge, which carries traffic from I-195 East to Route 114 South, carries 20,600 vehicles per day.

Following the installation of the East Shore Expressway Bridge, RIDOT will repeat the process for the nearby McCormick Quarry Bridge, which carries northbound traffic on East Shore Expressway from the East Bay to I-195 West. That bridge also will require an 80-hour closure, which is scheduled to take place from 9 p.m. on Friday, September 23 through 5 a.m. Tuesday, September 27.

While the East Shore Expressway Bridge is classified as functionally obsolete, the McCormick Quarry Bridge is structurally deficient. Its concrete piers are severely deteriorated, and are supplemented with large wooden timbers to carry the bridge's structural load, according to the DOT.

Detour maps for both the East Shore Expressway and Warren Avenue closures also will be posted online at www.dot.ri.gov/expressway. Turn-by-turn directions are as follows:

East Shore Expressway Bridge

(I-195 East to the East Bay)

Warren Avenue Closure Westbound Detour:

• Right on Warren Avenue/County Street Eastbound, toward Route 114A
• Left on Waterman Avenue
• Left on Pawtucket Avenue
• Right on Warren Avenue

Warren Avenue Closure Eastbound Detour:

• Left on Pawtucket Avenue
• Right on Waterman Avenue
• Right on Warren Avenue
• Left on Route 6 Eastbound

East Shore Expressway Southbound Closure Detour:

• Take Exit 6 off of I-195 Eastbound
• Left on Warren Avenue
• Right on Pawtucket Avenue
• Left on Wampanoag Trail
• Right onto Route 114 Southbound toward Wampanoag Trail

Photos via: RIDOT