Wickford Braces for Hussey Bridge Closure April 1

NORTH KINGSTOWN—The historic Clarence L. Hussey Memorial Bridge in Wickford Village is set to be closed on April 1 as the state Department of Transportation begins a $1.7 million restoration project.

DOT director Peter Aliviti was at the site of the bridge on Friday with the project manager and officials from Aetna Bridge Company as cars, school buses and trucks rolled across.

Alviti said that the project marks the first major bridge project to fall under a new internal DOT process that utilizes a project manager. That person will oversee the work from beginning to end and will "ensure all the milestones are being met," Alviti said in an interview.

"The new process will put a new focus and accountability on completing projects like this on time, on budget, within the original scope," Alviti said.

The concept of this type of project management is new to the DOT, though it is not foreign to other DOTs in other states, Alviti said. Alviti came to the job last year with a mandate that the department undergo an extensive internal overhaul.

It's also the first project initiated under the hotly-debated RhodeWorks plan that will help fund a massive 10-year planned overhaul of the state's crumbling infrastructure with an emphasis on bridges. The General Assembly passed RhodeWorks earlier this year.

The closure will cause some disruption but Alviti said that the DOT has tried to limit the inconvenience for residents and tourists as the project moves forward.

The bridge will reopen on June 25 to accommodate the busy summer months in Wickford Village, which includes a number of high-attendance events like the Wickford Art Festival.

The bridge will then close once again on Sept. 6 with construction set to wrap up by Nov. 16.

Pedestrians should be able to cross the bridge during the closure periods except for some occasional instances, Alviti said.

During non-closure periods, work will be performed without interfering with pedestrian and vehicular traffic, concentrating primarily on the underside of the bridge.

The bridge, built in 1925, carries about 13,000 cars per day on Route 1A over Wickford Cove.

Alviti said that special considerations will be made to preserve the historic nature of the bridge. The bridge's fundamental foundation will not require any specialized or nonstandard work techniques, but some of the ornamentation and detailing will need extra attention, Alviti said, like the cast steel railings.

The first bridge to cross the cove was wooden and its construction many years ago marked a period of economic growth and expansion for North Kingstown. It enabled people to easily cross the cove and led to the construction of Town Hall on the other side of the water, Aliviti said.

"They had their own economic boom as a result of the bridge," Alviti said.

The current bridge was built in 1925 and designed by Hussey, an engineer from MIT, who was one of the first bridge engineers ever employed by the state, Alviti said.

He worked out of the basement of the capitol building and took 40,000 pictures to inventory every bridge in the state. He redesigned many of the wooden bridges dotting the state, which led to the construction of the bridge that has become a town icon.

"'Ole Mr. Hussey sure knew what the hell he was doing," Aliviti said.

Detour information is available at the DOT's website.

The Hussey bridge is part of the Wickford National Register Historic District.

The DOT said in a release that the bridge's railings will be painted to match the original graphite color and all concrete surfaces will get a special mineral coating that is designed to help the bridge withstand the elements.

There will also be pedestrian-specific safety enhancements including sidewalk, roadway and railing repairs.