Speaker Mattiello Calls For Investigation After Bridge Closed Near Office

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Kate Nagle, GoLocalProv News Editor

Speaker Nicholas Mattiello

In the middle of a fight between Governor Gina Raimondo and Speaker Nicholas Mattiello over the Governor’s proposed funding request for infrastructure, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, under the Governor’s direction, closed a key Cranston bridge that is just a few hundred yards from the Speaker’s law office -- who is now calling for an investigation.

The following is a list of the state's ten busiest bridges in need of repair -- and the Cranston bridge on Park Avenue is not on that list.

SEE THE LIST

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In a blistering attack, Mattiello raised questions about the motivation and the timing of the bridge closing -- and called for an investigation into how a bridge that was looked at nine months ago was shut down overnight.

“I think someone neglected their duty, and we need to make sure this doesn't happen again. I hope there's no other community that has a bridge shut down in this manner,” Mattiello told GoLocalProv.

The Speaker’s press secretary Larry Berman said, “He's looking into the appropriate parties for an investigation, and whether that is the state police. There's a new Director there, he's not blaming Alviti -- but he said the timing is all of a sudden, and wants to know what happened.”

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Governor Gina Raimondo

Closed Bridge Not One of State's Worst

A recent story by GoLocalProv, “RI Has Highest Percentage of Deficient Bridges in Country,” unveiled that over half of RI’s bridges are deficient. “Of the state's 766 bridges, 429 of them are considered deficient according to federal statistics. That's 56 percent of the state's bridges.”

On Tuesday, RI DOT issued a press release announcing the closing of the bridge located near Mattiello’s office. SEE THE LETTER BELOW FROM US DOT

“I’m going to accept the fact the bridge is in disrepair. And despite the fact that I'm calling for an investigation, I would hope that they would do that on their own. This is not how you address bridge issues -- there are a lot of Cranston residents and Rhode Islanders who are going to be greatly inconvenienced by this -- the DOT is not acting appropriately. I've been assured they have plenty of money to fix bridge,” said Mattiello.

The Park Avenue Bridge was built in 1906, and was last rehabilitated in 1991, according to RIDOT. A press release issued by DOT mid-afternoon on Tuesday said, “It is classified as structurally deficient. While most bridges in the state are inspected every two years, RIDOT has been inspecting this bridge every year to keep a close eye on the deterioration. Before this week, the bridge was last inspected in September 2014.”

“[This bridge] is several hundred feet from his law office. It was looked at 9 months ago and suddenly they closed it without warning today,” said Berman.

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DETOUR INFO:

Motorists traveling on Park Avenue will be directed to detour routes with standard and electronic message signs. Police officers also will assist directing traffic at busy intersections. Detour routes include:

Park Avenue Eastbound: Use Reservoir Avenue north and take the on-ramp to Route 10 South. Take the exit onto Park Avenue.
Park Avenue Westbound: Use the on-ramp to Route 10 North, then take the exit to Reservoir Avenue south and follow to Park Avenue.
Local Traffic Detour: Local traffic on Park Avenue should use Elmwood Avenue and Wellington Avenue to detour around the bridge closure. The road will remain open to local traffic on either side of the bridge.

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Related Slideshow: RI’s Most Dangerous Bridges

The American Road and Transportation Builders Association recently released a list of the most traveled, deficient bridges in each state. In Rhode Island, those bridges were: