PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — The Rhode Island Department of Transportation will continue its series of weekend lane closures Friday on Interstate 95 near Route 10 and Exit 33 at the Cranston/Providence line for the construction of the Wellington Avenue Bridge.
“This weekend we are replacing the last section of bridge that is on the northbound lanes of I-95,” Director of Rhode Island Department of Transportation Peter Alviti Jr. said. “We will be closing two of the lanes Friday evening on I-95 north.”
Travelers should expect to face delays and are being asked to use alternate routes like Route 10 and Interstate 295.
Hurricane Lee has also added an unexpected factor for workers Saturday.
RIDOT officials said they are concerned about the wind with the use of a large crane.
“It has a little bit more of a challenge to it because we have a hurricane with strong winds coming,” Alviti said. “We rely on a crane to lift parts of the bridge to put it in place. We will be monitoring that and we have a high confidence level we will have enough window to complete the work by Monday morning.”
Alviti added that flooding is not a concern for the project.
“There is always a concern for flooding but in this vicinity, we have not had have issues with flooding so we don’t expect the heavy rain from the storm this weekend to affect that,” he said.
This is the fourth and final weekend closure and all lanes should be opened by 5 a.m. Monday.
For the remainder of the project, the following schedule impacts traffic patterns:
On September 18 all lanes should open by 5 a.m. There will be no lane split, northbound or southbound.
The bridge replacement requires closure of Wellington Avenue at the bridge and the detour will be in effect until mid-September.
