hard deadlines

Portsmouth Rep. Jay Edwards has introduced a bill (2010-H 7449) that would prohibit tolls on the new Sakonnet River Bridge. The legislation would also keep the bridge under the jurisdiction of the RI DOT, short-circuiting a proposal in Gov. Carcieri's budget to move it to the RI Bridge and Turnpike Authority, which could institute tolls.

“Placing a toll on the Sakonnet Bridge is both short sighted and hurts the working people of Rhode Island who live or work in Newport County,” Edwards said in a statement. “This toll will push more traffic onto the Mt. Hope Bridge. In addition, a toll will dramatically impact Newport County residents by unfairly increasing costs for day to day travel within the area.”

“Why should the residents of Newport County bear the costs of road repair and bridge maintenance for the entire state?” said Edwards. “This proposal does not look for alternatives; instead, it looks to impose another tax on the residents of the East Bay.” Edwards proposes placing a toll on I-95 in Westerly and in Pawtucket as an alternative revenue source.

Co-sponsors of the bill include fellow East Bay and Aquidneck Island legislators Ray Gallison (D-69), John Loughlin (R-71), and Amy Rice (D-72). Similar legislation will be introduced in the Senate by Walter Felag Jr. (D-10).

Note: Written from General Assembly press release.

Click to embiggen. Image from RIDOT.

The whiners in the Hummocks will have a little less to complain about after the bars close on Park Avenue: RIDOT announced today that they have closed the on-ramp to 24 for Sakonnet River Bridge construction for the next six months.

“We apologize to the residents of Island Park and Common Fence Point for this inconvenience and for this late notice," RIDOT Director Michael Lewis said in a press release. "We are committed to providing advance notice of construction for the Sakonnet River Bridge project.”

Huh?

Okay, wev. Read the press release yourself.

L-R RI Reps. Amy Rice, Jay Edwards, FHWA Dan Berman, Rep Patrick Kennedy, RIDOT Director Michael Lewis, Portsmouth Council President Peter McIntyre, Governor Don Carcieri .

Elected officials from the both sides of the river and state and Federal government were on hand this afternoon at the groundbreaking for the new Sakonnet River Bridge. The ceremony, off Riverside Ave. in the shadow of the old bridge, featured speeches by Governor Don Carcieri and Rep. Patrick Kennedy, and much celebration that work on the long-awaited replacement for the existing span is finally underway.

Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) Director Michael Lewis served as the master of ceremonies, and kicked off by recognizing the many officials attending — on hand from Portsmouth were Council President Peter McIntyre and Councilors Keith Hamilton and Jim Seveney — as well as Reps. Amy Rice and Jay Edwards. Also singled out for thanks were Assistant Division Administrator Dan Berman from the Federal Highway Administration and Director Keith Stokes of the Newport County Chamber of Commerce, who got a shout out for giving RIDOT a prod "because of the impact here on the economy of the Island."

Lewis noted the size and importance of the project. "This will be the largest single-bridge construction project RIDOT has ever let," he said, predicting that the project would create more than 100 jobs locally. He stressed the importance of the bridge as a critical link. "It carries 40 thousand vehicles per day, the largest corridor onto the island." He also recognized the impact weight restrictions were having on the community and was frank in his assessment of the current span, saying it is "on its las legs," but promised it would last until the new one is in place.

According to the schedule, Lewis said, the new bridge will be completed by May 2012, and there is a provision for an incentive payment of up to $5M to beat that by a full year. "We would like nothing more than to pay the full bonus," Lewis said.

Governor Carcieri called the new bridge "Hugely important to the infrastructure of the state" and "extraordinarily important to the whole Island." In addition to to the long-term impact, Carcieri stressed the direct economic impact. "We need the jobs. Not just the direct 100-150 jobs it will create, but indrectly, the several hundred more."

Rep. Patrick Kennedy picked up that theme and linked it to the nation's financial crisis. "It takes these common investiments in infrastructure if we want to see our economy improve," Kennedy said. He praised the Cardi Corporation, the winning bidder on the $163M project, as one of Rhode Island's best, and predicted they would beat the construction deadline. "They will rise to the challenge," said Kennedy.

Then Gov. Carcieri, Rep. Kennedy, and Director Lewis, joined by elected officials, posed with shovels and moved the first spadefuls of earth as TV crews and photographers from state-wide media snapped away.

Asked for his thoughts on the day, Council President McIntyre thanked the Governor and RIDOT for "finally getting everything together. It has been a long time coming."

Councilor Jim Seveney said he was looking forward to seeing the new bridge. "I drive underneath it on my jet ski in the summer months, and there's sunlight under there." Councilor Keith Hamilton echoed that sentiment. "I'm a little nervous about being this close to the old one," he said.

Rep Amy Rice said she was excited to see construction begin. "I'm happy that a Rhode Island, family-owned business got the contract," she said. "And, I look forward to the 100 jobs." Rep Jay Edwards said, "Hopefully, they will go as fast as they can, the crews will be safe, and we will have it before 2012."

RIDOT chief engineer Kazem Farhoumand was singled out by Director Lewis as having been involved with the project since he was in the bridge engineering group, fifteen years ago. He described the long process getting to this day, a decade-long series of repairs, impact studies, and engineering plans. "It's an exciting day for me," Farhoumand said.

Pictures up on the Flickr stream.

Freshman legislator John G. Edwards (D), who represents parts of Tiverton and the north end of Portsmouth, has suggested what I think is a worthy name for the Sakonnet Bridge: a memorial to RI National Guard member Christopher Potts, killed in action in Iraq in 2004.

WHEREAS, Staff Sergeant Christopher Potts, a resident of Newport, Rhode Island and subsequently Tiverton, Rhode Island, and a member of Alpha Battery, 1st Battalion, 103D Field Artillery Regiment, 39th Brigade Combat Team in Iraq, made the ultimate sacrifice while engaging enemy forces in combat operations near Taji, Iraq.

WHEREAS, Staff Sergeant Christopher Potts’ heroic actions resulted in his award of the Bronze Star Medal, with Combat “V” and the Purple Heart; and

WHEREAS, The State of Rhode Island, as well as the majority of states across the country, uphold the tradition of naming structures such as roads, bridges and edifices after renowned and heroic individuals and there is overwhelming support for renaming the Sakonnet River Bridge the “Staff Sergeant Christopher Potts Sakonnet Bridge.”
— via RI General Assembly

If you think this is a good idea, why not join the Facebook group. (Had over 160 members as of this afternoon)

You can also vote in the Newport Daily News poll. (Where this name was leading by 3-2.)

And you might drop a line to your legislators. I think all the other names proposed have been appropriate, so I haven't felt the need to comment. But I think this deserves support.

Related: You can read additional coverage on the Sakonnet Times.

Hat tip to regular reader MM for the link.

Proposed steel Sakonnet River Bridge, image from RIDOT.

Construction could begin on the new Sakonnet River Bridge as early as this spring if internal review of the low-bidder's paperwork proceeds on schedule, according to RIDOT Managing Engineer of Bridge Engineering, David Fish.

Cardi Corporation of Warwick, RI was identified this week as the low bidder, with a proposal for the weathering steel option coming in at $164 million. In a telephone interview this morning, Fish said the aim was to have a signed contract by April 15, depending on review by RIDOT and the Department of Administration.

"We don't expect there to be any issue with Cardi," said Fish. "They've done a number of large projects like the iWay."

The Cardi bid was substantially lower — $22 million — than competing bids from Walsh and Cianbro, which were both close to $186M. Why the other two estimates were 13% higher and less than a million apart, Fish couldn't speculate. "This early in the game we don't have a logical explanation [for the difference]. Could be [Cardi's] familiarity with contracting and construction procedures in Rhode Island."

A cursory examination of the bid documents, which are available on the RIDOT site, shows that Cardi came in at the low end for many of the areas involving raw materials (soil, crushed stone, rip rap) leading this reporter to wonder if the proximity of the Cardi facility on Boyd's Lane, about a mile down the road, might be providing an advantage. "Could be," said Fish.

Assuming the contract is signed on schedule, the first construction operations — which Fish said would likely be construction of piers and abutments, driving pipe piles, and excavation work — is anticipated to kick off in late spring.

Maintenance on the existing span will continue "for as long as traffic is on the bridge," Fish said. And while this contract does not include the work to demolish the present bridge, RIDOT will advertise for bids as soon as there is a definite completion date. "And since there are bonuses for early completion," said Fish, "We would move that date up."

According to Portsmouth Town Administrator Bob Driscoll in a report at this evening's Town Council meeting, RIDOT anticipates awarding the contract for the replacement of the Sakonnet River Bridge to Cardi Corp. which came in as low bidder at approximately $160 million dollars.

As of 9 pm this evening, no further details had been posted at either RIDOT or Cardi (which appears to have bid on both the concrete and steel options.)

Update: Edited the headline and text to correct numbers and timeframe for actual awarding of contract.

In yet another self-congratulatory press release, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) late last week announced that they had won a "Bell Ringer" award for their spiffy Iway logo from The Publicity Club of New England in, "the region's premier public relations and communications event."

I might be more inclined to believe in the premiere-ness of this event if this elite group of public relations and communications professionals knew the difference between "it's" and "its." Click the PDF above for a bigger image. If it's just a typo, why is it wrong twice? (Both the second graf and the fourth bullet.)

And then, yesterday, came the news that the weight limit on the Sakonnet River Bridge has been reduced from 22 to 18 tons because of "additional deterioration."

"This award is another great feather in the Department's cap," RIDOT Director Michael P. Lewis said. "It affirms the hard work the men and women of RIDOT commit each day toward completing this important highway improvement project." Obviously, Lewis was speaking about the Bell Ringer.

My prediction: by the time the new Sakonnet Bridge is built, RIDOT will have won a Nobel, an Emmy, and a Caldecott, and the weight limit on the current span will be five pounds.