Washington Bridge Live Cams
Exit 2B (Route 114)
Washington Bridge
Exit 1D (Gano Street)
Construction of the new westbound side of the Washington Bridge is underway. In the initial months of this project, the design-build team will be very busy with a wide range of tasks, including finalizing the design, surveying the site, drilling for borings, obtaining all necessary permits, ordering materials, fabricating steel in off-site mills and factories, and mobilizing workers and equipment.
Construction will take 25 months and traffic lanes will open on November 3, 2028.
The design which is both pragmatic and efficient has been executed by the contractor two times before, making this build even easier and quicker to do. It also reduces the length of the bridge by 459 feet by reducing the number of supporting piers. The bridge will be brand new from the substructure to the bridge deck and will have a 100-year life to support the 80,000 vehicles that use it daily.
Traffic mitigation measures includes addressing the historical backup in commuter traffic coming west on the bridge from the Massachusetts state line. There will be five through lanes over the new bridge in addition to a new on-ramp to I-195 west from Gano Street and an off-ramp from I-195 west to Waterfront Drive. The project will pave, repair and replace drainage structures.
The project is fully funded using in part $221 in competitive federal grants and GARVEE bonds. The full cost of the new construction is $427.9 million.
The completion of the Washington bridge Replacement and Redevelopment project will advance the key objectives of both RIDOT and USDOT, improving a critical piece of highway infrastructure in the heart of Rhode Island.
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Construction-related activities on the new Washington Bridge [5artinnab.cc.rs6.net] have been ongoing since June with design, soil sampling, geographic surveying, permit applications and the ordering of materials. On Sunday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights, November 9, 12, and 13, from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., we'll have alternating lane closures for drainage work on I-195 East, from Broadway to Waterfront Drive and I-195 West, from Taunton Avenue to Broadway. During the day next week, we'll have alternating one-way traffic to take soil samples for design work in East Providence on Potter Street, from Freeborn Avenue to School Street, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, November 10, and 12-14, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day. Motorists can expect up to two lanes [5artinnab.cc.rs6.net] closed for bridge preservation work on I-195 West, before and after the Providence River Bridge, Sunday-Thursday nights, November 9-13 and November 16-20. One lane will close at 8 p.m., and two at 10 p.m., with all lanes reopening by 5 a.m. the next day. We also need to close up to two lanes on I-195 West at the Washington Bridge, on Tuesday and Thursday nights, November 18 and 20, for bridge preservation work from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m., and on I-195 East, from Broadway to Pawtucket Avenue, for drainage work, Wednesday night, November 19, from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. We'll also have brief alternating lane closures at the India Point Park Pedestrian Bridge on I-195 East and West for weigh-in-motion system maintenance, Sunday night, November 9, from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. On Sunday night, November 16 - Friday morning, November 21 from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m., weather permitting, we also need to close up to two lanes for drainage work on I-195 East over the Washington Bridge. Crews using boring equipment will be operating on both the Providence and East Providence shores and on the water next week, which is part of the initial design activities for the bridge replacement project. No lane closures are required for this work. The approved in-water demolition work continues, Monday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. No work is currently planned after 6 p.m. to avoid any disruptive noise during evening hours. In accordance with CRMC guidelines, debris will be removed from the river as work progresses, placed onto barges and towed to land for transfer into trucks for offsite disposal. Temporary protective sheeting and turbidity curtains are in place. All of this work is part of our ongoing effort to have a high level of maintenance on this bridge. We are doing work proactively to provide a measure of safety. |
| Click here for project update archives |
The following charts provide travel time information over the prior month, compared to the same date range one year ago, prior to the bridge closure as well as traffic volume on the bridge. Travel Reports are updated weekly.
Weigh-in-motion and structural health monitoring data for the eastbound Washington Bridge will be posted weekly. This technology provides real-time information on overweight trucks crossing the bridge and stresses and strains on the structure from the passage of these vehicles.
In accordance with legislation passed into law on May 7, 2024, RIDOT submits monthly Washington Bridge Snapshot Reports. Reports will be posted here on or before the first of each month.
Below are links to inspection documents and accompanying photos from 2015 to present day for both the old westbound bridge and current eastbound bridge.
Click the links below for Washington Bridge-related press releases.
During work on a pre-existing $78-million project to rehabilitate the Washington Bridge westbound, RIDOT consultants identified a critical failure of some bridge components in a different area of the bridge. The components, called anchor rods, are part of the original bridge structure built in 1968 and provide counterbalance for a cantilevered bridge structure. RIDOT moved to close the bridge to all traffic for the safety of the motoring public.
The State on June 6, 2025 announced the selection of Walsh Construction Company to build the new Washington Bridge. Work on this design-build project begins immediately.
Initial work includes surveying the site, ordering materials, and mobilizing workers. Their project completion date is November 2028.
To keep the project moving forward on schedule, the State has established up to $10 million in incentives if lanes are opened ahead of schedule and penalties of $25,000 per day if the project timeline is exceeded.
The new Washington Bridge will be designed for easier inspection and maintenance, with a 100-year design life. Walsh’s plan includes several key improvements.
Please click here to learn more.In the initial week of the bridge closure in December 2023, RIDOT moved quickly to install bypass lanes on I-195 to allow two lanes in each direction on the eastbound Washington Bridge, which is an entirely different structure from the westbound bridge. By April 2024, an additional lane was added for each direction of travel, providing three travel lanes in each direction on the eastbound bridge.
Traffic volumes have largely returned to pre-closure conditions. Crashes have reduced significantly. Travel times are similar to pre-closure conditions. Additional travel time may be needed during rush hour periods. Motorists are encourage to review travel time information on this webpage to help plan their travel.
RIDOT publishes travel tools on this web page to help motorists plan their travel. These include reports showing recent travel times compared to pre-closure travel times. RIDOT also has a real-time travel dashboard showing current estimated travel times for I-195 and a number of other travel routes.
RIDOT uses probe data, a measurement that tracks vehicles based on signals transmitted by cell phones. The data is provided to RIDOT as part of a service many other states subscribe to, provided by INRIX. This is same source of data travel apps like Google, Waze and Apple Maps use, as well as GPS companies. These already take travel time into account when display travel times.
The data provides information on the speed of the vehicles carrying those cell phones and the data is computed into travel time and displayed on the travel time dashboard. This data is refreshed every five minutes.
No, work is continuing on all of RIDOT’s 62 other projects, which are largely on time and on budget. The Department publishes a detailed Quarterly Report on its website with budget and schedule information on all its projects at: www.ridot.net/accountability.
RIDOT publishes a monthly Snapshot Report on this web page. Weekly project updates are also published to this site each Friday. Anyone can elect to receive these updates by signing up using the form at the bottom of this webpage. Additionally, RIDOT periodcally meets with East Bay legislators to provide updates and answer questions about the Washington Bridge
