JV signs on for US$625m major interstate rehab in Rhode Island, US

Construction workers replace the bridge on Elmwood Avenue in Providence, Rhode Island, US, as part of the I-95 15 Project. (Image: Rhode Island DOT)

According to the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT), the design-build project is the “largest ever undertaken” by the agency.

The scheme seeks to remove and replace 15 bridges along US Interstate 95 (I-95) and Rhode Island Route 10 between the state’s capital city of Providence down to Warwick (about 12-mi south) and around Cranston (about 5-mi south of Providence).

Skanska, which will book $417 million from the contract, referred to the project as “complex” and said work started in August of this year.

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RIDOT said the project goals are to reduce the state’s number of poor-rated bridges by 7.6%. 

The transport agency noted the corridor is one of the state’s busiest; it carries about 185,000 vehicles daily including around 9,000 trucks and heavy freight.

As recently as September, construction crews completed the replacement of the southbound Elmwood Avenue Bridge near Cranston.

The total cost to remove and replace the 15 bridges is listed at $779 million, with $251 million coming from the US federal government’s Bridge Investment Program.

Work is expected to finish in 2031.

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