The Washington Bridge in Rhode Island, a critical commuter route, is undergoing complete reconstruction. Demolition by J.R. Vinagro Corp. involves intricate processes over land and water to recycle concrete. The project aims to enhance safety, community access, and environmental conditions, with the new bridge set for construction in 2025.
Photo courtesy of J.R. Vinagro Corporation
The J.R. Vinagro crew removes a failing deck and concrete beams with its John Deere 470G LC excavator.
Located in the heart of Rhode Island and recognized as one of the largest structures in the state, the Washington Bridge, which spans over the Seekonk River, faces complete demolition and reconstruction, beginning several months ago with the westbound span.
Photo courtesy of J.R. Vinagro Corporation
The 1,671-ft. bridge remains critical to commuters as it connects Providence and East Providence while also joining Providence to southern New England. The bridge, which was built in 1930 and faced major repairs in 1968, now receives more than 90,000 commuters each day and has served the community for nearly 100 years.
The complete reconstruction of the bridge requires many phases, beginning with removal and replacement of the Washington Bridge superstructure and substructure. Next, I-195 needs to be resurfaced and restriped, followed by the replacement of the Gano Street off-ramp. Finally, RIDOT (Rhode Island Department of Transportation) will achieve project completion by adding an exit ramp to connect I-195 Westbound to Waterfront Drive as it ensures overall environmental improvement, enhanced community safety and increased access through Providence.
J.R. Vinagro Corporation Begins Demolition
RIDOT recently awarded the first stage of the project, the demolition of the westbound span, to Aetna Bridge Co., a company based out of Warwick, R.I., that specializes in bridge construction and rehabilitation, marine construction and demolition services. Initially, RIDOT planned to salvage and revitalize the bridge substructure, but after careful inspection, a complete replacement is now deemed necessary. The bridge, in a much poorer state than originally anticipated, now also requires shoring prior to demolition to ensure safe dismantling.
Aetna, responsible for the shoring, placed temporary vertical steel supports underneath the bridge deck as well as base plates and bracing struts to ensure a solid temporary structural support. Where shoring is not feasible over water, Aetna used tied down rods fastened from the bottom of the pier to the edge of the cantilever beams to ensure safe dismantling.
Photo courtesy of J.R. Vinagro Corporation
The J.R. Vinagro bridge demolition crew.
In addition, the project involves a total of eight subcontractors, selected by Aetna Bridge Co., including Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., J.R. Vinagro Corporation, Siefert Associations, Freeman Companies, Narragansett Engineering, Oliveira Infrastructure LLC, Advocacy Solutions and Thielsch Engineering.
The sole demolition subcontractor, J.R. Vinagro Corporation, began demolition in late August and aims to reach completion of the superstructure by February 2025. The superstructure includes nearly two dozen 60-ft. drop-in concrete I-beams, a total of 18 spans, including a 165-ft. steel span over the navigable channel, the bridge deck, pedestrian safety parapets, spandrel arch beams, post-tensioned cantilever beams, steel plate girders, the Gano St. off-ramp box structure, the west abutment and the first span backwall along the superstructure.
While removing a bridge entails many stages, removing a bridge that crosses over a navigable waterway involves even further diligence. To get the job done, J.R. Vinagro Corporation uses a variety of equipment, including a 4100 Ringer crane, Liebherr LR1600 crane crawler, (both cranes provided by Bay Crane), John Deere 470G LC excavator, Cat 347, 349 and 390 excavators and specialty attachments such as sheers and hammers. J.R. Vinagro Corporation uses the 4100 Ringer crane on a barge to carefully pick the deck, drop-in beams and cantilever piers, with each drop-in beam weighing 40 tons and spanning 60 ft. and the cantilevers with deck weighing approximately 115 tons. The beams and cantilevers, so massive in size, must be picked and lowered to a material barge for downsizing and offloading at a nearby bulkhead.
Over water, Pinnacle Concrete Cutting, a local concrete contractor based in Johnston, R.I., and subcontractor of J.R. Vinagro Corporation, saw-cuts to separate the drop-ins and cantilever stems for picking. On land, a Liebherr LR 1600 crawler crane picks and lowers the drop-in beams and cantilever piers, while the excavators downsize the beams and piers while failing some spans over land.
Once the bridge components are reduced in size, all concrete is trucked back to J.R. Vinagro Corporation's facility in Johnston, R.I., where the concrete is downsized, crushed and recycled into usable concrete product. The crusher, a Lippmann jaw, crushes approximately 3,000 tons a day and can reduce the concrete into 1-in., 1.5-in. and 3-in. minus product. The Washington Bridge alone will produce approximately 75,000 tons of recycled concrete product.
Once demolition of the superstructure reaches completion, removal of the substructure will begin, including a substantial portion of the substructure underwater. Demolition of the substructure is expected to commence within the next few months. Soon a designer and contractor will be awarded for the redesign and rebuild of the new bridge. The construction of the new bridge is set to begin in December 2025. Once completed, the new bridge is projected to provide a service life of 100 years. CEG
Today's top stories
