Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee announced Dec. 5, 2025, that Providence's Washington Bridge has been fully demolished ahead of schedule, a major milestone in the efforts to replace it following the structure's abrupt closing on Dec. 11, 2023.

"We continue to make progress on the Washington Bridge project, and reaching this major demolition milestone is an important step forward," McKee noted in a news release from his office. "I know travelers are still feeling the frustration of traffic, and I want to assure them that we are fully committed to rebuilding this bridge as quickly as possible, with one of the nation's top bridge builders leading the work.

"We thank Rhode Islanders for their patience as we construct a new, safe bridge that will improve traffic flow and shorten commute times."

The full demolition project was completed in two major phases beginning with the deck and superstructure, followed by the bridge's substructure.

Its deck and the superstructure were removed on schedule between July 2024 and February 2025. Shortly after that, demolition on the bridge's substructure demolition began, with work on the underwater portions starting last July in accordance with environmental permits.

Throughout the course of the removal, numerous precautions were taken, including strategically stationing barges to catch the debris and employing turbidity curtains to contain smaller debris. Sensors were deployed to monitor noise, dust and vibration levels to ensure they remained within accepted limits.

During work on a pre-existing $78 million project in late 2023 to rehabilitate the Washington Bridge's westbound span, consultants of the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) identified a critical failure of some bridge components in a different area of the structure.

Those components, called anchor rods, were part of the original bridge built in 1968 and provided counterbalance for a cantilevered bridge structure.

RIDOT immediately moved to close the span to all traffic for the safety of the motoring public.

The Washington Bridge is actually a series of three bridges that carry Interstate 195, U.S. Highway 6, U.S. Highway 44 and U.S. Route 1A over the Seekonk River connecting Providence to its suburb of East Providence.

Efforts Gearing Up for Rebuild

Now that the Washington Bridge has been razed, work continues to progress on its replacement.

Chicago-based Walsh Construction, one of the nation's leading bridge builders, has been mobilizing equipment and crews, securing permits, coordinating utility work and advancing the new bridge's design through detailed surveying and 3-D scanning to guide and refine the structure's look.

Construction of the new westbound side of the Washington Bridge is under way, according to RIDOT.

In the initial months of this project, the design-build team has been busy with a wide range of other tasks, including 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.

The work is projected to last 25 months and its traffic lanes are tentatively slated to open on Nov. 3, 2028.

RIDOT noted that the new Washington Bridge's design, which is both pragmatic and efficient, has been executed by the contractor twice before, making this build even easier and quicker to do. It also will reduce the length of the bridge by 459 ft. by cutting back on the number of supporting piers.

In addition, the bridge will be brand new from its substructure to the road deck and have a 100-year lifespan. When complete, it will support the 80,000 vehicles that cross it daily.

Traffic mitigation measures include 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.

RIDOT added that the rebuilding project will not only repair and pave the new road deck but replace the bridge's drainage structures.

Among the new Washington Bridge's other features are:

• New travel lane configurations for I-195 West in East Providence to eliminate longstanding traffic congestion westbound toward Providence. This will provide an additional travel lane approaching the bridge. To do so, the contractor will widen I-195 West to provide three lanes instead of four between the Broadway on-ramp and the Washington Bridge, replace the Potter Street overpass and relocate an existing pier connected to the off-ramp from I-195 East to Taunton Avenue.

• Its construction upon an entirely new substructure. The removal of the old substructure was added to the demolition project last fall.

• Aesthetic lighting that will illuminate the length of the bridge deck on its northern side. Prefabricated arches also will be built over local streets on both the Providence and East Providence sides of the river to mimic the look the original Washington Bridge.

The project is fully funded, in part, through $221 in competitive federal grants and GARVEE bonds. The full cost of the new construction is $427.9 million, of which the state has already paid $18.99 million of its portion of the replacement bridge's price tag.

The completion of the bridge replacement and redevelopment project will advance the key objectives of both RIDOT and the U.S. DOT, improving a critical piece of highway infrastructure in the heart of Rhode Island.