DOT: Raising planned pedestrian bridge too costly

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island’s top transportation official has dealt a potentially fatal blow to the campaign to raise the height of a planned Providence River pedestrian bridge and extend a riverwalk through the former Interstate 195 land.
In a letter to the panel overseeing redevelopment of the I-195 parks, R.I. Department of Transportation Director Michael Lewis said raising the bridge would not provide enough navigational benefit to offset the additional costs and delays it would cause.
Extending the riverwalk the length of the park planned on the west side of the river would also be overly costly and make the area more vulnerable to expected long-term sea-level rise, Lewis wrote.
“RIDOT and [Providence officials] do not believe that the benefits of raising the profile of the bridge outweigh the costs” and construction delay, Lewis wrote. “A hardwalled edge and walkway in the West Side Park would have less resilience to sea-level rise. Many public comments also suggested a desire to have as much planting as possible within the park.”
The I-195 Redevelopment Commission’s Park Subcommittee, which had asked Lewis to explore raising the bridge and extending the riverwalk, reviewed the letter Dec. 1 and endorsed its findings, said commission spokeswoman Dyana Koelsch.
The idea of raising the pedestrian bridge came from WaterFire Providence Executive Artistic Director Barnaby Evans, who pointed out that the maximum clearance in the current bridge design does not match the location of the boat channel. He proposed having the bridge maintain a constant elevation to the western riverbank instead of sloping downward.
In his letter, Lewis said eliminating the slope would take away from the intended look of the bridge and cause a delay in construction of at least six months, in addition to increasing design costs by an unspecified amount. RIDOT hopes to break ground on the pedestrian bridge next summer.
Moreover, Lewis said because the Point Street Bridge to the south offers only slightly higher clearance, the change would have marginal improvement on river navigation.
He suggested the city and state pursue a river dredging project.
On the riverwalk extension, Lewis said along with the potential flooding issue, extending the walkway over a hard riverbank would cost an additional $2 million currently not in the budget. He said the current design does not preclude an extended riverwalk, which would pass underneath the bridge, at a later date.
On Evans’ final suggestion — to provide more lawn area facing the river instead of the “great lawn” in the middle of the park — Lewis said it was an option and he would defer to the commission’s preference.

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