Demolition work continues on the western side of the Washington Bridge on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, at 3:30 p.m. while traffic flows both ways on I-195 on the eastern side. (Screenshot/Rhode Island Department of Transportation Traffic Camera)
The two finalists competing to rebuild the westbound Washington Bridge will get three confidential meetings with state transportation officials to discuss their plans before a final contract is awarded in early June.
That’s according to the finalized request for proposals (RFP) the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) posted to its online bid portal Friday afternoon. The bid documents incorporated comments RIDOT received from the two bidders at the start of the year.
Gov. Dan McKee’s administration opened the latest round of bidding last December — just a little more than one year after the state permanently shut down the westbound section of the Interstate 195 span due to risk of collapse. The two finalists vying to rebuild the bridge over the Seekonk River are Chicago-based Walsh Construction Company and a joint partnership between American Bridge Co. and MLJ Contracting Corporation, based respectively in Pennsylvania and New York.
The pair of finalists were chosen on Dec. 10, following a request for qualifications. It was the second try after no firms submitted bids by the summer deadline on the first attempt issued last spring.
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The state then issued an initial RFP on Dec. 18 to solicit feedback from the two contenders on what they wanted to see included in the final bid document. Responses were due to RIDOT on Jan. 3.
Not much has changed to the overall scope of the project in the finalized documents: RIDOT still wants five lanes of travel over the new bridge, along with an onramp from Gano Street in Providence and a new offramp to Waterfront Drive in East Providence.
But now the winning contractor will be required to coordinate with the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority to see if any existing bus routes over the westbound bridge would be disrupted by the project.
“I would like to sincerely thank RIDOT for its thoughtful consideration of public transit operations in its RFP,” RIPTA CEO Christopher Durand said in a statement Friday. “We look forward to working closely with RIDOT and the selected vendor to maintain reliable service for our riders during construction.”
Contractors must also account for weather-related delays in their proposal schedule, estimating the number of days each month when weather could disrupt work. Most other additions to the final bid outline involved placing the word “shall” ahead of responsibilities the winning contractor must take on.
“That’s really the meat of it — it’s mostly just clarifying technical things,” St. Martin said in a phone interview Friday.
Not included in the RFP are a final timeline or cost estimate for a new bridge — something state officials plan to reveal after a final contract is awarded. RIDOT set a deadline of June 6 to award the contract.
The unsuccessful contractor vying for the state’s contract will receive a $1.75 million payment to cover costs associated with bidding on the project.
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