BRIDGING THE GAP
Stone Arch Bridge repairs in full swing
NORTH SMITHFIELD — It remains blocked off to traffic, but it does appear progress is being made on reconstruction of the Stone Arch Bridge in Slatersville. The state Department of Transportation (DOT) began working on the project to widen and strengthen the historic Slatersville Bridge in 2017 with an initial closure of the bridge for roadway and site work before moving on the bridge reconstruction itself.
That work continues at the Stone Arch Bridge between Main Street Slatersville and Providence Pike, Route 5, near the Slatersville Mill complex.
The improvements on the historic bridge include strengthening the arch with steel reinforcing rods drilled into its stonework and re-pointing the stone work of the arches. A wider and stronger travel deck is being added as part of the bridge’s superstructure reconstruction and is well underway.
According to the DOT reconstruction plan, the wider superstructure will consist of a series of new precast concrete panels placed on top of new concrete fill material over the existing stone arch. The panels will have a concrete barrier along each of the curb lines and a sidewalk behind the barriers, according the DOT plan.
Additional bridge construction will include moment slabs along the roadway approaches to anchor the twobar bridge traffic railing, reconstructing stone spandrel walls to meet the underside of the new concrete panels, constructing approach slabs, repairing portions of the existing channel walls and cleaning and re-pointing the stone arches, according to the DOT plan.
A signed detour system is already in place at the bridge to direct transportation away from the bridge crossing on Route 5 and also on Main Street on the other side of the closed bridge. The second construction closure of the bridge is scheduled to run through July of 2019 and the bridge project finish in its entirety in June of 2020, according to the DOT.
Lisbeth Pettengill, director of communications for the DOT said the Slatersville project’s total cost is $13.5 million and remains on schedule for completion in late May or early June of 2020.
The DOT also recently passed a construction milestone on another major bridge project in the town, the reconstruction of the Woonsocket Hill Road overpass bridge on Route 146. State contractors recently used a weekend closure and detour plan for the section of Route 146 to install steel bridge girders across the highway on the newly rebuilt bridge abutments and supports. Work is now underway on the installation of bridge decking on the span.
Woonsocket Hill, currently closed to traffic at the bridge work site, is $11.3 million project and is scheduled to be complete in late December of 2019, according to Pettengill.