Rhode Island news | projo.com | The Providence Journal

« Update: Drive-by shooting in Providence wounds two | Today | Weather update: A weekend for the beach / Photo »

August 24, 2007

DOT to check 3 overpasses on Rte. 295 on weekend

Traffic may be pared down at times to one lane along parts of Route 295 in Cumberland and Lincoln this weekend while the state Department of Transportation inspects three overpasses.

State DOT spokeswoman Dana Nolfe said today that the department anticipates few, if any, delays during the work, which will happen from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

“We generally find that Route 295’s weekend capacity is less than weekdays,” said Nolfe. “We are not anticipating heavy delays.”

The work is being done to prevent a repeat of the Monday collapse that damaged three cars driving under the overpass at Exit 10. Department officials say a 20-foot long, 4-inch wide piece of “decorative,” as opposed to “structural,” concrete broke off from the overpass and fell into the highway during mid-afternoon traffic.

Three cars were damaged after they drove over chunks of concrete in the roadway, but no car was hit directly by the falling concrete and no one was hurt in the incident.

This weekend, state DOT inspectors will examine the Old River Road overpass in Lincoln and the Diamond Hill Road overpass in Cumberland -- the two overpasses immediately north and south of the Mendon Road overpass.

Both of the bridge spans were part of a 1965 contract that saw the construction of the Mendon Road overpass, said Nolfe.

The Route 146 overpass (at Exit 9 of Route 295) will also get an inspection, though it was not built under that construction contract.

“Since we were going to be in the same proximity, we thought we might as well look at it,” said Nolfe.

-- Journal staff writer Philip Marcelo

State DOT crews are tentatively scheduled to work on the northbound and southbound side of Diamond Hill Road overpass and the northbound side of Old River Road overpass on Saturday, she said.

Work will continue if needed on Sunday, and crews will continue on to the southbound side of Old River Road overpass and both sides of the Route 146 overpass.

Nolfe said the state DOT completed maintenance work at the Mendon Road overpass on Wednesday, removing more pieces of the decorative concrete in the area of the bridge near the grassy median (crews on Monday cleared loose concrete from the parts of the overpass that spanned the highway and determined that the overpass was structurally sound).

“The bridges are over 40 years old,” she said. “The decorative concrete has outlived its useful life. We are checking to see that other bridges of the same era and same location and that are experiencing the same impacts -- the weather changes and road salt -- are good.”

Posted by Mike McKinney at 6:03 PM | Permalink

August 24, 2007

DOT to check 3 overpasses on Rte. 295 on weekend

Comments

Post a comment