Construction on the Pell Bridge snarled rush hour traffic Tuesday. Officials are working to mitigate traffic issues. On Tuesday, scheduled construction on the bridge forced the shutdown of a westbound lane, leaving a single lane open.
The Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority have been working on the 50-year old span for the last year. This week, they poured and set concrete with industrial heaters, requiring a lane closure westbound says Eric Offenberg, the Director of engineering.
“The traffic that we had was much worse than was anticipated,” Offenberg said. “We have come up with a plan to deal with that, by removing the heaters during rush hours, so that will alleviate the busiest time. It’s still going to a single lane at all other times until Friday afternoon.”
Turnpike and bridge authority engineer Eric Offenberg said the work had been delayed by recent rain.
“And we had to finish it because they had done all the demolition because they had done all the demolition and we can’t leave the exposed concrete and rebar over the winter, because of all of the salt and sand and snow, it would really destroy the bridge,” Offenberg said.
Offenberg says all lanes will be open during rush hour on the bridge, between 3 and 7pm Wednesday, and Thursday. Construction is expected to be complete by Friday afternoon.
