EAST PROVIDENCE — Another aged bridge in the city is due to be refurbished in the coming weeks and months.
The Rhode Island Department of Transportation has announced as part of the Interstate-195 Corridor Bridges project, the Potter Street Bridge, over I-195 from School Street to Freeborn Avenue in East Providence, will be closed.
Traffic can use the nearby Purchase Street or Lyon Avenue Bridges to detour. Construction is expected to last through mid-fall, pending potential weather or any other unforeseen delays.
As of Monday, April 2, lane shifts were scheduled along I-195 West, from the Washington Bridge to Lyon Avenue, and on I-195 East within the same project limits on Tuesday, April 3. RIDOT also planned to close the on-ramps to I-195 West from Veterans Memorial Parkway and Warren Avenue on Wednesday, April 4.
RIDOT warned motorists may experience overnight lane closures for construction along I-195 East and West, from the Broadway on-ramp to the Taunton Avenue on-ramp, and on I-95 North, from Exit 18 to Exit 19 (I-195) and I-95 South, from Point Street to Exit 18, Sunday-Thursday nights from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Detour routes will be signed for both on-ramps to the I-195 West on-ramp at Broadway. Traffic heading north on the Parkway will follow a detour using Lyon Avenue to Warren Avenue to Broadway. Local traffic on the Parkway north of Lyon Avenue can use Mauran Avenue (the last street before the Parkway on-ramp) to Burgess Avenue to reach Warren Avenue and the detour route to Broadway. A detour map is available at www.ridot.net/detourmaps.
Those heading to destinations on the East Side of Providence may wish to follow Valley Street to North Brow Street to Massasoit Avenue to use the Henderson Bridge as an alternate detour. Motorists also may wish to use Pawtucket Avenue or the Wampanoag Trail to the East Shore Expressway for I-195 West access.
The bridge replacement will be completed in late fall, however work on the nearby Washington Bridge may extend its reopening.
The bridge work is part of a new multi-bridge project in East Providence and Providence. The $20.7 million I-195 Corridor Bridges includes work on five structurally bridges.