SAKONNET BRIDGE ACCIDENT

Drivers ditched cars, only to find bridge also closed to pedestrians

Police blocked off section of bike path for safety reasons

Jim McGaw
Posted 8/29/16

PORTSMOUTH/TIVERTON — Several drivers who couldn’t get into Tiverton due to Monday’s mishap on the Sakonnet River Bridge thought they had a smart idea: Just ditch the car in …

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SAKONNET BRIDGE ACCIDENT

Drivers ditched cars, only to find bridge also closed to pedestrians

Police blocked off section of bike path for safety reasons

Posted

PORTSMOUTH/TIVERTON — Several drivers who couldn’t get into Tiverton due to Monday’s mishap on the Sakonnet River Bridge thought they had a smart idea: Just ditch the car in Portsmouth and hoof it over to the other side via the span’s bicycle and pedestrian path. 

The only problem was, when they parked on Anthony Road in Portsmouth and walked up the path, which runs along the north side of the bridge, they found yellow police tape on both sides of the span.

In addition to closing both directions to vehicular traffic, police also blocked the center section of the bike path for most of the afternoon.

Tiverton Police Capt. Patrick Jones said the measure was taken for safety reasons. Three oversized tow trucks were deployed to upright a large “Snooper” truck which had tipped over on the south side of the bridge earlier.

“They’re going to secure it so they don’t just whip it over. They’re afraid if they do that, all of the cables won’t be able to survive, which is why we did this,” Capt. Jones told people gathered on the bike path as he pointed to the police tape. “If one of those cables snap, we’re going to know to duck — but you’re not.”

One of those who got stuck on the Portsmouth side was Kristal Depoy of Bristol, who works at the Sakonnet Veterinary Hospital in Tiverton. 

She was headed back to work after getting lunch at Clements’ Marketplace in Portsmouth when she hit traffic on Route 24. After 40 minutes of waiting, she decided to exit onto Anthony Road and park there. 

“I was just going to walk to work because I wasn’t going to wait in traffic anymore,” Ms. Depoy said as she stood on the bridge. “Now I’m stuck because of the police tape.”

However, she said there probably wasn’t much work waiting for her back at the office.

“I think a lot of our clients canceled today because they’re stuck in this traffic,” she said.

Lifelong Tiverton resident Stacy Arsenault was on the bridge’s bike path with her 10-year-old son, Eli.

“I’m a driver trying to be a pedestrian. We were trying to get back home in Tiverton to make his school orientation and then we hit traffic,” Ms. Arsenault said a few minutes after that orientation began at 3:30 p.m. 

She also had parked her car on Anthony Road. “We pulled over on the side and decided to walk home,” said Ms. Arsenault, whose family lives on Highland Road, not far from the bridge’s Tiverton side.

“It’s a big deal and we’re a little frustrated,” she said, noting the orientation was for fifth-graders entering Tiverton Middle School for the first time. “Better to be safe than sorry, I guess.”

Reunited on the bridge

Mike Brennan just wanted to get to his wife, Margie, who was only the length of a football field away. 

“I’m a teacher in Newport and my wife is a teacher in Tiverton,” said Mr. Brennan as he stood near the police tape on the Portsmouth side. On the Tiverton side of the bike path was Margie, but they could speak only by phone.

“I don’t start until Tuesday, but she was teaching today. It was funny because we were driving her to work and I was teasing her about all the things I was going to do today,” he said. “As I drove by that (Snooper) truck I said to her, ‘That’s definitely a job that you don’t have enough money to pay me to do.’”

Later that afternoon, he learned about the accident. “I couldn’t get to her. We’ve been trying to get to each other the whole time,” he said.

And the reason he drove her to work in the first place?

“She doesn’t have a car because it had to go into the shop for repairs,” said Mr. Brennan. “Of all days — today!”

Shortly after he said that, however, Capt. Jones allowed a man who needed medication on the Tiverton side to walk over. 

“Send my wife back over the other way,” Mr. Brennan yelled to the officer. “She’s stuck over there.”

Seeing a break in the Snooper truck rescue operation, Capt. Jones did just that, escorting Ms. Brennan and several others over to the Portsmouth side.

“This is a glorious moment,” Mr. Brennan exclaimed as he and his wife embraced.

Not long after that, at 4:35 p.m., the Snooper truck was upright again. The bridge was re-opened to traffic shortly afterward.

Sakonnet River Bridge, Sakonnet Bridge, RITBA

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