Long delay, higher costs ahead for Stonebridge fix

TIVERTON — The Stonebridge Abutment is not going to get repaired anytime soon.

Tiverton is being asked by the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) to wait — in queue, along with other projects in the state — until fiscal years 2017-2020, to even start repairs.

The wait is being instituted so that the state can implement a multi-step process for the review and approval of all state transportation infrastructure and expansion projects.

Adding previously estimated project timelines (2.75 years) — from local approval to completion — onto the 2017-2020 fiscal year RIDOT approval time frame, could mean that Tiverton may have to wait for about four to seven years for the Stonebridge Abutment to be repaired.

Meanwhile costs for the project have almost doubled.

That's all according to Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) Director Peter Alviti Jr., who sent a widely-distributed letter dated Oct. 20 to Rep. John G. (Jay) Edwards (D -70) and Town Councilor Brett Pelletier addressing the timeline and funding for Stonebridge Abutment repairs.

"Bad news for Tiverton," said Town Councilor Brett Pelletier about Mr. Alviti's messages. "I'm not sure what our next step is."

"It's unacceptable, really unacceptable," said Rep. Edwards. "There's no sense of urgency on the part of RIDOT."

Regarding funding, costs

On the funding front, Mr. Alviti in his letter cites previous cost estimates of $2.3 million for the repairs.

That's changed, he says. "At this time the project is estimated to cost approximately $4 million to complete."

He did not in his letter say why, or what the basis was, for the new cost estimates. Nor did he venture comment about the cost implicatons of further delays in making repairs.

RIDOT's new timeline

The timeline is grim.

Pleading a large number of road, bridge, and infrastructure projects, and scarce funding, Mr. Alviti wrote, RIDOT has developed a "10 Year Plan with a dedicated funding mechanism to support transportation infrastructure improvement and expansion, called RhodeWorks."

In the letter, Mr. Alviti laid out a kind of "take a number" process for the bureaucratic review and approval of all projects.

"In our 10 Year Plan," he said, we are proposing that all transportation projects "like Old Stone Bridge, be brought in front of the Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) for their decision on which projects will be funded within any given year. This committee advises the State Planning Council (SPC) on transportation planning, and encourages public involvement in the process."

These TAC reviews and recommendations, Mr. Alviti wrote, will provide input to the SPC in its planning for the transportation improvement progam for fiscal years 2017-2020, two to five years from now.

Previous rough estimates generated locally for a project construction timeline — measured from the time that the town council first approves a 30 percent submission, through RIDOT technical approvals and permitting, to the completion of construction — have been that it will take 33 months (2.75 years) for the project to get done.

In short, adding the new state timeline, based on the "take a number" approval process, together with the typical additional steps needed in a public works construction process (e.g. council approval, advertising, bidding, permitting, actual construction, etc.), leads to an estimate that it could be four to seven years before the Stonebridge Abutment repairs might be completed.

Meanwhile, there is near unanimoous agreement that the abutment continues to deteriorate, and faces threats from weather events (e.g. hurricanes, storm surges), and daily tides.

Response to RIDOT letter

"I'm beyond disappointed by the response from RIDOT," said Mr. Pelletier. "It sounds more like a cruel joke than anything else. It continues to show us that the State does not take priority in the needs of Tiverton and is almost always willing to back out on its word when it comes to the East Bay."

Mr. Alviti failed to mention in his letter, said Mr. Pelletier, "that the state, year-after-year, refused to make the funds available to the town, as promised. Through funding cycle after funding cycle we were pushed aside. If the State would have allowed the town to spend the money when the project was engineered and priced, we wouldn't be in the predicament we are currently."

Mr. Alviti said in his letter, that "RIDOT first got involved in this project in 2004."

Rep. Edwards agrees that the situation is dire, and he talks about storm surges and serious risks to homes and businesses on both the Tiverton and Portsmouth sides of the basin, and boating in the basin, that would be presented if the abutment were to collapse.

Abutment failure a threat, or emergency?

Adding to the already heightened concerns about the abutment is the sense, mentioned by many observers, that the deterioration is already so severe that the remediation project may need to be re-designed and re-engineered — or will need to be again by the time RIDOT gets around to reviewing and approving it years from now.

Which, observers say, could generate even more cost increases.

There's also the fear — an undercurrent now in all conversations about the abutnment project — that it's now a race against time before the abutment falls into the river. Borings in 2012, for example, showed the foundation of the abutment was disappearing.

Like others, Mr. Pelletier is concerned about the structure's rapidly accellerating deterioration due to tidal action. He says the tides have dramatically increased in velocity in recent years due to the removal a few years ago of the railroad bridge just north of the Sakonnet Bridge.

Mr. Pelletier lives above the basin near the Sakonnet River Bridge, and for years has observed the tidal flow through the area.

"We've been talking about this for 11 years and we're nowhere closer than we were back then. The difference is that the abutment is actively falling into the harbor. This, now, constitutes an emergency. The Governor and our state and federal delegates need to understand how crucial this issue is. It transcends politics.  Its a matter of survival for our maritime economy, what little is left."

"What's happening with the abutment speaks to the incredible velocity of the water through the Tiverton basin," said Bruce H. Cox, a lawyer and boater who for years has served as chairman of Tiverton's Harbor & Coastal Waters Commission.

"It has been and remains an emergency. The tides wait for no man. A decade is a disaster. If the abutment should fail, no one knows where the parts and pieces might go, and it could disrupt commerce in the basin."

Deterioration faster than anticipated

"The structure is deteriorating faster than anticipated," said Steve Hughes, Tiverton Yacht Club (TYC) Commodore. The TYC fleet of boats, and its clubhouse, lie along the basin's shore. Mr. Hughes has also for a number of years, until recently, been the Chairman of the Tiverton Planning Board.

"We're a waterfront community and the basin is the home for many moorings and boaters and three waterfront businesses."

Former Tiverton Harbormaster, Dave Vannier, has worked on the water for years, as a commercial shellfisherman, offshore lobsterman, and tow boat captain, among other professional pursuits. A long-time resident, he knows Tiverton basin well.

"If the abutment washes out, the protection for the basin goes away, and the waves will wash against the shoreline, and there'll be no protection for boats and the basin. The basin is also used as a storm harbor if there's a hurricane."

Mr. Vannier estimates the basin is home to 400-500 boats, including those at moorings and in nearby boatyards.

"What I can visually see, over the last five to seven years, is that the damage to the abutment has at least doubled, and that's just visual," he said.

Since the railroad bridge was removed, he said, the current though the basin has increased from the typical two knots per hour to about six knots per hour.

There are eddies "everywhere" in the basin, he said, many that were not there before.

"About 100 feet northeasterly off the northwest corner of the abutment," Mr. Vannier said, "there's a hole at 65 feet at low tide, that's developed since the railroad bridge was removed, that all the charts show is 35 feet."

"The delay in restoration of the abutment could have devastating effects on the boaters and the economy of Tiverton," Mr. Vannier said.

Mr. Alviti and the Department of Transportation did not respond to specific inquiries made Oct. 15 for purposes of this story, about RIDOT's timeline for repairs, contingency plans in the event the abutment failure is so serious that re-design and re-engineering is needed for the repairs, and RIDOT's long-term plans, if any, for protecting the Tiverton basin from the increassing force of the tides.