PORTSMOUTH/TIVERTON — Contractors for the R.I. Department of Transportation (RIDOT) ramped up demolition work on the old Sakonnet River Bridge Wednesday.

“They are removing the bridge deck, cutting out sections and loading them into a truck,” said Charles St. Martin, RIDOT’s chief public affairs officer. “This will go on for several weeks.”

Contractors are working on the Tiverton side of the span now, and will move back toward the Portsmouth end as the job progresses, he said.

On Wednesday, RIDOT hosted a media tour of the old bridge, which sits just north of the new span that was completed in 2012.

The job is the first of two contracts to remove the old bridge, and will focus on the bridge's deck and superstructure elements. According to RIDOT, this phase of the demolition involves the removal of 17 spans between the bridge's piers, a total of 2,178 feet involving 6.2 million pounds of steel and 2,700 cubic yards of concrete.

The entire demolition job is expected to be completed next summer, RIDOT said.

Working from the bridge deck as well as utilizing barges and cranes, the contractor will dismantle the bridge using mechanical methods. The work may cause noise disruptions, and brief local traffic impacts are anticipated on both sides of the bridge, according to RIDOT.

The main construction access for the old bridge will be from the shoulder of Route 24 southbound. No significant long-term travel lane closures are expected on the new bridge or Route 24, RIDOT said.

Brief disruptions for marine traffic under the bridge are possible, but the main channel under the bridge will remain open at all times during the boating season through early October, according to RIDOT. The boat ramp located on Riverside Drive in Tiverton, built as part of the new bridge project, also will remain open but brief disruptions may be possible.

The project for the first phase of demolition costs approximately $15 million, RIDOT said. 

The second phase will address in-water and land-based substructure element, but RIDOT hasn’t yet chosen a method of demolition. The department is considering using controlled explosive demolition, as it did for a portion of the former railroad trestle adjacent to the old bridge, and for the old Jamestown Bridge. 

RIDOT said it does not yet have a cost estimate for the second phase. RIDOT intends to begin work on the second contract as soon as possible after the completion of the first contract.