On Christmas Day, two large fast ferries sat idle, tied up on the Bristol waterfront. After their inaugural five days shuttling back and forth to Providence all day long, the vessels and the crew had earned a break.

The ferries were one of the Rhode Island Department of Transportation’s (RIDOT) remedies to reduce traffic from the East Bay following the abrupt closing of the westbound side of the Washington Bridge in Providence on December 11.

While in the heat of the moment, when the Route 195 bridge was first closed, a ferry service from Bristol may have been a reasonable consideration. However, by the time the ferry operation was up and running, 10 days after the highway closure, RIDOT had already constructed a bypass on the eastbound side of the Washington Bridge and the drive to Providence was tolerable.

In a typical overreach (and overspend), the State of Rhode Island gave no-bid contracts to not one, but three, ferry companies for this largely experimental service. The three-month contracts have a potential cost of $5,000,000, or $50,000 every day. Thankfully, the State has the ability to cancel the contracts with two weeks notice.

Not surprisingly, the three ferries running the Bristol-Providence commuter route have been mostly empty. A handful of curious passengers have tried the service, but it is far from providing any meaningful traffic relief on the roads to and from the capital city. Parking at Colt State Park, then taking a bus to downtown Bristol to get a ferry to Providence and then boarding another bus at India Point Park to finally reach downtown Providence is more of an adventure than a convenient alternative to driving.

If he hasn’t already, we would urge RIDOT Director Peter Alviti to cut his losses on the ferry boat experiment and cancel these contracts immediately. While this service could potentially be a fun concept to bolster tourism between Providence and the East Bay during the summer, it is far too costly to continue utilizing as an ineffective traffic mitigation tool.