Newport This Week

‘Bridge to Nowhere’ to be Demolished in 2023



The RIDOT rendering (above) illustrates how the on/off ramp under construction (at the left) will intersect Admiral Kalbfus Rd./Rt. 138 in this westward-looking view toward the new Connell Highway roundabout and the Newport-Pell Bridge. The driveway at right is the proposed delivery truck entrance for Stop & Shop in the RK Newport Towne Center. The RIDOT rendering (below) illustrates how the proposed Farewell St./Connell Highway connector road will intersect the proposed downtown Newport on/off ramp, approximately opposite the Viking Tours garage and the current Newport dog park.

The RIDOT rendering (above) illustrates how the on/off ramp under construction (at the left) will intersect Admiral Kalbfus Rd./Rt. 138 in this westward-looking view toward the new Connell Highway roundabout and the Newport-Pell Bridge. The driveway at right is the proposed delivery truck entrance for Stop & Shop in the RK Newport Towne Center. The RIDOT rendering (below) illustrates how the proposed Farewell St./Connell Highway connector road will intersect the proposed downtown Newport on/off ramp, approximately opposite the Viking Tours garage and the current Newport dog park.

The so-called “Bridge to Nowhere,” a long stretch of highway that welcomes motorists to Newport and Middletown, will be demolished in 2023.

The entryway from the Pell Bridge and Route 138 East will be replaced by a Route 138 extension and a new traffic signal that leads to Admiral Kalbfus Road.

“Right now, a driver would come off the ramp and kind of meander through the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ and then come all the way down,” said Jody Richards, project manager at the Rhode Island Department of Transportation. “[Instead], when you come off the bridge, folks going to Admiral Kalbfus Road will have a straight shot and come in on a single lane to a new signal, where people can come off the bridge in a safe and efficient way.”

The demolition is part of RIDOT’s $85.5 million Pell Bridge Ramp Realignment Project, which aims to reconfigure routes to and from Newport to reduce vehicular collisions and traffic congestion. The project is estimated to be completed in 2024.

 

 

“The primary concern was to cut back on the number of backups we see daily on the Newport Bridge,” said RIDOT director Peter Alviti, Jr. “This is one of those projects where we actually reimagined the way the connections were made here.”

The news came on Aug. 16 at a RIDOT update on the project in the parking lot of the former Newport Grand Casino. The update was requested by Rep. Lauren Carson (D-Dist. 75, Newport) and was well attended by the public and city councilors.

RIDOT officials and consultants from contracted firms assisting in the project’s design were on hand to take inquiries from the public on topics ranging from bridge engineering to pedestrian and traffic safety to stormwater and flooding. RIDOT also presented enlarged photographs and renderings detailing the scope of the work, with some images illustrating a “before” and “after” view of the roadways.

Rick Rhodes, director of highway engineering at VHB, a firm contracted to design the realignment project, said stormwater channels leading into Narragansett Bay would be widened to allow for more runoff flow away from residential areas.

The photo above shows the new, Newport-Pell bridge on/off ramp under construction (A), creating a new intersection with Admiral Kalbfus Road/ Rt. 138 (B). The current off ramp for Admiral Kalbfus Road/Rt. 138 (the infamous bridge to nowhere) is at right (C) and will be removed in later phases of the RIDOT’s bridge ramp realignment project, to be completed in 2024. The City Yard (D) is visible at the center of this photo, looking south toward downtown Newport (E). (Photo by Kevin Friel/Aquidneck Aerials)

The photo above shows the new, Newport-Pell bridge on/off ramp under construction (A), creating a new intersection with Admiral Kalbfus Road/ Rt. 138 (B). The current off ramp for Admiral Kalbfus Road/Rt. 138 (the infamous bridge to nowhere) is at right (C) and will be removed in later phases of the RIDOT’s bridge ramp realignment project, to be completed in 2024. The City Yard (D) is visible at the center of this photo, looking south toward downtown Newport (E). (Photo by Kevin Friel/Aquidneck Aerials)

“The wetland areas are going to be restored, enlarged and cleaned out to help with the stormwater,” he said.

“There’s a very intricate dance that has to happen between our city and RIDOT,” said councilor Angela McCalla. “I’m concerned about the concept of sustainable communities, and there’s a lot of flood water that overflows into the neighborhoods. It sort of started during the original construction, and here we are again at the precipice.

I’m looking forward to more explanations.”

The city is expected to provide an update on flooding in the areas of Garfield Street, Van Zandt Avenue and Prescott Place at an Aug. 24 City Council meeting.

The ramp that currently brings traffic to downtown Newport via Farewell Street from the Pell Bridge, as well as the on-ramp to Route 138 West from Admiral Kalbfus Road, will also be demolished. All three bridge demolitions are expected to take place in 2023, with the downtown connection slated to be the first to be removed.

“It depends a little bit on the sequence of construction; they won’t all be at the same time,” Rhodes said.

In the coming months, RIDOT will begin shifting traffic to the new lane and signal. A new connector road will extend from Route 138 to JT Connell Highway and serve as a point of exit from Newport, replacing the old on-ramp to Route 138 West. Further, JT Connell Highway will extend to Farewell Street, a modification that will require traffic shifts over the next year.

The idea is to take the project in sequence and free up space for construction crews to complete work, while maintaining adequate traffic flow coming into the city, according to RIDOT. “We have to basically free up land, reroute traffic and then we’re able to get our work done,” Richards said.

Once the connecting routes are reconfigured, demolition of the bridges and overpasses coming off Route 138 is expected, and the resulting vacant land, which is state property, will be used for economic development and public space opportunities, including the slated construction of a 200-vehicle park-and-ride lot near the current ramp on Farewell Street.

The land will also be used to bolster a shared-use path along JT Connell Highway, Farewell Street and America’s Cup Avenue, intended to be utilized by pedestrians and cyclists.

“It’s certainly a very complicated project,” said Richards.

A new traffic signal and lane modification are also expected at the Farewell Street-America’s Cup Avenue intersection, along with a new traffic signal at the Third Street-Van Zandt Avenue intersection.

“That’s an intersection that’s been known to cause a lot of congestion,” said Richards. “An inefficient signal can cause a lot of backups. But the new signal, coordinated with the other signals, is really going to improve traffic flow into Newport.”

RIDOT officials said there will be more traffic, lane shifts and closures, and some night work is anticipated.

One response to “‘Bridge to Nowhere’ to be Demolished in 2023”

  1. Peter R says:

    I hope they reimagined it better than the intersection of Memorial, Aquidneck and Purgatory roads in Middletown. The reimagined intersection there is a nightmare and made traffic and delays 5 times worse.

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