The Mayor of Providence has expressed concern about the deteriorating condition of the city’s roads, attributing it to an increase in tractor trailers passing through due to the closure of the westbound side of the Washington Bridge. This closure, which occurred unexpectedly in December due to significant issues with the bridge’s original components, has forced traffic from Interstate 195 westbound to be rerouted through East Providence, the Henderson Bridge, and back into Providence. Despite several months passing since the closure, the city continues to experience a high volume of tractor trailers navigating through its streets, posing challenges as these roads were not originally designed to handle such heavy traffic.
“One of the recent frustrations is why you still have 18 wheelers, tractor-trailers, who don’t need to be in Providence that are crossing through Providence and doing real harm to our city streets which is the ripple effect of this closure is impacting us every day,” Mayor Brett Smiley said to 10 WJAR.
“Our roads are falling apart,” he said. “The infrastructure was not built for interstate highway traffic to be running through local city roads.”
Although Smiley lacks the authority to prohibit trucks from using city streets, he is advocating for state and federal officials, who possess such power, to take action.
Recently, Gano Street underwent temporary closure for essential repairs to a retaining wall. During this period, Smiley emphasized that the problem of trucks unnecessarily traversing through the city became even more evident.
“The Gano Street problem over the weekend, ratcheted that up a little bit and that’s when we asked that trucks unless they’re making a local delivery, not be allowed to travel through the detour route,” he said.
“If you’re an 18-wheeler that’s trying to get from Massachusetts to Connecticut, there is no reason for you to detour down Angell Street and down Gano Street. It is tearing our streets and caused us to have to do an emergency repair [last] weekend.”
As of Monday, February 5th, repairs of the Washington bridge are expected to take a “year or two,” according to Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt.
