Bridge to Nowhere: How Rhode Island is Faring During the Washington Bridge Shutdown

Spoiler: not very well. But at least we have a wicked sense of humor!
Kaitlyn Murray,

Oh, Rhody, Rhody, Rhody.

Surely I don’t need to recap the last few days for the majority here as this story has been everywhere — ‘where were you when you got the emergency alert?’ — but for the few who may be returning from a social media detox, or perhaps for the sequestered South County resident, I’ll be brief. On Monday afternoon, the RI Department of Transportation announced the sudden and immediate closure of the westbound side of the Washington Bridge following the discovery of “critical failure of some original bridge components from the 1960s.”

Many have questioned how no one caught the faulty parts, including actual severed pins, sooner, but that is neither here nor there: the structure was deemed at risk for collapse and therefore will be closed for the foreseeable future while the issues are addressed. (The rumor is three months, but, well, we all know how these things go.)

Now, while any road closure in our tiny state is rather inconvenient, between 96,000 vehicles that relied on the route daily and no ideal alternative path between East Providence and Providence (see suggested detours here) for them to use, ‘utter chaos’ would be a better descriptor for this occasion.

There’s also the fact that many small businesses will be be negatively affected this holiday season, whether because shoppers will not want to make the drive to or from East Providence, the storefronts are blocked by detoured traffic, and so on. Schools, in-office schedules and public services like trash pickup have also been impacted.

It’s not all doom and gloom though. For instance, predicting the potential devastating effects, local eatery Rhody Roots has brainstormed a few ways in which they can help, including acting as a pickup location for local shops’ orders and offering advertising services.

 

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A post shared by Rhody Roots (@rhodyrootsri)

 

Plus, of course, we wouldn’t be true Rhode Islanders if we didn’t have a wicked sense of humor about the whole situation.

 

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A post shared by A Guy & His Pie Pizzeria (@a_guy_and_his_pie)

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