RI awards $45.8 million contract to demolish westbound Washington Bridge

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — The McKee administration on Friday picked Aetna Bridge Co. to demolish the westbound Washington Bridge, choosing the company over a rival bidder that had also sought the job.

Aetna estimated the cost of the demolition job at $45.8 million, which is significantly higher than the R.I. Department of Transportation’s prior estimate. The other bidder was Manafort Brothers Inc., which bid $43.8 million.

RIDOT spokesperson Liz Pettengill said the agency had budgeted $31 million to cover the construction portion of the demolition project, including $3 million of incentives if the work is finished early.

Aetna’s bid doesn’t include the incentive payment, which would bring its total for the demolition work to $48.8 million, or over $17 million more than budgeted.

A review committee that included RIDOT Director Peter Alviti determined Aetna’s plan was an overall better value for the state despite being costlier than Manafort’s, according to a memo released by the R.I. Department of Administration.

Pettengill said two factors led Aetna to beat out Manafort for the job.

“The first is that Aetna included a completion date that is 50 days sooner than what we asked for in the RFP and, as you know, an aggressive timeline is a priority,” she told 12 News. “Second, they assumed all the risk.”

The westbound bridge is supposed to be fully demolished by next March. It closed abruptly last December after engineers discovered serious structural problems with the span.

The eastbound Washington Bridge, a separate and newer structure, is currently carrying traffic on I-195 in both directions over the Seekonk River.

The award to Aetna is tentative and still needs to be finalized. The company had already been working on the reconstruction of the bridge as part of a joint venture with another firm, Barletta Heavy Division, before that project was abruptly halted when the bridge closed.

Frank McMahon, a spokesperson for Aetna, said the company was proud of its selection.

“With over 79 years of experience in bridge construction, repair, and demolition, our team is ready to get to work on this critical transportation infrastructure project for the state of Rhode Island,” he said.

Aetna listed eight companies it plans to use as subcontractors: Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. for lead designer; J.R. Vinagro for demolition subcontractor; Siefert Associations for construction engineering; Freeman Companies for traffic engineering; Narragansett Engineering for survey work; Oliveira Infrastructure LLC for highway design support; Advocacy Solutions for public outreach; and Thielsch Engineering for construction quality control.

Attorney Max Wistow — who has been hired by the state to pursue potential legal damages over the bridge’s failure — in April sent letters to Aetna and 11 other companies, asking them if they wanted to inspect the bridge before it’s demolished. However, Wistow downplayed the idea that those were “target letters” showing who the state might plan to sue.

Separately, RIDOT is currently soliciting bids for the estimated $368.3 million contract to design and build a new westbound bridge. Those are due next Wednesday, with a tentative award expected to be made by July 12.

The bridge closure has been a major headache for Gov. Dan McKee, who has stood by Alviti despite calls in some quarters for him to be replaced over the crisis. A poll released this week by Salve Regina University’s Pell Center showed only 29% of Rhode Island voters approved of how McKee has handled the bridge situation.

Ted Nesi ( tnesi@wpri.com ) is a Target 12 investigative reporter and 12 News politics/business editor. He co-hosts Newsmakers and writes Nesi’s Notes on Saturdays. Connect with him on Twitter , Threads and Facebook .

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