More than two dozen construction workers joined state and local officials gathered near the bank of the Seekonk River in Providence Wednesday morning to watch a crane on a barge hoist a massive steel pipe into the air before lowering it into the water.
That pipe is the first of 32 drilled shafts that will form the foundation of a new westbound Washington Bridge, which saw its physical reconstruction finally start after the old highway connecting Providence to East Providence was shut down over two years ago. Each shaft will extend approximately 130 feet to bedrock, creating the support system for the bridge’s piers and abutments.
“This is a day we’ve all been waiting for,” Robert Rocchio, interim director of the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT), told the crowd gathered on the construction site…