An early warning that something was seriously wrong with the Washington Bridge arrived in state Department of Transportation inboxes around 1:40 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 8, with the subject line: “Washington Bridge 700 Inspection – Critical Finding.”
Andrew Prezioso, a structural engineer working for bridge design contractor VHB , had seen alarming damage to the anchor rods holding down parts of the bridge’s westbound span, and he wanted to share video of it.
The images showed the “cantilever span bouncing at the bearing,” he wrote to DOT Project Manager Anthony Pompei and a half-dozen other engineers that Friday, according to emails obtained by The Providence Journal through an Access to Public Records Request.
DOT managing engineer: ‘No immediate actions to be taken’
DOT Managing Engineer Keith Gaulin was the first to respond around an hour later.
“Based on our phone conversation, it seems there are no immediate actions to be taken right at this moment as we try to determine other short and long-term solutions,” Gaulin wrote back to Prezioso, fellow DOT employees and contractors.