Gov. Dan McKee responds to Rhode Island Department of Transportation Director Peter Alviti on Tuesday, Dec. 12, the first full day of the I-195 West closure on the Washington Bridge. McKee’s office released six weeks of text messages on Tuesday. (Office of the Governor)
“Governor, please call me now on an urgent matter.”
Uncertainty surrounds timeline to remedy problems with Washington Bridge
The nine words Rhode Island Department of Transportation Director (RIDOT) Peter Alviti Jr. texted his boss at 2:51 p.m. on Dec. 11, 2023, maintain a polite and formal tone while conveying that time is of the essence. Less than two hours later, Alviti would stand in front of television cameras at RIDOT headquarters and, in a voice fading from a bout of bronchitis, make an announcement no one wanted to hear: All four westbound lanes of I-195 on the Washington Bridge would be closed to traffic because the bridge was at risk of collapse.
The sudden closure of the bridge crossed by 96,000 vehicles a day effectively cut Rhode Island in half. But eight pages of texts released by Gov. Dan McKee’s office on Tuesday show the governor and the state’s transportation chief putting on a united front.