AASHTO Journal, 10 January 2014
The Rhode Island Department of Transportation recently took home an award for the design of its Pawtucket River Bridge, completed last September.
RIDOT received the Honor Award from the Rhode Island Chapter of the American Institute of Architects for the design of the bridge. One of the organization’s most prestigious awards, the Honor Award was given to RIDOT in the urban planning and urban design category.
“The bridge exhibits a strong iconography, unique to this particular crossing, with its particular way of engaging the span with its abutments, and harkening back to the original bridge’s eagle-motif,” said a summary of why the project won, according to Rhode Island news outlet The Valley Breeze.”The referential nature of these design moves are made contemporary and purposeful through the honest expression of structural form. Acting as an extension of the city in the landscape, it is both connector and gateway and will undoubtedly be memorable to Pawtucket’s innumerable visitors and residents.”
The three-year, $81 million project actually rehabilitated or replaced nine bridges in the City of Pawtucket. The Pawtucket River Bridge was originally built in 1958 and has since carried I-95 over Taft Street and the Seekonk River, carrying about 126,000 vehicles per day. After issuing some safety concerns regarding the bridge, RIDOT broke ground on the new span in 2010, hoping to revitalize the gateway to Pawtucket. The bridge was built in phrases in order to minimize the impact to highway traffic and keep all travel lanes open throughout the duration of the project.
A list of all other Rhode Island Chapter 2013 Design Awards Winners is available here.
