McKee said he should have been told sooner about catastrophic problems with bridge

Patrick Anderson, Providence Journal
Updated ·2 min read
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Gov. Dan McKee said Thursday he should have been told sooner about problems on the Washington Bridge and was even unaware of the Department of Transportation's Dec. 11 news conference announcing the bridge's closing.

Engineering consultants working on the bridge warned RIDOT employees of their concerns that several bridge structural elements had failed Friday, Dec. 8. DOT Director Peter Alviti Jr. was told about the problem in the early afternoon the following Monday and he told McKee around 3 p.m. after texting him something was "urgent."

A screenshot of a text message provided by the governor's office showing the first time Gov. Dan McKee was notified about the issues with the Washington Bridge and the decision to close it to traffic. The bridge was closed hours later, at 5 p.m.
A screenshot of a text message provided by the governor's office showing the first time Gov. Dan McKee was notified about the issues with the Washington Bridge and the decision to close it to traffic. The bridge was closed hours later, at 5 p.m.

Speaking to reporters after an event to celebrate a movie being filmed in Rhode Island, McKee said he wished state transportation experts had shared their concerns about the span that carries Interstate 195 over the Seekonk River as soon as they had them.

"My understanding was that there was work that was done over the weekend, beginning on Friday, that brought us to that meeting on the Monday, December 11th, which is the first I'm hearing of it with the recommendation to close the bridge for safety," McKee said. "As soon as somebody knew, I should have known."

In an interview with WPRO radio later Thursday afternoon, McKee said after he found out about the problem on Monday Dec. 11, he gave orders for the DOT to announce the closure, but didn't know Alviti was going to hold a 5 p.m. news conference.

"I was in budget hearings that were going on in my office while that press conference was going on – which, quite frankly, I wasn't even aware the press conference was happening," he told WPRO's Matt Allen. "We were aware announcements were going to be made. We weren't really clear how they were going to be made."

McKee has been criticized for not attending the news conference and, instead, at 5:30 p.m. going to a Hope High School basketball practice in Providence.

He's taken a more hands-on role in managing the bridge response this week and assigned Senior Deputy Chief of Staff Joseph Almond to oversee what's happening at the DOT.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: McKee said he should have been told sooner about Washington Bridge problems