...Administration (FHWA) approved replacement the Old Jamestown Bridge, which was built 1940 and had weathered the storms of Narragansett Bay for 66 years while carrying Route 138 over the west passage of the bay to link Jamestown and North Kingstown. Although construction of the new Jamestown-Verrazzano Bridge was completed in 1992, the Old Jamestown Bridge was not removed until 14 years later.

During the intervening years, removal of the old bridge remained a condition of the permit granted by the United States Coast Guard for construction of the new structure that replaced the old bridge. In 2003, the Coast Guard ordered RIDOT to remove the old bridge due to safety concerns, and the towns of North Kingstown and Jamestown also requested that RIDOT demolish the obsolete structure. Because removal of the old span remained a commitment under the environmental impact statement for the new bridge, RIDOT was legally obligated to proceed.

"The question was not whether it was to be removed, but what would be the easiest, most environmentally friendly, and most cost-effective method of removal," says RIDOT Chief Engineer Edmund T. Parker Jr., P.E. When demolition of the Old Jamestown Bridge finally began in 2006, the contractor used explosives to demolish the structure in two initial stages, which took place exactly 1 month apart in April and May 2006.

In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act, RIDOT prepared a supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) to address the effects of removing the old span and to identify and evaluate alternatives for the ultimate disposition of the bridge materials. Because the structure had to be removed for legal reasons, a no-build (or "no-action" in this case) alternative was not applicable. Accordingly, the project alternatives were all identical in terms of demolition but differed in the disposition of the resulting debris. The contractor would need to dispose of approximately 5,442 metric tons (6,000 tons) of steel and 32,895 cubic meters (43,000 cubic yards) of concrete. The debris will be reused to create fish habitats, plus it will provide beneficial recreational and economic opportunities for the towns near it.

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Alternatives for Debris Disposal

In the draft SEIS, the agency identified three viable alternatives. Each option was evaluated in terms of its comparative merits and anticipated social, economic, and environmental consequences:

1. Landfill Disposal Alternative. Under this option, all structural steel debris would be salvaged and recycled, and all concrete debris would be transported for permanent placement in an upland landfill.

2. Artificial Reef Alternative. All structural steel and concrete debris would be deployed by barge to create a marine artificial reef in Rhode Island's offshore waters.

3. Hybrid Alternative. All structural steel would be salvaged and recycled, and a marine artificial reef would be created using the concrete debris.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The agency estimated that the most expensive alternative, landfill disposal, would cost between $20 million and $24 million, of which approximately $4.5 million would be incurred in landfill disposal fees alone. Barges would transport the concrete debris to an unloading site, and then trucks would take the debris to a landfill. The trucks would produce air quality, noise, and traffic impacts for the duration of the removal operations. Given that this alternative would result in the permanent consumption of a significant volume of landfill space and would provide little social or environmental benefits to the community, landfill disposal was not considered a prudent alternative.

The remaining two options differed primarily in the ultimate disposition of the steel debris. The artificial reef alternative would deploy all of the steel and concrete to construct the reef, while the hybrid alternative would recycle the steel and build the reef using only the concrete.

The two alternatives were expected to have similar impacts and benefits. Given the successes of artificial reef initiatives in other States, RIDOT believed that the placement of suitable bridge structure at selected barren ocean bottom areas would represent a unique opportunity to enhance marine habitat. This use would offer potential long-term recreational and economic benefits through the creation of new fishing and sport-diving opportunities.

In terms of...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



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