In a major milestone for Rhode Island’s infrastructure, VHB designed and its contractor partners Skanska, McCourt, and Aetna Bridge installed prefabricated bridge units (PBUs) on the Elmwood Avenue Bridge in Cranston—accelerating construction and keeping one of the state’s most ambitious projects on track for completion by the end of 2025. The project, dubbed the I-95 15, is a design-build (DB) that addresses 15 deficient bridges along the I-95 and Route 10 project corridors. In reconfiguring the I-95/Route 10 interchange, the project rehabilitates, removes, replaces, or constructs 19 total bridges.
To maintain traffic flow and avoid Route 10 closures, VHB and contractor partners Skanska, McCourt, and Aetna Bridge temporarily shifted traffic to the northbound side of the Elmwood Avenue Bridge. This allowed demolition and reconstruction of the southbound side to proceed without disruption.
With this bridge required to be demolished prior to the end of 2025, VHB designed PBUs on geosynthetic-reinforced soil (GRS) abutments to allow for rapid construction. PBUs, being prefabricated, significantly streamline bridge erection. The DB team installed the southbound PBUs overnight during a 15-hour closure of Elmwood Avenue.
To avoid interference with overhead utility lines, the crane was strategically positioned on Elmwood Avenue instead of the traditional Route 10 location—minimizing utility impacts and maintaining traffic flow.
With the southbound bridge complete, the DB team shifted all Route 10 traffic to this side over a recent weekend. The northbound side was also demolished over the weekend, removing the structurally deficient Elmwood Avenue Bridge before year-end and avoiding nighttime demolition to minimize noise impacts to the local neighborhood.
Building on this success, VHB and the DB team are replicating the approach on the Jefferson Boulevard Bridge on I-95 in Warwick. This bridge also features GRS abutments and PBUs, which were also installed over the weekend.
To learn more about Bridge Group 4R and VHB’s partnership with Skanska, McCourt, and Aetna Bridge, contact Jeff Klein on LinkedIn.
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