Ali Imholt

[Friends of 360 HS @Friendsof360HS]

Want to help #save360HS? Here’s how: https://t.co/RNTK27HwVb

[Ali Imholt @alishajane3]

@KenBlockRI 55 minutes from Pawtucket Ave in EP to Branch Ave this morning. Absolutely ridiculous. This is costing so many people time, money, and energy. The people responsible need to be held accountable.

[𝕂𝕖𝕟 𝔹𝕝𝕠𝕔𝕜 @KenBlockRI]

If you are already angry or annoyed with the Rhode Island Department of Transportation and the central interstate bridge on I-195 West in Providence, which is closed and apparently on the brink of collapse, this post will not improve your disposition.

The DOT has posted four years’ of inspection reports for this failed bridge although I do not think what has been provided to the public represents everything (link included in the first comment/reply). What has become clear to me after Rob Cote helped me understand what I was looking at is that the same issues and defects have been exposed in inspection report after inspection report, year after year. The DOT appears to have done nothing to address the persisting problems.

For most of us, a report with a list of issues that need tending to represents a punch list – something to be checked off as the problems get addressed. That is not how the DOT appears to treat these reports. It is unclear whether these reports were read by DOT engineers who cared at all about the reports or the issues they uncovered.

No one appeared to care at the DOT because, for one thing, these reports are littered with some awful typos. The author of a Department of Transportation inspection report should know that the metal in the components of our bridges is spelled s-t-e-e-l, not s-t-i-e-e-l. This typo and others equally bad appear multiple times in consecutive inspection reports.

There is a lot of ground to cover here, and I cannot do it all in one post. I will try to cover a highlight (or lowlight) once a day every day this week. The totality of what I will be showing you is that the DOT has failed to perform even basic maintenance on this bridge, even though the annual inspection reports call out the need for this maintenance. These reports also identify serious structural issues. This bridge has been in trouble for years – it did not just magically disintegrate in December 2023, although DOT Director Alvitti has said as much.

The reports on the website are from 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. Each year's accompanying photos are in a separate file. I show you the images exactly as they appear in the report.

Let’s start with what should be a no-brainer: a basic maintenance need – cleaning the gutters and drainage infrastructure, which every report refers to as ‘scuppers.’ Scuppers are inspected every other year on the odd year. So, the 2020 and 2022 inspections did not include scuppers, but the 2021 and 2023 reports did. Helpfully, the even-year reports include the language from the previous year, so the 2019 scupper inspection is included in the 2020 inspection report.

The narration for the 2019, 2021, and 2023 scupper inspections is shockingly similar from report to report. The same firm did the inspections in 2020 and 2023, with two other firms handling 2021 and 2022. Two different firms did a scupper inspection two years apart, and the only difference in the narration is the photo numbers and the word ‘drainpipe,’ which was used in 2023, while ‘drain pipe’ was used in 2021. How is this even possible? It isn’t. Someone at the DOT had to have cut and paste this language from the 2021 report into the 2023 report. See page 18 of the 2021 and 2023 reports.

The narration is damning. “The scupper drainage grates along both shoulders of I-195 Westbound are fully clogged with sand and debris.” (This previous sentence also kicks off the 2019 scupper inspection narrative.) One drainage grate is reported to be filled with concrete. Other grates have been clogged so long that vegetation is growing out of them!

Please remember that in August 2022, the approach to this bridge flooded so severely that the span had to be closed down. Does anyone want to conjecture whether a bridge full of clogged drains could have been a major contributing factor? That bridge drains downhill to the area that flooded.

A great deal of the damage documented in the inspection reports is due to water intrusion. There are cement girders with 7 inches of standing water *inside* them. Steel is rotting while encased in cement. Steel is rotting that should be encased in cement. Cement is melting, visibly wet, and falling off in great chunks. I wonder how much cement lays on the river bottom under this bridge. Clogged drains must be one cause of these water intrusion issues.

I don’t think the apparent cut-and-paste job means that the problems were present in 2021 but only appeared in the 2023 report due to sloppiness. The 2023 inspection report has photos of clogged drains.

How hard can it be for the DOT to keep the drains clear on our major highways? Why did the 2023 report identify clogged drains AFTER the damn road had been closed due to flooding? Why has the DOT not kept the drains clear after the inspection reports called this defect out? What priority does the DOT give to keeping the drains clear on our bridges?

I don’t recommend that you read any of my coming posts before you head out into the traffic jams attached to this mess of a crisis or before you prepare your taxes. Every taxpayer should be pissed off that an expensive asset like this bridge was not being appropriately maintained. And for those of you, like me, who have to cross this bridge every day, words (even 800 of them) cannot properly convey the anger that I know you all feel.

Enjoy the 4 images attached to this post. I could have posted more. Next up, I tackle the guardrails.

[Ali Imholt @alishajane3]

@mtpoc @TedNesi @MelissaSardelli @wpri12 Riverside to Branch Ave this morning.

[Caroline Goggin @CarolineGoggin]

Signs from today’s protest now hang on the fence surrounding Burnside Park in #Providence. @wpri12

[Edward Fitzpatrick @FitzProv]

Peaceful demonstrations in Boston and Providence remember Breonna Taylor, demand racial justice https://t.co/8tJ5cqb42L via @BostonGlobe

[SUACounseling @SUACounseling]

Meet your new SUA Counselors! Today we’re featuring Dr. Jill Minor, who comes to SUA with many years of school counselor and counselor education experience! She is passionate about the field of school counseling and is a strong advocate for students. Stop by & welcome Dr. Minor!

[Ali Imholt @alishajane3]

@SUACounseling SUA is lucky to have her ❤️ congrats, Jill!!!

[DelSesto MS @DelSestoMiddle]

Our beautiful new murals by local artist Airine Alves. “Each individual is like a single note, together we create a masterpiece!” @ArtTurnaround @fanshen @Arzinia_Gill @NickBernardo @Rebeca_Filomeno @MSzone_PPSD @pvdschools #arts #artinschools #BackToSchool2019

[Ali Imholt @alishajane3]

The 3rd Annual Rhode Island High School Ethics Bowl was a huge success thanks to the hard work and dedication of our students, coaches, mentors, judges, moderators, CY volunteers, and my fellow planning committee members! Looking forward to 2020!!!

[RI High School Ethics Bowl @RI_EthicsBowl]

We couldn’t hold our #2019EthicsBowl tournament without our amazing moderators & judges! Thank you to @KrystaferRedden & the other volunteers from our community for supporting our event since we started!

[The 360 Way @360_HighSchool]

Amazing work, all!

[Ali Imholt @alishajane3]

First community service project of the year for SquashBusters Providence!!! Spent the morning clearing garden beds, moving mulch, and picking the delicious… https://t.co/TANKPZXTBI

[Ali Imholt @alishajane3]

SO proud of our first student from Providence… https://t.co/iPoNhsNO9T

[Ali Imholt @alishajane3]

Congrats DelSesto student Kealie Burt for winning the competition! #ProudCoach https://t.co/0SfLPKj3N2

[Chris Maher @chris__maher]

Great to have the #RelishRhody recipe contest @DelSestoMiddle in @pvdschools. @GovRaimondo announces the winning student recipe.

[3dLacrosse @3dLacrosse]

We are pleased to welcome Gettysburg alumnus Dan Collura as the Manager of the 3d Bears! Dan will work out of the @3dlacrossene office and is hitting the ground running this spring. https://t.co/SA2f2fNtP8 #3dbears #3don2 #3dlacrosse

[The 360 Way @360_HighSchool]

Thank you, students & @Jesse_DeLauder @alishajane3 @ellen360HS @fraza360HS @bubricks_rubric @ricobaldes @gonzo5363! https://t.co/roksEPC1VI

[Lesley Fastovsky @MsFastovs]

@360_HighSchool getting ready for presentation at Scaling up PBG #openmind

[Springpoint @springpointEDU]

Community collaboration means keeping parents involved & informed. @StudentCntrHub's new resource shows how to communicate around #EdtTech https://t.co/KDEYIMXvvl

[The 360 Way @360_HighSchool]

Tenth graders visiting @NEInstituteTech today to learn about career paths! @Jesse_DeLauder @alishajane3 @pvdschools