(HE)
BIG CHANGES ARE BEING
MADE--
AFTER LANE CLOSURES
LED TO MAJOR TRAFFIC
BACKUPS ON NEWPORT'S
PELL BRIDGE LAST NIGHT.
(SN)
SOME DRIVERS--
REPORTING THEY SAT IN
TRAFFIC--
FOR HOURS.
NEW TONIGHT--
WE'RE GETTING AN
EXPLANATION FROM
BRIDGE AND TURNPIKE
OFFICIALS.
(HE)
WE'RE ALSO GETTING AN
UPCLOSE LOOK--
AT WHY THE LANE WAS
CLOSED.
EYEWITNESS NEWS
REPORTER KIM KALUNIAN
TOOK A TOUR OF THE
CHANGES AND JOINS US
LIVE.
KIM?
STEVE, SHANNON - THE
TURNPIKE AND BRIDGE
AUTHORITY SAYS THEY
HEARD DRIVERS
FRUSTRATIONS LOUD AND
CLEAR. TONIGHT THEY
OPENED BOTH LANES FO
THE WESTBOUND SIDE OF
THE BRIDGE STARTING AT
3, THAT WILL LAST UNTIL 7
TONIGHT. THEY'RE HOPING
THIS AVOID A REPEAT OF
RUSH HOUR YESTERDAY.
TRAFFIC ON THE NEWPORT
BRIDGE STUCK AT A
STANDSTILL TUESDAY --
All the years I've been living
or
coming to Newport I've never
seen
anything like that
TYLER BERNADYN SAYS THIS
WAS HIS VIEW AS HE TRIED TO
GET OFF THE ISLAND
YESTERDAY DURING RUSH
HOUR -- RED BRAKE LIGHTS
FOR MILES.
I sat in traffic for about an
hour and
a half from Van Zandt all the
way to
the top of the bridge.
THE CULPRIT? A LANE CLOSED
ON THE WESTBOUND SIDE.
So we wanted to know, why is the
lane being closed? Well, we got
an
up close look.
This is the emergency walk way
that
we were talking about it's a
concrete
walk and if you can see this is
the
fresh concrete that they just
poured
today.
ERIC OFFENBERG OF THE
RHODE ISLAND TURNPIKE AND
BRIDGE AUTHORITY SAYS
REPAIRS TO THE WALKWAY
WERE PUSHED BACK DUE TO
INCLEMENT WEATHER...AND
SINCE CONCRETE NEEDS TO BE
CURED AROUND 50 DEGREES,
THEY NEED TO KEEP THAT
CONCRETE WARM -- BRINGING
IN HEATER TRUCKS AND HOSES
THAT TAKE UP A TRAVEL LANE.
BUT THEY'RE CHANGING THAT
BECAUSE OF TUESDAY'S
DEBACLE --
Between 3 and 7 all this
equipment
that you see here up on the
bridge
will be removed we'll disconnect
the
heaters then we'll come back at
7 o
clock and you'll see all these
people
and all this equipment back here
to
reconnect the heaters and make
sure that this concrete's
lasting.
RITBA SAYS THEY TRIED TO
WARN DRIVERS -- BUT THE
WORD DIDN'T SPREAD FAR OR
FAST ENOUGH.
So the backups were quite large
yesterday it was very
inconvenient
for everybody. That's not the
way
we like to have things happen.
So
we've made some changes.
I think it's something that they
should have thought of ahead of
time rather than approach it
regressively.
(KK)
SO WHEN WILL THIS ALL
BE DONE? WE'LL TELL YOU
ABOUT THE DURATION OF
THE PROJECT AND WHAT
YOU CAN EXPECT THE
REST OF THE WEEK
COMING UP NEW AT 6. KIM
KALUNIAN EYEWITNESS
(HE)
THE EAST BAY MOBILE
NEWSROOM MOVING TO
NEWPORT NOW ---
WITH A LIVE LOOK AT THE
PELL BRIDGE.
RIGHT NOW, ALL LANES
ARE OPEN --- A CHANGE
FROM LAST NIGHT WHEN
LANE CLOSURES CAUSED
BIG BACKUPS.
THE TURNPIKE AND
BRIDGE AUTHORITY SAYS
WORK ON THE BRIDGE
STILL NEEDS TO BE DONE
--- AND THEY ARE
RUNNING OUT OF TIME TO
DO IT, BEFORE WINTER
SETS IN.
EYEWITNESS NEWS
REPORTER KIM KALUNIAN
JOINS US LIVE FROM THE
JAMESTOWN SIDE OF THE
BRIDGE, WITH A LOOK AT
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.
KIM INTRO: STEVE,
SHANNON - FROM OUR
VIEW HERE OF THE
BRIDGE IT LOOKS LIKE
TRAFFIC IS MOVING
SMOOTHLY -- EXACTLY
WHAT THE TURNPIKE AND
BRIDGE AUTHORITY
HOPED WOULD HAPPEN
TONIGHT...AFTER
YESTERDAY'S TRAFFIC
NIGHTMARE.
TRAFFIC ON THE NEWPORT
BRIDGE STUCK AT A
STANDSTILL TUESDAY --
All the years I've been living
or
coming to Newport I've never
seen
anything like that
TYLER BERNADYN SAYS THIS
WAS HIS VIEW AS HE TRIED TO
GET OFF THE ISLAND
YESTERDAY DURING RUSH
HOUR -- RED BRAKE LIGHTS
FOR MILES.
THE CULPRIT? A LANE CLOSED
ON THE WESTBOUND SIDE
WHILE CREWS REPAIRED THE
CONCRETE EMERGENCY
WALKWAY --
BUT AFTER TUESDAY'S
DEBACLE -- CHANGES ON
WEDNESDAY:
Between 3 and 7 all this
equipment
that you see here up on the
bridge
will be removed we'll disconnect
the
heaters then we'll come back at
7 o
clock and you'll see all these
people
and all this equipment back here
to
reconnect the heaters and make
sure that this concrete's
lasting.
ERIC OFFENBERG OF RIPTA
SAYS THEY'LL DO THE SAME
THING ON THURSDAY AND
FRIDAY... THEN THE END OF
CONSTRUCTION SEASON WILL
BE IN SIGHT.
we've got about 3 weeks worth of
work left to finish so we'll
still have
our regular daily lane closures
every
day pretty much 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
a
little earlier on the westbound
lane
and then all of the work for the
season will be finished by the
middle of December.
AND SOME PEOPLE ASKED
WHY THE TURNPIKE AND
BRIDGE AUTHORITY DIDN'T
JUST MOVE THAT ZIPPER
BARRIER IN THE CENTER --
OFFENBERG SAYS DOING
THAT WOULD HAVE TAKEN
A WHOLE DAY'S WORTH OF
WORK AND CAUSED EVEN
MORE CHAOS. LIVE IN
JAMESTOWN, KK EWN.