Exclusive: The Washington Bridge report, a leak, a narrative, and a political question

The Washington Bridge has been mismanaged since the 1990’s by RIDOT and the Wiss, Janney, Elstner forensic report reflects that. The first draft of the WJE forensic report asserts that RIDOT is not RIBTA, as RIBTA’s bridges are billion-dollar projects. Meanwhile, the Washington Bridge is RIDOT’s largest singular responsibility, and it has never been something they could handle. The 1992 Lichtenstein Report, that was pointed out by WJE, clearly instructed the RIDOT to replace the post tensioning rods. In 1996, RIDOT brought in AETNA Bridge and they had them replace two, just two. RIDOT decided to grout the rest and that ultimately destabilized the bridge. The February 29, 2024 draft of the WJE report clearly states on the last page, that ‘missed management’ was the actual cause of the bridge needing to come down. The additional documents attached paint a much broader story of the Washington Bridge. Everyone wants someone to blame. We are all looking for the promised ‘Day of Reckoning’, so we are going to give that to you. Our Governor, bless his heart, can’t get us there. Buckle up.

Cardi Corp. and RIDOT had a symbiotic relationship. Cardi was operating on RIDOT property they were renting from the state. Good luck digging into their payment history, as APRAs have proven to bear no fruit. When Tony Cardi was at the helm, they were a powerhouse. They were massive political campaign contributors who built most of the roads and bridges in our state. After Tony took a step back and handed the reigns to his family everything went downhill. Work deteriorated and bids dried up. Even their connections at RIDOT were aging out and retiring. Gina Raimondo proved to be the nail in Cardi’s coffin. Gina wanted results and Cardi couldn’t get them there. The phase 1 maintenance work on the Washington Bridge (Bridge 700) could have been completed under the bridge without disrupting traffic, but Gina had seen enough after “Gina Jam”. She was gearing up for her reelection and had just survived an all-out brawl with speaker Mattiello on the budget in 2018. I’m sure it did not help when she realized that a Cardi DOT liaison was related to the Mattiello. The traffic from their project was not something she wanted to carry into an election, so she killed the work. Jim Hummel recently reported on the termination agreement of phase 1 on the bridge, and it was clear that someone besides the director had decided Cardi’s fate on the bridge. 

The WJE report is not something anyone should have in their possession, not for another year or so if at all. The superior court rules for civil engagement gave our AG, Peter Nehrona, the chance to label WJE as an expert witness. Had he done that under rule 26, the AECOM subpoena for the defense would have been denied. He didn’t. Why? RI’s AG is a highly intelligent individual with aspirations outside of government, and a disdain for our current governor. He didn’t need to leak anything. He didn’t need to do anything at all. He simply chose not to classify WJE as an expert witness and their evidence would be dumped right into our lap. Immediately after it was shared, he was the first person to make it public, by adding it right to the RIAG website. Nice. When he tells you he is shocked, share a laugh. 

The attached documents show that the state attempted to manipulate the WJE report by limiting the information WJE received. They were not given any information on the execution of work performed by Cardi Corp and they were the primary contractor on the bridge between 2001 and 2019.  In 2024, several APRAs were filed for bridge related emails. Those APRAs did not return everything they should have, information was withheld. A few brave individuals came forward to fill in the blanks, and the blanks are damning. 

RIDOT emails show that in January of 2019, VHB, Steere Engineering, and AECOM helped RIDOT bridge officials price out a new bridge for Bridge 700. Matt Bucci went from Gina Raimondo’s top aide in the governor’s office to AECOM in 2018 and David Fish went from RIDOT to AECOM in 2019 and the dynamic duo was poised to get work done for Gina, one problem, the substructure of Bridge 700 was trash. The WJE report reflects a miraculous recovery of the substructure from a 4-poor to a 6-satisfactory, between 7/2019 and 7/2020. Second problem, no one was working on the bridge between those inspections. A series of RIDOT emails show that Steere Engineering and VHB developed a new design to replace Bridge 700 and add two lanes. This ambitious plan was shot down by the inspectors before AECOM could come in and save the day. AECOM miraculously raised the substructure rating from 4 to 6, but the math in their e-mails turned out to be terribly wrong. In a 2019 e-mail to RIDOT’s head of project management, Lori Fisette, a RIDOT project manager named Anthony Pompei estimated the deck and superstructure replacement would cost the state $65 million. Despite the substructure shuffle and the absolutely ridiculous estimation by one of RIDOT top project managing engineers, they could pull it off. In July of 2020, Cardi lost the phase 2 work to Barletta after their bid was challenged. The mismanaged and damaged bridge was now being attended to by an out of state construction giant with deep pockets, cue the smash and grab. 

Last year, Representative Mike Chippendale raised the question of metadata at an oversight hearing and defense attorneys are still waiting for those answers. No meta data exists after 2018 on the Washington Bridge inspections. The reports we see are not the reports RIDOT was originally given. If the bridge was in such bad shape in 2019 that RIDOT felt the need to hire companies to price out replacing it, how are we trying to pass the blame to the companies that came on to work after the fact? 

WJE is not “a report” as AG Peter Neronha would have you believe. Wiss, Janney, and Elstner are one of the top forensic companies in the nation. When AG Neronha dismissed and downplayed their report he showed his hand. ‘Papering up’ files with reports that are ‘on narrative’ seems to be his go-to. Paying some shill to pile on a narrative only works when the defendants close, it’s slimeball move and the state sees him for the ambulance chaser he is. These cases are scheduled for trial in November of 2027. If you know anything about trials, November and July are the worst months to land on the calendar. No one wants to be there, so they are often pushed back.

Spring of 2028 is most likely the date the 13 companies on this suit would wind up in court, but that’s never going to happen. After racking up $4-5 million in legal fees, expect the AG to offer these companies a deal that falls below their insurance caps. Legal extortion from a brilliant mind. The rest of us pay taxes and wait in traffic while politics extends our commutes and takes time away from our families. It’s important to note that the east bound bridge turns 100 a year after the westbound is wrapped  up, and it needs to come down next. Expect ten more years of this. Gina Raimondo may have been one of the most self serving geniuses that have ever ran this state, but it’s her fault we are here. Governors need to stop micromanaging state departments that they aren’t degreed to even come close to understanding.

Published as received.

The Washington Bridge report