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NORTH KINGSTOWN — Representatives from the Rhode Island Department (RIDOT) of Transportation met with the Town Council this week to address concerns regarding the safety of concrete used on the Route 403 Relocation Project.
Councilman Anthony F. Miccolis Jr. and John Patterson requested the RIDOT meet with the council after learning that 3 percent of the concrete used on the project did not meet the department’s 5,000 pounds-per-square-inch (psi) strength standards.
On Monday, RIDOT Director Jerome F. Williams said that concrete continues to strengthen after it has been poured. The RIDOT requires that 28 days after being poured, concrete used on road and bridge construction projects such as the Route 403 project, meet the 5,000 psi standard.
In mid-summer, Williams said concrete from bridge 1014 – the Frenchtown Road bridge – tested at 4,781 psi. Rather than destroying the concrete and re-pouring the concrete, the department took a financial credit from the contractor who poured it which, said Williams, is the department’s policy.
Williams said subsequent testing performed on the concrete indicates it has since strengthened to 7,000 psi, which exceeds the department’s safety standards.
“Only 2 percent of the entire concrete core was below specifications,” Williams told the Council Monday night.
Williams said that a psi of 2,000 to 2,500 is actually needed to ensure the safety of structures such as the bridge in question.
Miccolis noted that Connecticut Department of Transportation standards would have required the removed the sub-standard concrete and that it be re-poured.
“If tests had come back at 3,000 to 3,500 [psi], it would have been pulled,” he said of the concrete. “But the majority of states take a pay credit if the psi is that close.
“Anything within the 3,000 psi range, I can assure you, we would replace,” reiterated Williams.
RIDOT Deputy Chief Engineer Frank Corrao, who was also present Monday, assured the council and the public that the credit system is not done “as a favor to anyone” and that Rhode Islanders are getting what they pay for with their tax dollars.
Williams explained that when a credit is taken from a contractor, the RIDOT earns a 50 percent return on the cost of the concrete poured. That 50 percent return is applied to future contracts the state makes with the contractor. RIDOT received a $6,000 credit from the contractor as a result of the bridge 1014 pour.
“We’re very confident that the structural integrity hasn’t been compromised,” said Corrao. “It’s not a problem project.”
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