Henderson Bridge (Rhode Island)

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An old overhead sign on Interstate 195 for Gano Street (center) which has space left for a Route 44 shield.

The Henderson Bridge (known by some locals as the New Red Bridge) is a bridge in Rhode Island which spans the Seekonk River, connecting the cities of Providence and East Providence.

[edit] History

The bridge was opened in 1969 to replace the old Red Bridge and was also part of a planned Route 44 freeway that would have extended from the Gano Street interchange with Interstate 195 (whose ramps were built specifically for the Route 44 freeway), along the west shore of the river, over the bridge, then along a never-built section of freeway in East Providence, returning to Route 44 just east of Route 114 and Route 1A. Since the freeway was never completed, the section that was built was not given a route number. Curiously, the freeway's right-of-way in East Providence is completely cleared to its planned end at Route 44. The bridge was named after its designer, George Henderson, of Rumford, R.I..

[edit] Repair work

On April 17th 2008 it was reported that the bridge requires $50 million to repair the bridge whilst the state only has $3.3 million and cannot afford the repairs. Some problems noted are cracks in the concrete pier caps & rusting steel beams. Kazem Farhoumand, R.I.D.O.T. chief engineer has stated that steel reinforcements can be bolted on to the steel beams to make them "good for another 5 or 10 years."