Environmental permitting and other issues cause delay.
Rhode Island residents looking forward to the day that the old Sakonnet River Bridge is demolished will have to wait a bit longer.
The expected demolition of the bridge has been delayed due to environmental permitting and a National Environmental Policy Act Revaluation.
The state Department of Transportation received comments from the National Marine Fisheries Service indicating that there are endangered species in the project area. They asked the DOT to complete a “section 7 consultation”
That means an assessment must be completed before any federal agencies can sign off on the NEPA Revaluation document prepared for the project, Edwards said.
“This process can take anywhere from 6 to 9 months,” Edwards said. “This also has to be completed and accepted before we can submit the permit applications for the demo.”
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