JAMESTOWN — The Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority is receiving $82.5 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Infrastructure for Rebuilding America grant program to fund rehabilitation projects on the Newport Pell Bridge.

“My feet aren’t quite touching the ground right now. I mean, we’re very excited,” RITBA Executive Director Lori Silveria told The Daily News on Thursday. “The federal delegation has been wonderful. We’ve gotten great support from the state government, from the governor’s office to the General Assembly to the universities in the area, to the businesses in the area, to the tourism entities in the area.

"Everyone came out to support our efforts to get federal funds for the bridges in this area. We’re just very grateful and anxious to get going and put these dollars to work.”

The project includes partial depth reconstruction for the bridge deck, the roadway portion of the bridge and the western approach to the bridge in Jamestown, as well as dehumidification for the bridge’s cables and anchorages and repairs to the tower elevators.

Additionally, RITBA plans to use the funds to install a system to acoustically monitor the bridge’s condition and update the bridge’s cameras and sensors.

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“I helped create the INFRA program to meet the need for major, once-in-a-generation investments like rebuilding the Pell Bridge,” U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said in a prepared statement announcing the grant. “The Pell Bridge is the Ocean State’s most iconic landmark, and we will be able to keep it that way for at least an additional half century thanks to this enormous federal grant. There is much to be done to bring the bridge into the twenty-first century.”

While the conditions on the bridge are safe, according to the press release, inspection data shows accelerating deterioration on the bridge’s cables and suspenders. These projects already were on RITBA’s to-do list, but scheduled several years in the future.

This grant money allows these preventative projects to move ahead in the schedule and will expand the bridge’s lifespan by 50 to 75 years, Silveria said.

“We aim to do maintenance work so it lasts as long as it can possibly last,” Silveria said. “We want to be in the business of rehabilitating and preserving. We don’t want to be in the business of replacing.”

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RITBA’s proposal to the INFRA grant program for the Pell Bridge Rehabilitation project was around $137.5 million, and Silveria said the rest of the project will be paid for through the authority's own capital funds.

The project won’t begin the design process for another six months as RITBA finalizes its grand reward with the federal government.

Further north on Aquidneck Island, the Mount Hope Bridge also is in need of the type of dehumidification system the Pell Bridge will receive through this grant. RITBA has been seeking funding sources for $35 million in rehabilitation and repair work ever since significant breakage in the “fine wires” within the larger cables of the suspension bridge were discovered in 2016. 

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The authority has applied for federal grants twice with no success, and since the INFRA grant was only open to projects with price tags more than $100 million, the Mount Hope Bridge project was ineligible to apply. 

Silveria said RIBTA submitted a new application for the Federal Highway Administration’s Bridge Investment Program last week and is waiting to hear if the Mount Hope Bridge project will receive the funding.

“That’s still pending,” Silveria said. “We certainly think we’re still very much in the running to get the money we need to do the work on the Mount Hope Bridge.”