Washington Bridge costs rise as construction outlasts original estimate

Bridge dispute focused scrutiny on McKee in Democratic primary

Costs have risen on Providence’s Washington Bridge as construction has taken longer than originally estimated, and the project is expected to be completed by 2028, The Wall Street Journal reported. The bridge carries roughly 100,000 vehicles each day and serves as a critical artery in Rhode Island’s capital and most populous city.

McKee closed the bridge’s westbound side in 2023 after state officials cited a “critical failure” and said repairs would take months. The closure led to traffic tie-ups along Interstate 195.

Public frustration over the partial closure and rising costs focused the Democratic gubernatorial primary heavily on McKee’s handling of the project, according to the Journal. McKee also entered the race with low approval ratings.

Foulkes criticized McKee’s handling of the bridge and questioned his leadership and management abilities. McKee said his decisions had kept motorists safe.

Foulkes, a former CVS executive who ran as an outsider, defeated McKee after narrowly losing to him in the 2022 gubernatorial primary. She received 62% of the vote Wednesday to McKee’s 38%, with 49% of the expected vote counted in Rhode Island’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, according to the Associated Press.

The Journal said Foulkes will be favored in the November election in Democratic-friendly Rhode Island. She will face Republican Aaron Guckian or Elaine Pelino and independent Ken Block.

Foulkes also campaigned on building affordable housing and improving Rhode Island’s healthcare system. Her platform included rejuvenating what the Journal described as the state’s sluggish economy.

McKee criticized Foulkes over her tenure at CVS, which is headquartered in Rhode Island. McKee said Foulkes was complicit in fostering the opioid crisis while she led the company’s pharmacy division from 2014 to 2018. Foulkes denied the allegation.

McKee previously served as lieutenant governor and became Rhode Island’s chief executive in 2021, when Gov. Gina Raimondo became U.S. commerce secretary in the Biden administration.

Foulkes’s uncle, Chris Dodd, represented Connecticut in the U.S. Senate for three decades. Her grandfather, the late Thomas Dodd, also represented Connecticut in the Senate for three decades.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat and lifelong friend of Foulkes’s mother, campaigned with Foulkes in Rhode Island last month.

McKee became the first sitting U.S. governor to lose a primary since 2018, when Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer lost the Republican nomination to Kris Kobach. Kobach then lost the general election to Democrat Laura Kelly, who is in the final year of her second term as Kansas governor.

The Journal report was written by Ken Thomas, a national political reporter covering the Trump administration for the newspaper. Thomas has worked for The Wall Street Journal since November 2018 and has covered the past four presidential campaigns and the White House under Presidents Biden, Trump and Obama.

Thomas previously covered national politics, presidential campaigns and the White House for the Associated Press. He was based in Washington, D.C., Miami and Des Moines, Iowa, during that work.