Tomorrow morning, Friday, June 10, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) will open a new intersection for Waterfront Drive and Massasoit Avenue in East Providence, providing a direct connection between these two roads and affording easier and direct access to the Henderson Bridge. The new intersection retains the connection between Massasoit Avenue and Waterman Avenue.

This change also allows RIDOT to reopen a section of Waterfront Drive, heading south to Warren Avenue, which has been closed since last summer.

RIDOT also will be doing construction for the next two weeks on a portion of the road that couldn't be done until the new intersection opened. This means traffic on Massasoit Avenue southbound trying to turn onto Waterman Avenue will be temporarily detoured down Waterfront Drive to Valley Street and North Brow Street.

Motorists should drive cautiously through the area as they become accustomed to the new traffic pattern.

The new intersection is part of the $84.4 Henderson Bridge project, which will replace the bridge and reconstruct the road network on the East Providence shore with a smaller, safer footprint that opens up approximately 25 acres of land along the Seekonk River.

The improved connection of Waterfront Drive to the Henderson Bridge will work in concert with improvements on the nearby Washington Bridge project, which will build a new highway exit from I-195 West to Waterfront Drive. Together they will provide easier and more direct access to the East Providence riverfront and the East Side of Providence.

All construction projects are subject to changes in schedule and scope depending on needs, circumstances, findings, and weather.

The replacement of the Henderson Bridge was made possible by RhodeWorks, RIDOT's ongoing commitment to repair structurally deficient bridges and bring Rhode Island's transportation infrastructure into a state of good repair, promote economic development, and create jobs. Learn more at www.ridot.net/RhodeWorks.