by Doug MacGunnigle, WPRO
Rhode Island Department of Transportation Director Peter Alviti told WPRO’s Gene Valicenti on Friday that the idea for a tunnel/greenspace hybrid project for the 6/10 connector did not come up during initial RhodeWorks planning sessions, and the new plan is not a “switch pitch” as it has been described by critics..
“At the time we were going through the RhodeWorks process – everybody agreed we had to fix the bridges. In this interchange, 7 of the 9 bridges are deficient,” said Alviti. “We didn’t anticipate applying this type of solution to the bridge problem at that time. We were looking at rebuilding 6/10 in the traditional manner.”
Alviti went on to say that the idea for the new plan came up in the time between passing the RhodeWorks legislation and now. “All I can do is tell the truth,” he said, after being reminded by Valicenti that many critics of the plan, including several lawmakers that have appeared on WPRO programs over the past week, simply didn’t believe that claim.
Alviti faced criticism following a heated exchange on Monday evening at a public forum in Warwick held to discuss the new Route 6/10 Connector construction plan. When a citizen attending the meeting told Alviti that “you hardly listened to anybody,” Alviti replied angrily that “We listened to every one of them. Let me tell you something. You would like to think that we didn’t listen to them. But let me tell you something, pal. We took every one of the suggestions. We ran them through some of the top experts in the country.”
LISTEN TO ALVITI’S FULL CONVERSATION WITH GENE BELOW:
