Washington Bridge
Bridge in Providence, Rhode IslandWikipedia
42
MENTIONS
24
EPISODES
12
PODCASTS
Search complete. 42 mentions across 24 episodes found for "Washington Bridge".
Sep 25, 2026
Nancy LavinGUEST
I think that, you know, obviously the opioid crisis and addiction is something that we all have, you know, know someone or know someone who knows someone who has affected their lives.
Nancy LavinGUEST
But I think for more Rhode Islanders, the traffic and the frustrations around the Washington Bridge are a present and current problem that is.
Nancy LavinGUEST
SORT OF MORE TACTICAL AND LESS IDEOLOGICAL THAN, YOU KNOW, FOR SOME PEOPLE, THE OPIOID CRISIS.
Nancy LavinGUEST
YOU KNOW, PRI, AND I THINK THEIR MOST RECENT POLL BEFORE THE PRIMARY, ASKED VOTERS, LIKE, HOW MUCH THEY'RE UPSET ABOUT HELENA FOLKS WITH THE OPIOIDS AND HOW MUCH THEY'RE UPSET ABOUT THE WASHINGTON BRIDGE.
Nancy LavinGUEST
AND VOTERS WERE UPSET WITH BOTH, BUT THEY WERE MORE UPSET WITH THE WASHINGTON BRIDGE.
Bob WalshGUEST
Like Bruce Unlin in the banking crisis, right? It wasn't his fault.
Bob WalshGUEST
He inherited a problem.
Bill BartholomewHOST
And also in terms of just as we start to look at specifically in Rhode Island, when you think about the population density, the congested highways, certainly there are infrastructure problems.
Bill BartholomewHOST
The Washington Bridge is what it is and there are many others like it.
Bill BartholomewHOST
But If we're being honest about it, we have a congested community and a lot of places that have beautiful main streets, a lot of beautiful downtowns, and not necessarily those third spaces, those magnets to attract people.
Bill BartholomewHOST
But to build that up, one element that's critical to building what a lot of people want in downtown Providence.
Scott WolfGUEST
I don't think there's one solution.
Scott WolfGUEST
I think we need multiple solutions, and I think they're out there for us.
Scott WolfGUEST
When it comes to RIDOT and RIPTA, our two big transportation agencies in the state, Ride-out is kind of, in terms of public scrutiny, at least formal public scrutiny, until the Washington Bridge, at least, has had a pretty much, pardon the expression, a free ride.
Scott WolfGUEST
And RIPTA, on the other hand, has been studied to death with one mandated efficiency study after another.
Joe FlemingSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
And Dan McKee tried to come back at the end and really hit her on the CVS.
Joe FlemingSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
But the one thing that stood out for her was Washington Bridge, Dan McKee could not overcome that, and that hung on his neck the whole campaign.
Joe FlemingSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
I have a thought on that, but I want to hear from Kara first.
Kara CromwellSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
I was surprised by the margin.
Ted NesiSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Gina Raimondo, I believe, won with 40 or 41 against Angel Tavares and Clay Powell back in 2014.
Ted NesiSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
So this is different than what we've seen in recent cycles for the Democratic nominee to come out with a head of steam, not, you know, squeaking out, carving it out in a divided field like that.
Ted NesiSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Certainly the Washington Bridge was an anchor on
Tim WhiteSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Dan McKee's neck, for sure.
Joe FlemingSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
And Dan McKee tried to come back at the end and really hit her on the CVS.
Joe FlemingSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
But the one thing that stood out for her was Washington Bridge.
Joe FlemingSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Dan McKee could not overcome that.
Joe FlemingSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
And that hung on his neck the whole campaign.
Ted NesiSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
So this is different than what we've seen in recent cycles for the Democratic nominee to come out with a head of steam, not, you know, squeaking out, carving it out in a divided field like that.
Ted NesiSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Certainly the
Tim WhiteSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Washington Bridge was an anchor on Dan McKee's neck, for sure.
Tim WhiteSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
But wasn't this election war also just about how hard it was to be an incumbent in 2026?
Michael LevyHOST
the first sitting governor anywhere in the country to lose renomination since Kansas' Jeff Collier in 2018, and the first Rhode Island governor to lose renomination since 1994.
Michael LevyHOST
The race turned heavily on the ongoing Washington Bridge closure and a finding that McKee had personally and directly intervened in a state contract.
Michael LevyHOST
On the Republican side, party-endorsed Aaron Guckian appears to have narrowly survived a challenge from first-time candidate Elaine Polino, who had called herself a real MAGA Republican by about 279 votes, though the outcome is still in doubt.
Michael LevyHOST
Though the outcome for the Rhode Island gubernatorial election is not in doubt.
Brian NeimanHOST
Wow.
Brian NeimanHOST
It was all a referendum on the handling of the governor's effort on the Washington Bridge.
Brian NeimanHOST
It's a big bridge.
Brian NeimanHOST
Must be an important bridge.
Justin KatzGUEST
Now, I don't know how reliable that is as a prediction tool, but I'm just pointing out that in the polls, it looks like a pretty sure thing at this point.
Justin KatzGUEST
And it's all his to blame, going back to the ILO scandal with trying to give his friends contracts to the Washington Bridge.
Justin KatzGUEST
And he continues to do it to this day.
Justin KatzGUEST
Just this last week, he was talking about wanting...
Justin KatzGUEST
the attorney general should resign because of something he referenced on the radio to that scandal.
Justin KatzGUEST
Even that was just dumb in my view, because now McKee reminded everybody, hey, don't forget, I had the ILO before I had the Washington Bridge.
Justin KatzGUEST
It was just so badly.
Justin KatzGUEST
I'm waiting for the primary in that race just to see him put out of his misery at this point.
Bill BartholomewHOST
on the RIPTA bus, or at this community event, or that community event, or with Joe Palacena Jr., the mayor in Johnston, Rhode Island, right? She clearly got the message that there has to be a lot more institutional grassroots connectivity made, number one, from a strategy standpoint, and that's also going to boost your name recognition, because then people are going to talk about you, right? So that exercise was happening at the same time as the obvious.
Bill BartholomewHOST
Dan McKee by the Washington Bridge.
Bill BartholomewHOST
And in particular, because whether or not you're out there saying, geez, the state did a terrible job with the oversight of this bridge.
Bill BartholomewHOST
It nearly collapsed and there was a risk there and now we've got inconvenience or it's simply a scenario where you say, look, I don't like the way the governor handled this from a communication standpoint.
35 MINS LATER
speaker_1UNKNOWN
It is sad on one level because
Bill BartholomewHOST
I just don't understand how this issue got so out of control.
Bill BartholomewHOST
It's kind of like the Washington Bridge for McKee, right? I don't understand how the rent issue just got so out of control.
Bill BartholomewHOST
You can tell me, well, donors and money and this, that.
Jared GanzHOST
Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee, a Democrat, lost his primary election last night to a fellow moderate, former CVS executive Helena Fulks, whom the governor narrowly defeated in the 2022 primary.
Jared GanzHOST
The governor's downfall is closely linked to his handling of the repairs to the critical Washington Bridge in Providence, which was abruptly closed in 2023, fueling added costs for the state and traffic delays ever since.
Jared GanzHOST
The situation made McKee one of the least popular governors in the country.
Jared GanzHOST
A University of New Hampshire poll from August found his approval rating at only 22% among Democrats.
Sean Smith PierceHOST
We've got the story right there.
Sean Smith PierceHOST
It's the Washington Bridge in Providence.
Sean Smith PierceHOST
And also, by the way, the sitting Providence mayor, for similar reasons, also lost to a more progressive, liberal state rep by the name of David Morales, endorsed by Senator Sanders.
Sean Smith PierceHOST
So –
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