A small bridge in Cranston will be undergoing immediate repairs following the discovery of structural deficiencies during the city’s bridge and culvert inspection.

Last week inspectors from Pare Corporation, an engineering firm which the city contracted in January to undergo an audit of seven city owned bridges and seven city owned culverts, brought to the city’s attention five patches of deteriorated concrete on the Kimberly Lane Bridge, which passes over Furnace Brook leading into the Hillside Farms Subdivision off of Phenix Ave. The damage was deemed serious enough to require a prompt response.

City highway workers will be working this week on short term repairs to the bridge. They will be placing steel places placed over deteriorated sections, which will take weight off of the crumbling concrete. The city estimates the repairs will cost less than $5000.

The bridge will remain open to vehicle traffic while repairs take place, as the workers will be working on one lane at a time.

The bridge, which is constructed of prefabricated concrete reinforced with rebar, is paved with a layer of gravel beneath a layer of asphalt in much the same way any road is constructed. With crumbling concrete, the gravel which makes the base of the road is subject to falling through the exposed rebar. While there is no risk of the bridge itself collapsing, the deterioration could potentially leave drivers stuck if the asphalt was left unsupported.

“Right now, the cool weather is keeping the asphalt together,” Chief of Staff for the Mayor Anthony Moretti explained. “Once it warms up and heats up, then it’s more pliable, susceptible for having a breach.”

A Rhode Island Department of Transportation inspection of the bridge in 2023 found the bridge in working order, not requiring any immediate attention. The damage likely came later.

According to Moretti, Pare Corporation believes the damage to the bridge to have occurred during and after the overflow of Furnace Brook during January’s floods. During that flood, the culvert beneath Kimberly Lane Bridge was clogged with debris, and needed to be dredged with a backhoe afterwards.

According to Mayor Kenneth Hopkins, these kinds of discoveries are the reason the city chose to undergo this inspection process.

“Our determination to undertake these inspections for the first time in decades will protect the public and preserve these bridge assets for many years to come,” he said.

The inspection has also uncovered some damage to the Dean Parkway Bridge near Cranston West High School. This damage however may not be extensive enough to require an immediate response.