The Newport Bridge

by James M. Ricci, former Governor Lincoln Chafee (Foreword by)

Overview

Newport is a premier destination, but getting to the city has not always been easy.

For three centuries, ferries crossed Narragansett Bay's East Passage. That all changed on June 28, 1969, the day the Newport Bridge opened, and it closed the last remaining gap between Aquidneck and Conanicut Islands. Proponents of the bridge persevered political squabbles and delays for twenty-five years following World War II to make it a reality. The longest suspension bridge in the region incorporated several new technologies and construction techniques and changed the face of Rhode Island. Author James Ricci details the trials and tribulations that produced an iconic bridge.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467139588
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	07/16/2018
Series:	Landmarks
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

James M. Ricci is a native of Rhode Island and grew up in Barrington. He holds a doctorate degree from Salve Regina University in Newport, where he explored that city's efforts to reinvent itself from a sailor town to a tourist center following World War II. This led to a particular interest in the quarter-century struggle to build the Newport Bridge. He has spent the last three decades working in financial services. He has published articles on bungalow architecture and the Florida Land Boom of the 1920s. Jim is an avid golfer and serves on the board of directors for the Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River, Massachusetts. He and his wife, Cheryl, live in Bristol, Rhode Island.

Table of Contents

Foreword Lincoln Chafee 9

Preface 11

Acknowledgements 13

Introduction: Avenue of Progress 15

1 Am Erica's First Resort

The Newport Scene 25

A Desirable Place 29

Getting to Newport 32

Newport in 1960 38

2 The Struggles for Approval

Early Momentum: The Newport-Jamestown Bridge Commission 45

The Second Wave: The Narragansett Bay Bridge Authority 51

"You Can't Stop Progress" 54

It Better Be Beautiful 61

Not Necessarily a Necessity 68

3 The Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority

The Birth of the RITBA 75

The Tunnel 79

A Fortuitous Appointment 87

A Highly Excitable Controversy 94

The 1960 Referendum 101

Ritba Under Siege 107

4 Approval

The Proponent-in-Chief 113

A Doubt of Major Proportions Removed 116

An Irremediable Mistake 125

A Grave Oversight 140

5 Another Fine Mess

The Interest Expense Debacle 147

A Shadow on the Credit of the State 151

The No-Bid Contract 159

The Approach Roads 165

One More for the Road: Spiraling Construction Costs 167

6 Building the Bridge

The Engineers 175

The Substructure 185

Mishaps and Tragedies 193

The Superstructure 198

What's the Holdup? 203

Sure-Footed Native Americans 211

Conclusion: A Monument to Perseverance 215

Epilogue 233

Notes 239

Selected Bibliography 261

About the Author 271