After 11 years as Director of RIDOT, Alviti, whose career is headlined by the Washington Bridge closure, handed in his letter of resignation
“After 11 years as Director of RIDOT, Peter Alviti, whose career is headlined with the closure of the Washington Bridge in December 2023, is retiring on February 27th after Governor Dan McKee accepted his letter of resignation. In this letter, Alviti said Rhode Island met its goal of having fewer than 10 percent deficient bridges, but a recent WPRI Target 12 investigation found RIDOT removed over 700 bridges from its quarterly progress reports to state lawmakers. Which allowed the agency to claim it met its goal of having 90 percent of the state’s bridges in good condition. Alviti promises that his resignation is not related to the Washington bridge, and he wasn’t fired or asked to resign. A statement provided by RIDOT at our request reads, “When Peter Alviti was appointed in 2015, Rhode Island had the worst roads and bridges in the country. Drawing from the skillset he obtained from his formal education at Roger Williams University and from his long career as an engineer, he made a comprehensive assessment of the state’s transportation assets and created Rhode Island’s first 10-year transportation plan that would reduce our percentage of failing bridges to 10 percent in ten years and reform our transportation systems to meet our future needs. Over the last ten years, we have repaired or rehabilitated 352 bridges, and we are on track to reach 10 percent bridge sufficiency this year. Mr. Rocchio intends to continue to implement RIDOT priorities into the 10-year plan.”
Researcher: Alexa Benson-Amarante, Brianna Frissora
Reporter: Brianna Frissora
Writers: Alexa Benson-Amarante, Brianna Frissora
Copy-Editor: Elizabeth Chant