A joint Oversight hearing about the Washington Bridge will be held this Thursday at the State House.  [Agenda.]

There will be no public testimony and only committee members will ask questions.  There is so far only one witness: Rhode Island Department of Transportation Director Peter Alviti.

The Director will not be under oath when he testifies.

Is that an issue?  Well, when it comes to accuracy and veracity, Director Alviti has a bit of a mixed record.

Two instances in the last week.

On Monday, in the course of answering follow up questions by WPRO’s Tara Granahan, Director Alviti stated that Aetna Bridge was the low bidder on the overall demolition project of the westbound Washington Bridge. (J.R. Vinagro is a sub-contractor to Aetna.) In fact, Aetna’s bid was higher by almost $2,000,000. That’s before the $3,000,000 “early completion” incentive.

This is a significant misstatement by the Director on a basic but important point of information.

Second instance.  Earlier that Monday morning, Director Alviti had called in to the WPRO Morning News with Gene Valicenti to address public concerns raised by videos of the demolition of a section of the Washington Bridge that had circulated.

In speaking with Valicenti, Director Alviti stated repeatedly that the demolition had been carried out in accordance with the demolition plan.

… the result was exactly what the plan called for.

More specifically, with regard to the two barges that were placed below to catch the debris (emphasis added),

… they had a timber armor on the decks of them and they also had explosive cushions on the deck to kind of cushion the impact of the falling beams when they were demolished.  It did exactly that.  If you look at the pictures on the plans that were approved, it shows the structure coming down in exactly the way the videos that someone took from the shore adjacent to the demolition the day it fell, the video showed that it fell exactly the way the plans had called for.

Also,

The equipment that was specified was exactly in the positions and doing the job and the proper type of equipment in accordance with the approved plans …

In short,

The execution went exactly according to plan.

Okay, about those cushions.  I see them on RIDOT’s demolition plans; obtained by NBC 10 WJAR and part of the featured image of this article.

I do not see them on the barges as the demolition happens, per the screenshot in the featured image.  I see only the timbers laid across the barges as Director Alviti referenced.

It appears that, contrary to the director’s assertion, the blasting mats were not in place when the demolition was carried out.

In light of this track record, layered on the backdrop of Governor McKee’s refusal so far to carry out a full investigation of what went wrong from the beginning with the Washington Bridge, it is not at all clear what will be accomplished at Thursday’s joint Oversight hearing — or, more to the point, if the public can have any confidence in the accuracy of anything stated during the hearing if the main witness is not under oath.