By Steve Klamkin, WPRO News

A new bridge in East Providence has been completed more than a year ahead of schedule.

The Rhode Island Department of Transportation says two new spans carrying North Broadway over the Ten Mile River had to be rebuilt due to severe deterioration. Originally budgeted for two years with a price tag of $2.8 million, the work was cut in half, in part, by closing a section of North Broadway, and by securing the cooperation of the neighboring Agawam Hunt Club to give construction crews an adjacent staging area, said Deputy RIDOT Director Phillip Kydd.

"By closing it, and allowing more space for the contractor to work, he was able to work on both bridges at the same time, which cut the time in half," said Kydd. He added, the work was completed in just under a year and just below $3 million.

"We could do it for many of the projects, and these are the types of accellerated methods for doing it. We think this is the wave of the future to go, and we should be doing more of it," Kydd said.

East Providence Mayor Bruce Rogers thanked the RIDOT crews for expediting the work, as did the Agawam Hunt Club's Secretary, James Wilson.