Contaminated Soil At Providence Construction Site Moved

PROVIDENCE, RI—Contaminated soil at the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) 6-10 Interchange construction site in Providence was transported to a landfill in Clinton, Massachusetts on Monday.

The soil transportation comes two months after RIDOT and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) announced that the material was contaminated. According to a September 16 press release from the administration, the process of removing the soil was estimated to take only two to three weeks.

"DEM observed evidence that showed a correlation between materials brought to the site from other projects and the higher levels of contamination detected in those areas in the pile," said the press release. "Based on this correlation, DEM and RIDOT agreed that the pile in question should be removed. The contractor will also remove any other soil that may have been imported to that site from other off-site sources and dispose of them at a facility licensed to accept that material."

Barletta Engineering/Heavy Division, based out of Canton, Massachusetts, is the lead contractor on the $410 million 6-10 Interchange project and was ordered to remove 1,600 cubic yards of contaminated soil from the construction site.

The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 57, which has members working at the site, first raised the issue of contaminated soil in July. The union hired a company to test soil samples and accused Barletta of trucking in hazardous material from out of state.

“One chemical was found to be more than double the acceptable limits,” Local 57 President James White wrote in an August 31 letter to RIDOT Director Peter Alviti. “Another chemical was found to be more than four times the acceptable limits.”

“It is shocking to think that the State of Rhode Island would allow thousands of tons of hazardous waste to be trucked in from Massachusetts and dumped in the middle of Providence for use on a construction project,” White wrote in a separate August 31 letter to DEM Director Janet Coit.

According to the DEM, the investigation into how the contaminated materials got onto the 6-10 Interchange construction site will continue despite the soil being moved.