"For the very possibility of a history of lieux de memoire demonstrates the existence of an invisible thread linking apparently unconnected objects..." (Nora 23)
The network arch bridge over the Providence River is one of the newer monuments to grace the landscape of Providence. Built in 2006, the bridge was the branded image of a larger RI government campaign called Iway, a $610 million project to relocate and redesign the intersection of I-95 and I-195 in Providence. Though the project was formally under the jurisdiction of the RI Department of Transportation, it was conceived and constructed amidst dramatic changes in the social dynamics of Providence (a fact of which the designers were certainly aware). The scope of the relocation project was thus not limited to traffic patterns and road maintenance, but was integrated both explicitly and implicitly into shifting images of what exactly Providence was like as a city. From Iway’s public relations literature and slogan, “Yours. Mine. Ours,” to the commemorative ceremonies surrounding the signature bridge’s installation, to the very materiality of the bridge itself, the network arch bridge is a monument to Providence’s history in the 20th and 21st centuries as well as a symbol for the anticipated trajectory of its shifting cityscape. This discussion will aim to recognize the bridge as a true lieu de memoire by uncovering some of this “invisible thread” contained within and around it.
Background: A Brief Bit of Providence History
