According to reporting in the Providence Journal, the Federal Highway Administration is demanding the return of $3.1M in I95/195 construction funding from the RI Department of Transportation because of materials that did not meet RIDOT's own standards.

The Department of Transportation failed to test the strength of concrete used in structural elements that hold up much of its flagship project, the new section of Route 195 being built through the city, according to just-released federal documents.

In all, Federal Highway Administration documents said, at least 64 structures that support the ramps and bridges in the $610-million project contain concrete that wasn’t tested for strength, in violation of various standards.
— via Projo

Now let me get this straight. This is the outfit managed by Jerome Williams, now headed back to the Department of Administration, whose departing press release said:

There were many significant accomplishments by the entire team over the last 12 months. During Williams’ tenure he and the RIDOT group oversaw a reduction of federal receivables of $9.8 million in Fiscal Year 2007 from the previous fiscal year. This allows our Federal highway dollars to come into the state faster.
— via RIDOT press release

Okay, the Federal dollars might be coming *in* to the state faster. Press release doesn't say they were staying. And eventually, even the can't-find-their-ass-with-Google-map Feds catch on if RIDOT persists in practices like this:

The FHWA investigation focused on concrete that the DOT didn’t test at all. But the agency also found that the DOT often crossed out the lowest of four concrete strength test results and averaged the rest, rather than averaging them all as the DOT’s own specifications require. Last October, The Journal reported instances of the same practice on concrete tests from the DOT’s Route 403 project.
— via ProJo

And, lest there be any confusion, this is the same Jerome Williams who is moving over to a $140K a year job at the Department of Administration. Since he was replacing someone who only made $110K, there had to be a special hearing.

Want to be he gets to keep his pay rate? An appropriate reward for a well-run department.