East Bay Lawmakers Call For RIDOT To Repair Bike Bridges

WARREN, RI — East Bay lawmakers are calling for the state's Department of Transportation to fix and reopen a pair of bridges on the East Bay Bike Path.

Legislation was introduced by Rep. Jason Knight, who represents Barrington and Warren, and co-sponsored by Reps. June Speakman and Katherine Kazarian, also from the East Bay. The bill would give RIDOT $20 million to repair the two bridges, which cross over rivers in Barrington and Warren. Both are former railroad bridges designated for bikes and walkers only until they were closed in 2019 due to structural deterioration.

"The Department of Transportation must rebuild the bridges on the East Bay Bike Path, not abandon them," Speakman said. "Rhode Island has committed to drastically reducing our carbon output, and to do it, we absolutely must invest in active transportation, particularly when it’s as popular, and well-used as the East Bay Bike Path. Repairing the bridges is an important commitment to promoting the bike path as a genuine transportation alternative, and this is an investment that puts our transportation money where our mouth is."

At the time of the closure, the department said the bridges would be repaired in two years, at a cost of $10 million. RIDOT Director Peter Alviti now says the project will cost $25 million, but has supported an "enhanced detour" as a permanent alternative to reopening them, the representatives said.

"The East Bay Bike Path is an essential part of our transportation infrastructure in the East Bay and the state as a whole, and these bridges play no small role in making it so," Rep. Knight said. "Bridges that are just for bicyclists and pedestrians guarantee them a safe route over the rivers. There’s a limit to how ‘enhanced’ any detour can be on the busy, bottlenecked Route 114 motorist bridges. These detours are not a long-term solution, and in this case, they are significantly impacting the quality of an important transportation and recreational resource that serves as a key connector for workers, shoppers, tourists and school kids in our region."