ON THE RIGHT PATH
City segments of Blackstone River Bikeway progressing
WOONSOCKET — It was a good year for one of the state’s marquee recreation projects, as the state Department of Transportation continues to chip away at the four segments of the Blackstone River Bikeway that remain unfinished – all of them in the city.
Of the four, a construction crew is almost finished with one, known as Segment 8C, a
.6-mile stretch that hugs the Blackstone River from the Massachusetts line to Cold
Spring Park. And a separate crew recently broke ground on Segment 8B1, which will take riders along another .6 miles of off-road paths and dedicated bike lanes from the start of the
Truman Bypass near Worral Street and through Market Square to River Street.
The two remaining segments of the bikeway are Segment 8B2, which will run along the Blackstone behind Kennedy Manor – crossing the river at one point over a new bridge – and Segment 8A , the final link that will track along River Street and hook up with the segment at Cold Spring Park. Those segments are in the design phase and could be under construction by 2021, according to Planning Director Joel Mathews.
“There was a period when work on these projects seemed to be languishing but I’m modestly pleased that they now appear to be moving quickly,” said Mathews. “They have made good and substantial progress during the last year and a half and I’m confident we’ll see a completed bike path within the next few years.”
Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt says she continues lobbying state officials to speed up the construction schedule on Segments 8B2 and 8A.
Baldelli-Hunt says that’s where having good relationships with state officials can make a different for the city – a recurring theme for the mayor, a former state lawmaker.
“They’re our partners in progress,” she says.
“...I’m modestly pleased that they now appear to be moving quickly. They have made good and substantial progress during the last year and a half and I’m CONFIDENT WE’LL see a completed bike path within the next few years.”
—Planning Director Joel Mathews
“It’s important to have a respectful relationships with other officials... these are important projects for the growth of our city.”
City officials see the bikeway as a boon for recreation- and tourism-based economic expansion. Business advocates also say amenities like the bikeway are an important draw for young workers when deciding where they want to live and work.
In a local project intended to capitalize on the benefits of the Blackstone River Bikeway, Baldelli-Hunt is aiming to acquire and demolish Aly’s Riverside Pub on River Street to make way for a new dock and boarding platform for the Riverboat Explorer. To make it happen, however, the city is banking on a state grant to help offset the costs of the parcel overlooking the Blackstone River.
Operated by the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council as a tourboat, the Explorer currently spends most of its time at the Central Falls Landing – except in the fall, when it docks rather inconspicuously in a secluded nook of Cold Spring Park. Baldelli-Hunt says moving the Explorer closer to the downtown, on River Street, would make it more visible to passersby and generate more interest – and city-based tourism.
Aly’s is also situated directly opposite the spilloff point for riders on Segment 8C, making it an even more desirable location for the Explorer once that leg of the linear park is completed.
Baldelli-Hunt says the administration has applied for a grant of $80,000 from the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation to offset the cost of the acquisition. She said an announcement could come by the end of the month.
The owners of Aly’s are desirous of selling the property, and the city has come to
terms with them on a price of $180,000. If the city is successful in obtaining the grant, the City Council has passed a resolution indicating that it would be amenable to allocating city funds to make up the difference.
As for Segment 8C, all that remains is for workers to stripe the off-road ribbon of asphalt that starts near the tennis courts in Cold Spring Park and leads all the way to Roosevelt Park in Blackstone. DOT and the state Department of Environmental Management broke ground on the $4.5 million project last November. Rocchio Construction is now putting the finishing touches on the project, which includes a new bridge that spans the Blackstone River on Singleton Street.
Several weeks ago, Cardi Construction began work on Segment 8B1 – a $2.5 million project. The company’s work gives passersby the best evidence yet of the precise route the path will take – a matter that’s been subject to much revision and fine-tuning over the years.
Cardi crews, however, have excavated sections of the northbound lane and adjacent sidewalk of the Truman Bypass in preparation for what appears will be a dedicated bike lane that will run alongside motor vehicle traffic – from a point just south of Worral Street as far as the junction of the Truman Bypass and Bernon Street.
On Wednesday, crews crossed Bernon Street and began excavating an abandoned road – more of an alley – that runs between Hanora Lippitt Manor and the former Vintage Restaurant (soon to be rechristened Sweet Basil Restaurant). From there, the bikeway will cross Main Street and slice through the parking lot in front of Ye Olde English Fish & Chips, exiting onto River Street in front of Aly’s Riverside Pub.
What’s not so obvious is that Segment 8C also includes some improvements just for motorists: a roundabout to replace the T-stop at the junction of Bernon Street and the Truman Bypass.
Bikers will steer clear of the roundabout on a marked lane crossing the bypass on the north edge of the new traffic circulator. The whole project is slated to be finished in December 2019, according to Mathews.
The four segments of the linear park that are currently under construction or in design represent a combined stretch of roughly three miles of the Blackstone River Bikeway – a project that began some three decades ago. When they’re complete, they’ll form a seamless route of mostly off-road paths for bicyclists and pedestrians that is already 15 miles long, starting from Fox Point in Providence and passing north through portions of Pawtucket, Central Falls, Cumberland, Lincoln, North Smithfield and Woonsocket, where the existing terminus is on Davison Avenue.
But the Blackstone Valley Bikeway won’t exist in a vacuum. Biking enthusiasts and advocates for a cleaner, environmentally-friendly alternative to motor vehicles also see it as a vital link that will marry up two other lengthy bikeways. To the south, the Blackstone River Bikeway would connect to the East Bay Bike Path, which stretches from India Point in Providence to Bristol. To the north, it would join Massachusetts’ counterpart, the Blackstone Valley Greenway.
The first stretch of the latter – some three miles from Blackstone to Uxbridge – was just inaugurated last year, but the Massachusetts Department of Transportation envisions the Blackstone Valley Greenway as a roughly 47-mile long path that will eventually take users all the way from the North Smithfield-Blackstone line to Worcester.