Conversion of the Bristol Secondary into Rhode Island's first major shared-use path was approved in April 1983 by Governor Edward DiPrete. The path was constructed between 1987 and 1992 on the former railbed of the Bristol Secondary between East Providence and Bristol.[5] The bikeway was constructed in four phases:
Riverside Square to Barrington County Road (4.17 miles or 6.71 kilometres)
County Road, Barrington to Franklin Street, Warren (2.38 miles or 3.83 kilometres)
Franklin Street, Warren to Independence Park, Bristol (3.87 miles or 6.23 kilometres)
Riverside Square to India Point Park, Providence (3.98 miles or 6.41 kilometres)
The path was dedicated on May 31, 1992 by Governor Bruce Sundlun. An 8.5 mile on-road bike lane was completed in 2011, linking the East Bay Bike Path with the south tip of the Blackstone River Bikeway, a 48-mile (77 km) trail that will link Providence with Worcester, Massachusetts.
Repairs and upgrade
Tree roots, erosion, and weather necessitated repairs to the asphalt in 2002, 2007, and 2009.[6] Repairs in mid-2016 targeted the most hazardous areas of the path.[6] Pavement was repaired, destructive tree roots removed, eroded areas reinforced, and new planks were installed on the Barrington trestles.[6]
A section of the bike path was renovated and rebuilt along the Washington Bridge between 2012 and 2015.[7] The park was christened the George Redman Linear Park, opened in September 2015 at a total cost of $21.8 million.[1] It consists of an 11-foot wide bicycle lane, a separated footpath paved with stamped concrete, and several seating areas and is grade-separated from I-195 automobile traffic. It was named in honor of East Providence cyclist George Redman.[8][9][1] A plaque honoring Redman can be seen on the west end of the park.
The advanced deterioration of structural elements of the 1900 railroad trestles carrying the Bike Path over the Barrington and Palmer Rivers necessitated their closure in November 2019.[10] The Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) had allocated $10 million for their replacement. In Spring 2021, the estimated costs rose to as much as $25 million. RIDOT in 2021 invested $2 million to build a temporary continuous detour using boardwalks on the north side of the Route 114 vehicular bridges across the rivers until a permanent solution could be found. In late 2021, RIDOT issued a request for proposals (RFP) design-build procurement for replacing the bridges.[11] In 2022, Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse provided a total of $14 million ($5 million in March and another $9 million in August) in additional funding toward the project.[12][13] RIDOT hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for the $24 million design-build project on September 26, 2022 to replace both bridges using an approach that limits shoreline impacts and does not affect nearby utilities. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2025.[14]
