Pine Street Drift-way Project
You have likely noticed the construction vehicles at the Pine Street Drift-way to the south of Battery Park. Scott Wheeler, Superintendent of Parks, Grounds and Forestry recently gave this update to the project.
The purpose of the project is to address the following issues:
- preventing stormwater from Washington Street and the Pine Street drift-way from flowing at high velocity directly down the asphalted slope onto the blue rocks beach.
- the fully asphalted embankment as well as the stone and mortar seawall at the shoreline was breaking off and being deposited on the beach.
- the existing wooden guard rail acted as a barrier for people and personal water craft from easily reaching the shoreline.
The project includes the removal of all asphalt between Washington Street and the shoreline to be replaced with a 5’ wide concrete sidewalk that ends at a replacement concrete seawall that is at the same grade as the previous wall. Existing shoreline granite curbs are being reused as steps down to the beach and a thin band of rip rap has been installed as scour protection for the wall. The former roadway will be graded into a gentle swale south of the sidewalk to infiltrate storm water and the remainder of the roadway and slope will be stabilized with sod. A new handicapped ramp and concrete sidewalk will provide ADA complaint passage across the previous road opening. The textured concrete sidewalk down to the shoreline will greatly improve access but the final slope to the water is too steep to meet standards and a low seawall will remain.
This Pine Street Drift-way project was inspired by other “end of the road shoreline asphalt removal projects” completed by Save the Bay across the state. The original concept was developed with Wenley Ferguson from Save the Bay but it was determined that the Pine Street project was too complex to do without a formal design.
Funding for the project design was sought through Shoreline Adaptation and Inventory Design (SAID) List of Potential Projects for Design Funding Report in 2020, conducted by the Coastal Resources Management Council, in partnership with the University of Rhode Island Coastal Resources Center, Rhode Island Sea Grant, Save The Bay, and the Roger Williams University Marine Affairs Institute. The Pine Street project was selected along with five other projects from around the state for a second action grant that contracted with GZA Geoenvironmental in February 2021 to provide a 60% design.The completed design was utilized to obtain a grant for construction through the Green Infrastructure Bank.
Point Association members may recall that Superintendent Scott Wheeler made an initial informational presentation of the project to members at the quarterly meeting in Fall, 2022.The Green Light, 2022 – 2023, page 10.
Further questions may be addressed to Linda Stevenson at SavetheBay.org
2024 Point Association News
The Future of the Van Zandt Bridge: Neighborhood Questions Answered
December 9, 2024
Due to the heavy railway usage in Newport at the turn of the twentieth century, the Van
Zandt overpass was first constructed in 1911. It was replaced during the Great
Depression in 1932, nearly 100 years later, it is currently obsolete, in disrepair and no
longer required.
Recent inspections (2023) determined the bridge was in fair condition, with significant
spalling and cracking and is “somewhat better than minimum adequacy to tolerate being
left in place”. In considering the current condition of the bridge, public safety and long-
term costs, the city has determined the best path forward is to remove the bridge
completely and replace it with a lower road like Poplar and Elm streets.
On December 9 th I had the opportunity to discuss the future of the bridge with City
Manager Colin Kennedy, Bill Riccio Director of Public Services, and Bill Boardman City
Engineer to better understand the decision to remove, the process and timeline. My
synopsis of the meeting follows:
Relative to the bridge’s historic significance, while the bridge is nearly 100 years old, it
is not included in the historic district nominating papers, nor does it fall within the
purview of the HDC. Due to the severe decaying of the concrete structure any
character defining features are either gone or would require significate structural
reinforcement.
Had the city elected to “kick the can” and do nothing at this time, they would have been
forced to limit the weight to passenger vehicles only. Fire trucks and emergency service
trucks by law are not allowed to exceed weight limitations, therefore increasing
response times and potentially risking lives.
The life-cycle cost of reinforcement, restoration and fifty years of maintenance would far
outweigh the $12M budget to replace the bridge with a surface road. The bridge
removal would also provide another access point to the new bike path.
The project itself is relatively easy except for an electrical feeder line that is currently
installed under the bridge requires rerouting. From a timing perspective, there are still
several steps in the process. Once funding is available the design, bidding and
procurement needs to take place prior to any work commencing. The expectation is
that the project would begin in approximately 3-5 years.
Jim Madson
City Liaison, The Point Association