Workers installed chainlink fences on the East Bay Bike Path bridges in Barrington and Warren recently, after it became clear that the traffic barrels and caution tape were not enough.

The Rhode Island Department of Transportation closed the sidewalks on the bridges for safety reasons earlier this summer, and placed orange traffic barrels and yellow caution tape. But the barrels and tape did little to stop people from standing on the sidewalks.

"We found that the barrels were thrown over the side and into the river," said Charles St. Martin, a spokesperson from the DOT. "That left the sidewalks unprotected."

DOT officials closed the sidewalks earlier this summer after they noticed rot at the end of the beams that support the sidewalks. Liz Pettengill, the communications director for the DOT, said some of the timbers used in the construction of the bike path bridge sidewalks were reclaimed from the original train track trestles. But the repurposed materials have started to show their age, she said.

DOT officials were conducting a routine bridge inspection earlier this summer when they realized the ends of the support beams had rot. The state agency then closed the sidewalks on the bike path bridges.

DOT officials said there was no clear date set for reopening the bike path bridge sidewalks. It was also not known when repair work on the sidewalks would begin.