To the editor:

(The following comments remarks were delivered last Thursday to the Rhode Island Planning Council.)

We are here to speak on behalf of Bike Tiverton and in coordination with the Town of Tiverton regarding our support for the construction of a dedicated bike pathway in North Tiverton.

The Mount Hope Bay Greenway-Tiverton Bike/Pedestrian Pathway (MHBG-Tiverton) would convert a 2.5 mile stretch of unused railway that travels along the shores of Mount Hope Bay from the Sakonnet River Bridge northward to the Massachusetts state line at Fall River into a rail-trail. The path would provide a vital connection to an expanding network of existing and proposed pathways linking Aquidneck Island, Providence, Fall River, and ultimately Cape Cod.

The proposed trail would traverse a flat plane without interruption by bridges, property, or traffic intersection, offering unobstructed views of the shoreline and bay in the foreground with the Mt. Hope Bridge in the background. It would establish a wonderful linear park in North Tiverton, a region currently lacking in dedicated open space for recreation, providing vital economic, health, and social benefits to the town.

In addition to the benefits that would accrue to Tiverton locally, construction of the pathway would ensure broader connectivity to the biking community at large, including connection to the developing Aquidneck Island Bikeway, a link made possible thanks to the inclusion of a dedicated bicycle/pedestrian path on the northern edge of the Sakonnet River Bridge that links Portsmouth with Tiverton. The MHBG-Tiverton would help to further the goal of tying together the colonial city of Newport with the Industrial Revolution city of Fall River. Additionally, it would serve as a gateway to the scenic biking routes throughout the Tiverton Four Corners area and southward into Little Compton.

The Fall River Community Preservation Committee has dedicated funds for a planning and engineering study for construction of a bikeway along 3.4 miles of shoreline from the Rhode Island/Tiverton border to Heritage Park in Fall River, commencing in 2018. This would connect with Tiverton’s segment of the pathway, resulting in a continuous nearly 6-mile long Mt. Hope Bay Greenway along the bay. The Fall River bikeway in turn intends to link up with a larger Providence to Provincetown bikeway, as well as connect to a proposed Taunton River Trail.

If all links were completed, a cyclist leaving Newport could conceivably ride all the way to Providence or Cape Cod along designated on and off-road pathways, connecting two states and serving as a tributary to the larger East Coast Greenway, a 3,000-mile protected biking and walking route extending from Calais, Maine, at the Canadian border, to Key West, Florida. Thus, the Tiverton MHBG path is an essential link to an interconnected set of bike routes that could enjoy heavy use by both recreational bikers and biking commuters, an invaluable asset to the region.

The Fall River portion of the MHBG will be a rail-with-trail pathway as the state of Massachusetts desires to maintain the railroad right-of-way for a possible re-opening of the railroad line in that area. The Tiverton segment of the MHBG could be constructed as either a rail-trail conversion or a rail-with-trail pathway, depending upon the preferences of the State of Rhode Island for preserving the rail line or not. A maintenance plan will be developed in conjunction with the Tiverton Department of Public Works. In addition, we are exploring available avenues for the development of a design and engineering plan for the pathway.

The MHBG-Tiverton bike path is a relatively small construction project yet it is of strategic importance as a vital link to the much larger vision of an extended network of interconnected on-road and off-road bicycle/pedestrian pathways that will establish Rhode Island as a premiere destination for bicycle tourism, helping to reinvigorate our economy as well as to promote health, fitness, and increased community pride throughout the state, and thus worthy of serious consideration.

Harton S. Smith, M.D. and Mary Bandura, Ph.D.

For Bike Tiverton]