"People spend a lot of time creating beautiful vistas — you have a beautiful vista here and you want to maintain it. But small parts of it are washing out, even now."”

— Tiverton Department of Public Works Director Rick Rogers

TIVERTON — The Tiverton waterfront seawall is under siege, from the river, from uphill, from underneath, and from the rains that pour down on it.
Department of Public Works (DPW) Director, Rick Rogers, has a dire warning to the town, about an onslaught from nature that surfaced at last Thursday's town budget committee meeting (see separate story): the need for greater understanding and study of the risks to Tiverton's coastline — especially, and perhaps most immediately, the Riverside Drive seawall — caused by climate change and rising sea levels.
It was the potential impact of these forces on Tiverton's budget that came to the fore last week.
"Water from various directions," Mr. Rogers said, "water coming from uphill to the east, water that goes underneath the road [Riverside Drive] and carries sediment with it, plus there's wave action, surface water, and storm surges on occasion. So you have a combination of sources."
"Various areas in town are going to need a review of their coastline," he said, "a review that involves the state, the town, and private property owners. The whole town needs an overall assessment of its coastline. You would hope to partner with the state, with the University of Rhode island, with Roger Williams University, and with CRMC (the Coastal Resources Management Council), and granting agencies, to assist in that."
Down along Riverside Drive, he said Monday, during an inspection of the seawall at the far north end of the road, where it sort of peters out into a walking (or bike?) path, "some of the rip rap is not in place anymore and is washed out."
In this part of Tiverton, he said, "along Riverside Drive, you have a right-of-way for public access, and if you lose it, you've lost a valuable asset." He mentioned a possible bike path as a potential use for the right-of-way.
"People spend a lot of time creating beautiful vistas — you have a beautiful vista here and you want to maintain it. But small parts of it are washing out, even now," he said.
"North of the old railroad trestle is town-owned roadway, and below and south of the trestle is state-owned," he said.