I was hoping the town council would take action. It seems they’re punting.”

Barrington resident Peter Shinkle

Where was the risk analysis?

That is the question Barrington resident Peter Shinkle is asking town and state officials in regards to the closure of the East Bay Bike Path bridges.

Mr. Shinkle recently shared a lengthy report with members of the Barrington Town Council that posed a simple question: Is it more dangerous to send bicyclists and pedestrians over the now-closed bike path bridges or direct them over the nearby vehicle bridges, following the current detour?

Mr. Shinkle offered his own answer to that question during the Sept. 13 council meeting. 

Speaking during the public comment period, Mr. Shinkle told council members that he had looked at inspection reports of the bike path bridges from the last 10 years and could not find any evidence that a structural engineer had determined the bridges were in danger of collapse. He said walkers and bike-riders faced a greater risk of injury or harm when they followed the detour and tried to navigate the vehicle bridges.

“I don’t think it’s a good situation,” Mr. Shinkle said.

The Barrington resident encouraged the council to be more firm about asking the state what it plans to do with the bike path bridges and when it plans to do it.

Barrington Town Council President Michael Carroll said the town manager had been quite firm in his dealings with the Rhode Island Department of Transportation. He joked that if Jim Cunha was any firmer with the DOT, the state might take out a restraining order against him. 

The comment drew a few laughs in the council chamber, but it did not sit well with Mr. Shinkle. A few days after the meeting, Mr. Shinkle said he was disappointed in the council’s response to his report and his call to action.

“They didn’t address the core issue,” Mr. Shinkle said, referring to whether there was any evidence that supported closing the bridges.

“They clearly have no appetite for standing up to the DOT… I think more can be done… I haven’t heard of any effort by the town council to challenge this … I think the town council could look into challenging this, possibly in a court of law.”

During the meeting, Mr. Carroll said the council did not have any authority in the matter, but it did have some influence, he added. Mr. Carroll advised people to write letters to their state representatives and to the governor. 

Mr. Shinkle’s response to that comment: “I was hoping the town council would take action. It seems they’re punting.”

Research

Mr. Shinkle has, for months, been researching the closure of the two East Bay Bike Path bridges. He said he has poured over countless inspection reports and other documents. He also requested any and all emails shared between the town and the DOT regarding the closure of the bike path bridges in Oct. 2019. Mr. Shinkle said he was surprised when Mr. Cunha, the town manager, told him there were no communications between the town and the state.

Mr. Shinkle said his interest in the bridges stems from a level of concern for people using the bike path who are forced to follow the detour onto the vehicle bridges. That group includes dozens of local school children making their way to and from class each day.

He said the town should demand the state provide evidence that the bridges are in danger of collapse. 

“I want to see something from a structural engineer,” he said. 

Officials from the Rhode Island Department of Transportation have shared documents with the Barrington Times that include photos of the bike path bridges’ substructures. The photos note areas of deterioration — one of the piers has cracks and is missing mortar, and stones have shifted; there is rust on the metal pilings; missing wooden piles and diagonal supports are missing sections; wooden bases resting on stone piers have areas of deep rot; and wooden supports are also rotted.

Rhode Island Department of Transportation Spokesman Charles St. Martin III responded to questions about repairing the current bridges.

“The deteriorated condition of the piles are the primary concern, many are rotted, missing or not connected to the bridge,” Mr. St. Martin wrote. “There are rotten components throughout the structure, both wood and steel. It cannot be repaired. Again, RIDOT closed the bridge because of these conditions and a concern for public safety.”

Mr. Shinkle said he has seen the reports and photos and is not convinced the bridges are in danger of collapse. 

“…why did RIDOT shut the bridges so abruptly in 2019?” Mr. Shinkle wrote in his report. “The problems of damage to the steel and wood of the bridges has long been known. What exactly changed?”

Mr. Shinkle is not the first person to raise doubts about whether the bike path bridges should have ever been closed. Some people have pointed to the bridge’s history — both wooden bridges supported locomotives in the past. 

In his report, Mr. Shinkle shows examples of other dangers encountered by bicyclists and pedestrians when they are directed off the bike path and onto the detour.

“The closure of the railroad bridges by order of RIDOT in October 2019 has created a dangerous situation in which bikers, often children, bike along highly-trafficked roadway bridges,” he wrote in his report. “In my view, the risk of a biker being hit by any automobile is exponentially higher than the risk of a biker somehow falling into the river from a bike path bridge.”

Mr. Shinkle said there are problems with the state’s detour plan.

“The state has recommended that people walk their bikes on the side of the roadway bridges, but one can be easily witness in just a short period on the bridges that that is not happening, as photos taken on August 29 show,” he wrote. 

In his report, Mr. Shinkle includes photos detailing the potentially dangerous situations facing pedestrians and bicyclists with the detour: A young girl riding her bicycle in the travel lane of the vehicle bridge because people fishing off the bridge occupy most of the sidewalk; a bicyclist traveling north in the southbound lane of the vehicle bridge as a car fills the northbound lane; people riding their bikes on the vehicle bridge sidewalks despite posted signs instructing people to walk their bicycles on the bridges. 

Communications

Mr. Shinkle’s report appears to question some inconsistencies in messaging from the RIDOT. He pointed to a press release from Oct. 2019, which stated the DOT was beginning design work shortly and that construction was to follow the next year. 

“However, emails obtained under an open records request reveal that RIDOT’s Chief Engineer of Infrastructure, Robert Rocchio, reported to other officials in an April 2019 email that major construction expenses would only start in 2024 – four years after 2020,” Mr. Shinkle wrote. 

“A Rocchio email dated April 25, 2019, shows that $170,000 was to be spent on the project of the two bridges in 2022, $620,000 was to be spent on the project in 2024, and $9.61 million was to be spent in 2025.”

Mr. Shinkle said the misleading statements offer good reason for town leadership to thoroughly investigate the status of funding for the projects.

“Because of the complexity of the matter, I recommend that the town council appoint a committee to accumulate information on RIDOT’s handling of the bridges and make further recommendations to the council,” he wrote.