Burnside Street is a mess. And it has been on the radar of Ed Tanner, Town Planner, for some time. From the aging, off-kilter utility poles, inches from historic buildings, holding up tangles of …
This item is available in full to subscribers.
Please log in to continue |
Register to post eventsIf you'd like to post an event to our calendar, you can create a free account by clicking here. Note that free accounts do not have access to our subscriber-only content. |
Are you a day pass subscriber who needs to log in? Click here to continue.
Burnside Street is a mess. And it has been on the radar of Ed Tanner, Town Planner, for some time.
From the aging, off-kilter utility poles, inches from historic buildings, holding up tangles of long-abandoned cable, telephone, and power lines, to the patchwork pavement, barely-there sidewalk and random parking plan, Burnside Street is begging for mercy.
“There's a lot of reasons why this is one worthy project,” said Tanner. “We’ve been working on this for a while.”
A few years ago, a small section of sidewalk was completed, in front of the handful of residential buildings on the street. Most of the street, however, is commercial, primarily Herreshoff Marine Museum property, either utilized by them or rented out to tenants, most of which are in the marine trades. So there is a lot of activity for a relatively short street. What’s more, Herreshoff runs summer camps and sailing classes, and hosts events including weddings and a summer concert series — all served by a road that is so discombobulated, it is routine to see pedestrians walk right down the middle of it to avoid the chaos.
A few years ago, Herreshoff got a grant from the State to use brackets to move the power lines away from their buildings, because they could not even find enough safe space between the power lines and the buildings to paint. The brackets served their purpose, but they aren’t a great look.
Beginning in 2023, the town Planning and Community Development departments began taking steps to rectify the situation, meeting with residents and business owners and Herreshoff, as well as Pare Engineering.
“We surveyed the street, walked the street, and came up with a couple different scenarios,” said Tanner. Making Burnside one-way was considered, but ultimately rejected because of the level of commercial activity, not to mention sailors, kids, and cruise ship guests. “There's a lot of different users,” Tanner said. “So, we went through various concepts, reviews of parking, curbing, and bump outs, then we settled on a plan that works, and that seemed to have the most consensus from the neighborhood.”
The final design will retain the two way traffic plan, with a net gain of a few parking spots. The commercial buildings will still keep their loading areas, but with all-new concrete aprons. The road will not just be repaved, it will be completely rebuilt. Three utility poles will be eliminated, and two new ones will go in their place, on the other side of the street. The rerouting of the lines is an expense, but one that Rhode Island Energy is reducing due to the age of the poles and the fact that they were already in need of replacement.
Despite those discounts, the cost estimates came back higher than anticipated. Tanner credits Community Development Director Diane Williamson for uncovering the solution: a R.I. Infrastructure Bank Grant.
“It was a pretty competitive grant,” said Tanner, who thinks that the key to the award is the fact that it brought together commerce, tourism, the marine trades, public outdoor recreation, and the neighborhood’s connection to the waterfront. “It’s just got a lot of a lot of really good positive pieces to it — there's a lot going on here. This is a big hub.”
Bristol will receive $333,921 for Burnside Street reconstruction and streetscape improvements, including sidewalk construction, curbing work, utility relocation, paving, and street beautification. It’s part of a larger package of over $3 million awarded by the R.I. Infrastructure Bank for municipal infrastructure projects In 11 cities and towns.
The Municipal Infrastructure Grant Program (MIGP) was established to provide competitive grants to municipalities statewide to complete key infrastructure projects that support job creation and economic development, housing development and rehabilitation, create opportunities for commercial growth and expansion, and community development projects that are in areas that communities have determined are best suited to efficiently accommodate future growth or redevelopment. MIGP grant recipients are required to provide a local match of at least 25 percent.
The total cost of the project will be a little less than $430,000, leaving Bristol’s match at about $87,000. Work will begin after the busy summer season so as to not interfere with Herreshoff events.
Once complete, the only challenging spot along burnside Street will be the intersection where it meets Hope Street, where the curb is too steep for a proper accessible crosswalk. As Rte. 114 is a state highway, that detail is in the state’s hands.