<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3EvDHF_1GnoJ0LT00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3EvDHF_1GnoJ0LT00" width="1200" height="628" >The historic Budd Rail diesel car sometimes seen chugging along Burma Road was originally built for the Canadian National Railway, but these days it operates on the Newport &amp; Narragansett Bay Railroad and is known as the “Islander Touring Train.” On Nov. 1, the train was filled to capacity by people who signed up to travel the route of a proposed mixed used pedestrian trail, that would run approximately 4.5 miles along the western shore of Aquidneck Island, from Portsmouth to Middletown. Glennie LeBaron, Aquidneck Resilience’s community engagement manager, said the community train ride sold out 100 tickets in less than three days, which she characterized as an “astounding” amount of engagement compared to past events.“People on the train really were bought in to the rail trail project,” said LeBaron. “They’re really excited to see where this can go, and I think a testament to how engaged people are is that we were on the train for an hour and a half and the questions didn’t stop. There’s a lot of really good curiosity and excitement about this project.” “It was a very full train, and there was a lot of excitement about the potential and possibilities,” said state Sen. Dawn Euer after she disembarked from the train. “I talked to some folks who would ride their bikes around Aquidneck Island right now, but can’t do it safely in many sections. Things like this have been done successfully elsewhere around the world, and I think this would be a great addition to Aquidneck Island.” There are some examples close to home. The William C. O’Neill Bike Path (formerly known as the South County Bike Path) is a paved, 7.8-mile rail trail that runs from the Kingston Amtrak Station to Narragansett. The Blackstone River Bikeway is a multi-use path featuring over 11 miles of dedicated off-road infrastructure between Cumberland and Woonsocket. And the East Bay Bike Path is a “rail to trail” conversion covering over 14 miles, from downtown Bristol to Providence. With some preliminary funding from the van Beuren Charitable Foundation and Prince Charitable trusts, Aquidneck Resilience has hired engineering consultants to incorporate public feedback into initial designs. The a 4.5-mile segment of rail with trail adjacent to Burma Road, will run between Access Road in Middletown and Stringham Road in Portsmouth. Eventually, the path could be extended to connect with the Newport Bike Path, which runs alongside Coddington Highway. “I think it’s quite an ambitious project, but I think if you get the right people and the right money behind it, it could work,” said Jackie Sherman, an 85-year-old Portsmouth resident who lives in Common Fence Point and registered for the community train ride along with two neighbors. In addition to the train ride, Aquidneck Resilience hosted a public feedback session at Innovate Newport on Oct. 27, where people heard a presentation from Pare Corporation, viewed maps of the proposed route, and offered their own thoughts for how the trail should look and be utilized. There will be another public feedback session next spring. Paige Myatt, executive director of Aquidneck Resilience, said a Request for Proposals has been issued for the preliminary design phase. Pare Corporation and Horsley Witten Group signed consultant contracts last summer after responding to the RFP, and are now conducting surveys and analyses with the goal of offering design concepts for public feedback by next May, and establishing a preliminary design by October. Eric Moffett, owner of the Newport &amp; Narragansett Bay Railroad, was in attendance at the Oct. 27 meeting. “We think it’s a great thing for our operation, it’s a good thing for Aquidneck Island, it’s a good thing for the community,” he said. “The railroad needs to be a main artery to bring people on and off the island, to bring equitable transportation, so that everybody can use it, and the bike path can be built along that corridor. So, it’s a start to having more people utilize a corridor that right now is underutilized.” Emily Colbert Cairns, a Newport resident, said she would use the trail for recreational purposes. “[For] the kids on the island . . . there are not a lot of safe spaces for them to go, so this is why this is important to us,” she said. “I bike to the YMCA in the summer with my kids on that path, but I wouldn’t let them do it by themselves. So that’s something important to us, that we would like to have better access here.” Cairns’s nine-year old son said his favorite place to ride in Rhode Island is the East Bay Bike Path, and that he would like to see a similar trail on Aquidneck Island. “It’s long, and you’ll go through the bay, or sometimes you’re in the woods, and the other thing that is really important to us is having nice places to stop along the way. I like having a little grass space every once in a while, because sometimes my sister gets tired,” he said. Additional information about the rail trail proposal can be viewed on the Aquidneck Resilience website. </div></body>

Block Source: newportthisweek.com

Misinformation

Clickbait

Old or repetitive news

Explicit content

Location not relevant

The historic Budd Rail diesel car sometimes seen chugging along Burma Road was originally built for the Canadian National Railway, but these days it operates on the Newport & Narragansett Bay Railroad and is known as the “Islander Touring Train.”. On Nov. 1, the train was filled to capacity...

Train Ride on Proposed Pedestrian Trail Draws Plenty of Interest

NewsBreak

The historic Budd Rail diesel car sometimes seen chugging along Burma Road was originally built for the Canadian National Railway, but these days it operat

Train Ride on Proposed Pedestrian Trail Draws Plenty of Interest

Comments