RI DEM Set to Close Road Around Beavertail Lighthouse to Cars
GoLocalProv News Team
RI DEM Set to Close Road Around Beavertail Lighthouse to Cars
According to RI DEM, the closure is being enacted to protect public safety at this waterfront park located at the southernmost tip of Jamestown.
“The CRMC is encouraged by RIDEM’s decision to close the road around Beavertail lighthouse in the interest of public safety. That area has increasingly been subject to erosion and washouts from storm surge, flooding, and wind during Sandy and other major storm events as a result of climate change. People will still be able to access the shore, but will do so in a safer manner,” said Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) Executive Director Grover Fugate.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe road will be closed to vehicular traffic starting on Monday, February 3.
“DEM’s strategic study on modernizing state parks and beaches notes that Rhode Island must do more to make our special places more resilient to the effects of climate change, and this project does just that,” said DEM Director Janet Coit.
The lighthouse and surrounding area will remain accessible to pedestrians.
Impact of Closure
With the closure, vehicle traffic inside the park on Beavertail Road will be redirected to the interior loop road located just north of the lighthouse and will no longer be allowed to travel on the outer loop portion of the road that circles the Beavertail Lighthouse and Museum.
DEM will be developing plans over the next several months to improve pedestrian and handicap parking and access to the closed-loop portion of Beavertail Road.
Separate from the road closure, the USCG will begin a lead remediation project at the Beavertail Light Station on February 5.
The Light Station and buildings inside the perimeter wooden fence belong to the USCG. Both the light and fog signal are active navigation aids and maintained by the USCG.