"This is what we've been waiting for," city spokesperson Tom Shevlin told Newport This Week last week. He was talking about the Cliff Walk. A 500-foot section of the trail has been closed since a storm took it down in March 2022, and the city now has a revised repair plan in front of state coastal regulators. The Coastal Resources Management Council hearing is set for tomorrow, October 13. If the council approves the plan, the city's next step is to write a Request for Proposals for engineering and construction.
The federal grant schedule also sets when crews can work on the trail, and it limits construction to the months that begin today.
A construction calendar that starts on Columbus Day
Today is Columbus Day. Under the draft schedules attached to the city's federal grant docket, as What's Up Newp reported in August, construction access to the damaged area is restricted between Memorial Day and Columbus Day every year. So the summer stretch, when the trail is busiest, is off the table. The crews get the other part of the year.
That one restriction changed the length of the project. The construction phase was first expected to take about 15 months. The schedules now project 26. Planned substantial completion moved from September 30, 2025, to December 31, 2028. The project's official start date moved from July 1, 2024, to November 2, 2026. The city attributes that shift to delays in executing the grant agreement and longer-than-expected federal environmental review.
These dates are projections, not promises. The schedules were marked as a template that needed changes before execution. The November 2 start also comes before the construction RFP, which can't go out until coastal regulators approve the method. The seasonal rule is the part most likely to hold, because the longer timeline was built around it. Each year the work moves forward, it will do so between mid-October and late May.
Here is the record so far, in order:
- March 2022: The section between Narragansett Avenue and Webster Street collapses during a storm.
- August 2023: The city's grant application lists a total of $13,751,000.
- December 2025: Newport applies to coastal regulators for an exception to build along the oceanfront.
- Summer 2026: The council puts off a decision. Rhode Island Current dates that postponement to a July 14 meeting, and Newport This Week places the continuance at an August 5 hearing.
- August 12, 2026: The City Council signs the federal PROTECT grant agreement.
- August 21, 2026: CRMC issues a revised public notice describing the city's modified design.
- October 13, 2026: The CRMC hearing on the revised plan.
- December 31, 2028: Projected substantial completion.
What the coastal council is being asked to approve
The holdup this summer came down to a small piece of ground. Rhode Island Current described it as a 25-foot sliver of bluff in the middle of the project area. That spot sits beside a private overlook and a stone arch bridge that belong to a private estate on Ochre Point. The city's original application, prepared by GZA Environmental, did more than patch the two broken sections of path. It covered five sections, with crushed stone fill on the exposed cliffs and a stone block wall below the walkway to protect it from heavier waves.
CRMC's staff recommended approving almost all of it. The exception was stone riprap under the private overlook, which staff said was not needed to repair the collapse or stabilize the public path. The estate's engineer told the council that the middle section of riprap was needed to keep the neighboring stone bridge from failing. Access is also a factor. As ecoRI's Rob Smith explained on Ocean State Media, the most practical way to stage equipment and materials for the repair is from the adjacent private land.
The revised design in CRMC's August 21 notice deals with the roughly 50-foot span at the bridge differently. It drops the revetment seaward of the rock outcrop and uses bedrock bolting and micropile underpinning to support the bridge. The work still covers the full 550-foot run between Webster Street and Narragansett Avenue. Newport This Week reported that the city is returning with "less intense repairs" and that it worked with the property owners of the damaged section to get the project this far.
The money is in place, and the cost has grown
Funding is no longer the open question. The draft schedules put the total project cost at $23,001,000, nearly $9.25 million more than the 2023 application.
| Source | Amount |
|---|---|
| Federal PROTECT grant, U.S. DOT and FHWA | $11,000,800 |
| Congressionally directed spending | $5,000,000 |
| RIDEM grant, 2024 state bond | $3,000,000 |
| Local funds, including the 2024 municipal infrastructure bond | $4,000,200 |
According to the docket, the bigger total comes from funding sources added since 2023. It also notes that construction estimates have gone up, without giving an amount. The PROTECT grant pays for construction only. The council chose to fund design and federal environmental review directly. The $2.75 million local match the PROTECT grant requires was already budgeted through the infrastructure bond voters approved in the 2024 general election. A separate $1.25 million city match is tied to the congressionally directed spending.
The rest of the trail, this winter
Everything outside the damaged block stays open, so the cold-weather walk mostly looks the same. Discover Newport lists the full route at 3.5 miles, with the Narragansett Avenue to Webster Street section on a detour. Listed entrances run north to south:
- Memorial Boulevard, at Easton's Beach
- Narragansett Avenue, at Forty Steps
- Webster Street
- Ruggles Avenue
- Marine Avenue
- Ledge Road
- Bellevue Avenue, at the east end of Bailey's Beach and Reject's Beach
The stretch from Memorial Boulevard to Forty Steps is paved and generally flat. From Belmont Beach to Reject's Beach the path is uneven, with rocky sections. Metered parking at Memorial Boulevard and Forty Steps costs $2 an hour through October 31 and is free from November 1 through April 30, though hour limits may still apply. The public restrooms at Forty Steps and Easton's Beach are seasonal.
The northern end will also get smaller improvements on a separate track. At the Cliff Walk Commission's September 29 meeting, chair Peter Janaros reported that the city will replace fencing near Forty Steps this fall using federal Wind Turbine Mitigation Funding. Paving the section from Memorial Boulevard to Forty Steps is still in engineering. A $150,000 grant for a Cliff Walk master plan has been approved, but the city has to reissue its consultant RFP after receiving only one bid.
Landmarks along the open sections
The city's numbered trail markers start with Easton's Beach at 1. Forty Steps is 3, Ochre Court 5, The Breakers 7, Marble House 11, the Chinese Tea House 12, and Rough Point 13. The city's account of Forty Steps traces the first set to the 1830s, when David Priestly Hall built them so his children could reach the beach below his property. The collapse happened just south of those steps. Farther south is Ochre Court, which the city calls Newport's second-largest mansion. Salve Regina's self-guided walking tour identifies it as the university's flagship administration building. Above the path on the Marble House grounds is the Chinese Tea House, built in 1914 for Alva Vanderbilt Belmont. It serves food on select dates, but only to Preservation Society members and mansion ticket holders.
Easton's Beach, at the trailhead, has also changed. The old snack bar building and the second story of the carousel building were taken down in 2024. The Rotunda, the bathhouse, and the carousel building's first floor are still there. Save The Bay lists its Easton's Beach Exploration Center and Aquarium as permanently closed. At a February workshop covered by Newport This Week, consultants put a Rotunda renovation at $3.2 million and demolition at about $800,000. They also floated converting the building to open-air shade. No final choice had been reported.
For coffee before or after the walk, Gardiner Provisions at 429 Thames Street opened as a bakery and coffee bar this February, with hours reported as 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.
If CRMC approves the revised plan tomorrow, the next milestone is the city's construction RFP. After that, the first season of work would fall between Columbus Day and Memorial Day.
If you own a home near Ochre Point or the Bellevue Avenue corridor and want to understand how a multi-year public construction schedule nearby might come up when you sell, The Sweeney Advisory can walk you through it. Book a private consultation.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
