WaterFire executive requests redesign of Providence River pedestrian bridge for more boat access

BARNABY EVANS, WaterFire's executive artistic director,  has asked city and state officials to redesign the planned Providence River pedestrian bridge to make it possible for more boats to pass underneath. / COURTESY WATERFIRE
BARNABY EVANS, WaterFire's executive artistic director, has asked city and state officials to redesign the planned Providence River pedestrian bridge to make it possible for more boats to pass underneath. / COURTESY WATERFIRE

PROVIDENCE – WaterFire Executive Artistic Director Barnaby Evans has asked city and state officials to redesign the planned Providence River pedestrian bridge to make it possible for more boats to pass underneath.
In a slideshow presented to a I-195 Redevelopment District Commission subcommittee Monday night, Evans proposed raising the bridge clearance near the western shoreline, where the boat channel is located.
The current bridge plans have the highest clearance in the center of the river, where the river is shallow and unnavigable at low tide by many boats, then slopes downward to the west. Evans’ alternative would have the bridge elevation remain level and not slope downward to the western shore.
As an added benefit, maintaining the west side elevation would allow a walking path underneath the west side bridge landing, which is too low and close to the water under current plans. Providing space for a path would, in the future, potentially allow a continuation of the riverwalk all the way to Point Street.
With the riverwalk, Evans also called for a more gradual slope to the river in the west side park to allow for more grassy space allowing people to get closer to the water.
In a phone interview Tuesday morning Evans said the changes, including the bridge clearance, are not directly related to WaterFire, as the event’s boats have been designed with shallow drafts that can operate under either design.
He said the Commission’s Parks Subcommittee requested the state Department of Transportation, which is overseeing construction of the bridge, explore whether the changes are feasible.

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