Extension of South County Bike Trail to 108

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A few years ago, I did a loop ride from Long Island to Narragansett and back
via the South County Trail. At that time, to get to the trail from the
Narragansett waterside involved crossing 108 and riding some local roads to
a tiny trailhead at the top of a hill. Judging by the new RI bike maps, it
appears the trail has now been extended to 108. Is this an off-road path
all the way, or have they just marked the roads between the trailhead and
108 with BIKE ROUTE signs?

In article <47daaa94$0$5636$607ed4bc@cv.net>,
TomMontalbano@optonline.net says...
> A few years ago, I did a loop ride from Long Island to Narragansett and back
> via the South County Trail. At that time, to get to the trail from the
> Narragansett waterside involved crossing 108 and riding some local roads to
> a tiny trailhead at the top of a hill. Judging by the new RI bike maps, it
> appears the trail has now been extended to 108. Is this an off-road path
> all the way, or have they just marked the roads between the trailhead and
> 108 with BIKE ROUTE signs?

It's now a fully finished rail-trail up to the point where it hits 108
(across from Chelo's, which is a really good restaurant, BTW). There is
a proposal to extend it all the way to Narragansett Town beach, but
that's at least a couple of years away, so to get to the water front
from the trail head still requires some road riding, though not as much
as before.

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>>>so to get to the water front from the trail head still requires some road
>>>riding, though not as much
as before.<<<<

So it's really just a matter of riding South Pier Road between 108 and the
waterfront? That's not bad at all.

How would they extend it to the waterfront? Isn't all that property east of
108 privately owned?

In article <47dae5cc$0$25031$607ed4bc@cv.net>,
TomMontalbano@optonline.net says...
> >>>so to get to the water front from the trail head still requires some road
> >>>riding, though not as much
> as before.<<<<
>
> So it's really just a matter of riding South Pier Road between 108 and the
> waterfront? That's not bad at all.

No, not bad at all, just that 1/4 mile on 108 itself and its
intersection with South Pier Rd. is sometimes unpleasant.

Another option would be to go 2/3 of the way around the rotary on 108
and follow Kingstown Rd to the Pier area. If you were going to the
beach, that would be a bit quicker. If you wanted to get to the south
end of the seawall, or were heading down to Pt Judith, then South Pier
Rd would be the way to go.



> How would they extend it to the waterfront? Isn't all that property east of
> 108 privately owned?

I haven't followed this very closely, but my understanding is that there
would be a short stretch from 108 to the Rt 1 right-of-way that would be
on local residential streets (less than a mile, I believe), and then
would go under Rt 1 in the old RR underpass. From there, I'm not sure
if the RR right-of-way is still available for finishing to the beach, or
if it would rejoin the residential streets again.


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