by Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current
October 16, 2026
The rocky road to restoring Newport’s Cliff Walk has cleared a significant obstacle after the city secured permission from Rhode Island coastal regulators.
The Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) approved a revised repair plan at its meeting Tuesday. The unanimous vote, made with little discussion, paves the way to restore the public walking path and reopen as early as 2028. Sections of the Cliff Walk have been closed for more than four years due to structural collapses during severe weather.
The CRMC previously considered, but opted not to issue a decision, on the $23 million repair project, which is funded through a $13.8 million federal grant, a $6.25 million congressional appropriation and a $3 million state bond.
At its initial hearing in July, the CRMC instead told city engineers and the adjacent private property owners to consider alternatives. At issue was proposed restoration work on a 25-foot sliver of bluffs situated in the middle of the repair site spanning the path between Webster Street and Narragansett Avenue. While the Cliff Walk is public, this section is flanked by a private overlook included with the Gilded Age mansion behind it.
CRMC staff concluded that the stone work proposed below the private overlook was unnecessary, with no public benefit to stabilizing private property. Attorneys and engineers representing the Ochre Point estate known as “Southside” initially resisted, insisting the riprap was critical to stabilizing the public pathway on either side of it, and an adjacent stone arch bridge.
Mandated by the CRMC at its July 13 meeting to consider alternatives, the team came up with seven options, settling on one that satisfied all the parties involved.
The revised repair plan uses a few dozen steel bars to anchor the bedrock below the overlook, a process known as rock doweling, without requiring a special exception from the CRMC at all.
“This alternative removes the prohibited activity — fill in tidal waters — and provides the best option to protect not only the bridge and the overlook, but the public accessible cliff walk itself,” Richard Lucia, CRMC engineer, wrote in a Sept. 16 memo, recommending the CRMC approve the revised plan.
The stone bridge will be secured with foundational drilling at its base, Lucia wrote.
Who will pay for ongoing maintenance of the bridge — the price for which was not specified — remains unclear.
Girard Galvin, Newport city solicitor, told coastal regulators at Tuesday’s meeting that he expected Ochre Point owners to continue to be responsible for maintenance. But Turner Scott, the attorney for Ochre Point, replied that his client was not going to cover the cost, suggesting it could be taken from the public funds for the renovation project.
The public funding for the project may restrict spending on private property, council members pointed out. But the rules governing state and federal funding are not part of the CRMC’s purview, Mark Hartmann, CRMC counsel, said during the meeting.
Thomas Shevlin, a spokesperson for the city, said in an interview Friday that maintenance costs for the private bridge would likely be a shared responsibility between the city and the property owners, much like other aspects of the pedestrian walkway, for which ownership remains unclear.
“I don’t know that we can really weigh until there’s an actual instance where we need to think about who’s responsible for what piece of the bridge work,” Shevlin said. “A lot of it would depend on individual circumstances.”
The timeline for repairs will depend on the success of the city’s competitive solicitation for engineers and construction firms to do the work, and an outstanding permission from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Shevlin said. The city needed CRMC approval before seeking the Army Corps of Engineers’ permit.
“I think we’d need one good working season to get this thing done,” Shevlin said, suggesting the walkway could reopen sometime in 2028.
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