The Rhode Island House of Representatives has approved legislation that would allow cities and towns to abandon roads or trails that they no longer maintain, but would still preserve public access to them.
The legislation was sponsored by state Rep. Terri Cortvriend (D-Dist. 72, Portsmouth, Middletown).
The bill would create a new option for towns when faced with a choice of either fully abandoning a road or trail, or paying to maintain it but no longer being responsible for it.
Under the plan, towns would be required to vote to abandon the roadway or trail, but retain an easement on it. That would mean that the public’s right to use the path for walking, biking or to access a nature preserve or shoreline would remain legally intact, even if the road is abandoned.
“Public access to nature has long been imperiled in Rhode Island by a lack of specific laws protecting it,” said Representative Cortvriend (D-Dist. 72, Portsmouth, Middletown), who championed the 2023 legislation that established a legal definition of the public area of the shoreline in Rhode Island. “Old roads and paths that are enjoyed by the public are often the subject of disputes when property changes hands or the area becomes more developed. This legislation will give cities and towns a means to preserve the public’s use of such places when the town would otherwise abandon them. Instead of having two choices — abandonment or being responsible for maintaining the road — it will give them a third choice of abandoning it but preserving the public’s right to keep using it for recreation. That designation will legally establish public access and head off any future disputes about it.”
The bill now goes to the Senate, where Sen. Victoria Gu (D-Dist. 38, Westerly, Charlestown, South Kingstown) is sponsoring companion legislation (2024-S 2641).
“This bill is a great step forward,” said Michael Rubin, retired Rhode Island assistant attorney general and longtime coastal advocate. “It embodies the concept of doing no harm. Too often when towns abandon roads it harms the public by reducing access. This bill will allow those roads to continue to serve recreation and access to our natural resources.”
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) assisted a What’sUpNewp journalist with the reporting included in this story.
