About 300 deteriorating wooden pilings will be removed from the Providence River near the Point Street Bridge later this year, state and conservation officials announced Friday.
The Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council, The Nature Conservancy and the city of Providence plan to remove 250 tons of derelict creosote timbers and piers from the river this fall. The project is funded by a $2.3 million grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program.
The pilings are remnants of the Point Street Bridge’s old swing system, which lifted and turned the bridge from 1927 to 1959. When the Fox Point hurricane barrier was constructed in 1966, it blocked larger vessels from entering the harbor and made the swing feature obsolete.
Now deteriorating, the timbers are a hazard to navigation, a potential threat to the hurricane barrier and a source of water pollution, according to the partners. The project will not interfere with or impact the functional portions of the bridge.
“Local advocates identified the pilings as a priority for removal during the WaterFire dredging project a few years ago,” said Scott Comings, TNC’s associate state director in Rhode Island. “Removing the contaminated timbers from the river will be a positive step for the ecosystem and for recreation.”
The grant was awarded to CRMC, but TNC will manage the engineering and demolition contracts through a cooperative agreement.
Permitting is expected to begin this spring, with removal planned for late fall or early winter. The partners will work with the Providence Parks Department and the Downtown Providence Park Network on public education and outreach efforts continuing into 2027.
