The stretch of Cliff Walk between Narragansett Avenue and Webster Street has been closed since part of it collapsed on March 3, 2022. A second collapse followed on December 23, 2023. Together they left about 0.2 mile of the path shut, inside a 550-foot section of shoreline that needs repair. In August, Newport finally put a construction calendar in writing. It is built around one rule. Work stays out of the summer.
The draft schedules the City Council considered on Aug. 12 restrict access to the project area between Memorial Day and Columbus Day every year. That one condition decides when the repair happens. It moves the work into the months when parking meters at Forty Steps are free and the path is at its emptiest.
Fifteen Months of Work, Spread Over Three Off-Seasons
The original plan called for about 15 months of construction, starting July 1, 2024, and reaching substantial completion by Sept. 30, 2025. The current draft starts on Nov. 2, 2026, and runs 26 months, with substantial completion on Dec. 31, 2028. The city gives two reasons for the slip: delays in executing the grant agreement and NEPA coordination that took longer than expected. It says the longer duration comes from the seasonal access restriction.
Put those draft dates against the Memorial Day to Columbus Day blackout and you get three work windows:
- November 2026 through Memorial Day 2027. The first window opens on the proposed start date of Nov. 2.
- Columbus Day 2027 through Memorial Day 2028. This is the only full off-season in the schedule.
- Columbus Day 2028 through Dec. 31, 2028. A short final stretch to substantial completion.
The cost changed along with the calendar. The city's August 2023 grant application listed a total of $13,751,000. The draft schedules now put the project at $23,001,000. Here is where the money comes from:
- $11,000,800 from a federal PROTECT grant through the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration, the largest single piece
- $5 million in congressionally directed spending
- $3 million from a RIDEM grant funded by the 2024 state general obligation bond
- $4,000,200 in local funds: a $2.75 million match already budgeted through the municipal infrastructure bond Newport voters approved in 2024, plus a separate $1.25 million city match
The documents say part of the higher total comes from new funding sources and note that construction cost estimates have also risen, without saying by how much. The council approved the PROTECT grant agreement unanimously on Aug. 12.
What Is Open, and How the Detour Works Now
The north end of the walk is open from Memorial Boulevard at Easton's Beach to Narragansett Avenue at Forty Steps. South of the closure, you can get on the walk at Webster Street, Ruggles Avenue, Marine Avenue, Ledge Road and Bellevue Avenue. On the city's own list of points of interest, the closed overlook comes right after Forty Steps, with Ochre Court and The Breakers farther south.
When the city laid out the street detour in 2022, it ran along Narragansett Avenue and Ochre Point Road, using the sidewalk on the west side of Ochre Point Road to reach Webster Street. The route is about a third of a mile. Detour signs were still up at Narragansett Avenue this July. The city's Cliff Walk page still describes the Narragansett-to-Webster stretch as closed for the foreseeable future. It does not yet list any separate closures for the construction season.
The open northern section is getting its own, smaller project. On Sept. 16, the council docket proposed a $22,800 contract for replacement fencing between Memorial Boulevard and Forty Steps. The council gave the job to AEP Fence Services Inc. of Johnston, the lowest responsive bidder. This is a separate job from the restoration contract.
What the Crews Would Build Below the Path
The restoration is much more than a patch at the 2022 collapse site. The city's revised filing with the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council, dated Aug. 21, divides the 550 feet between Webster Street and Narragansett Avenue into five sections.
- Section 1, exposed cliff face. Geotextile fabric covered with crushed stone and riprap. Cavities in the cliff face get filled with grout or concrete.
- Section 2, granite block wall. Riprap along the face of the existing wall, with 5- to 6-foot stones set at the toe.
- Section 3, the March 3, 2022 collapse. A modular stone block wall directly below the path, supported by concrete-filled micropiles drilled 5 feet below bedrock, with a riprap slope extending toward the water.
- Section 4, exposed cliff face. Riprap sloping seaward from the base flood elevation, plus cavity filling.
- Section 5, granite block wall. The collapsed area behind the wall gets filled with crushed stone and capped with RIDOT R-8 armor stone. Riprap goes on the seaward side.
The filing lists the project location as 185-199 Narragansett Avenue on Easton Bay. It estimates about 18,242 square feet of permanent impact in state tidal waters. GZA Environmental Inc. prepared the original application for the city. It describes the goal as reopening the Cliff Walk in its entirety and protecting the old path from waves far stronger than when it was built in the mid-1800s.
The 25 Feet That Stalled the Permit
Most of the delay comes down to one short stretch of bluff. CRMC was set to rule on the original application at its July 14 meeting. After nearly two hours of testimony, the council postponed a decision. The issue was a 25-foot sliver of bluff in the middle of the project area, below an overlook whose owners argued that riprap under the overlook was needed to protect the whole public path. CRMC staff recommended against approving that part.
Newport This Week reported that the owners wanted an outcrop included in the repair to support a stone arch bridge, and the city had backed the request. On Aug. 12, City Solicitor Christopher Behan told the council the owners had agreed to give the city access to do the restoration even if the outcrop work is dropped.
The Aug. 21 revision takes a middle path. It removes the riprap revetment planned seaward of the rock outcrop. Instead, it proposes rock bolts and dowels to stabilize the shale and glacial till under the path, plus micropiles under the bridge to shore it up as needed. The filing says this change means the work is no longer classed as a prohibited activity.
Ownership is a separate issue. Most of the Cliff Walk lies within private property lines. A federal easement granted to the city keeps it open to the public, and Behan said the easement process was underway as part of the federal grant.
Where Things Stand in Early October
The Nov. 2 start date comes from schedules marked as a template, not intended for execution without changes. Several administrative fields in them are still blank. Here is the public record as of this week:
- CRMC. The revised notice gave the public until Sept. 21 to request a hearing. CRMC canceled its Sept. 8 meeting. The Cliff Walk application was not among the four applications listed for action on its Sept. 29 agenda.
- City Council. The Sept. 16 docket simply received the revised CRMC notice. The Sept. 30 docket had no item on Cliff Walk construction.
- Contract. The Cliff Walk solicitations on the city's closed-bids list are a master-plan consultant RFP and the fencing job. Neither the Sept. 16 nor the Sept. 30 council docket includes an award for the main restoration.
- Other permits. In July, city spokesperson Tom Shevlin said an Army Corps permit and a RIDEM water quality certification were still needed, and that both depended on CRMC acting first, as reported by What'sUpNewp.
Four weeks before the proposed start, the records gathered for this post show no state coastal permit, no follow-on approvals and no main construction contract. If the first work window slips, the schedule's own blackout rule means it can only slide within the off-season or wait for the next one.
The Walk This Fall
Parking for the open northern section is at Memorial Boulevard by Easton's Beach and at Narragansett Avenue by Forty Steps. Meters are paid from May 1 through Oct. 31 and free from Nov. 1 through April 30, though time limits may still apply. Starting Nov. 1, you can walk from Easton's Beach to Forty Steps, take the Ochre Point Road sidewalk to Webster Street, and continue south past The Breakers without paying a meter.
At Boston ONE Realty Group, we track public works like the Cliff Walk restoration because a multi-year project near Ochre Point or Narragansett Avenue is part of what a home there is worth. If you own near the path and want a current number, get your instant home valuation.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
