EastBayRI — Vehicle access at Portsmouth's Gull Cove debated
A car uses the narrow access road as it leaves the peninsula at Gull Cove last week. DEM is proposing a plan to install a gate on the road, restricting visitors from driving out the peninsula. Only first responders would have access. JIM MCGAW
May 9, 2023
By Jim McGaw — Motor vehicles would be banned from the narrow access road to the peninsula under RIDEM plan, ending a 70-year tradition
PORTSMOUTH — For about 70 years, local residents and out-of-towners have been driving out to the edge of the small peninsula at Gull Cove to drop in a small boat or kayak, lug their fishing gear, or carry some chairs or a shade tent to enjoy the calmness of Blue Bill Cove.
Under a R.I. Department of Environmental Management (DEM) project to explore site improvements to the site however, the road may be shut off by lock and key in the near future.
The reason? Erosion due to climate change and stormwater runoff has taken a heavy toll on not only the access road, but the surrounding shoreline, according to officials from DEM, the Nature Conservancy, and the Narragansett Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NBNERR), who presented plans to the Harbor Commission on Wednesday, May 3.
“It has eroded a lot, even in a few years,” said Lauren Miller-Donnelly, public access coordinator for The Nature Conservancy and DEM. The project hopes to provide recreational opportunities at the site, but also make it safe “and make sure it doesn’t erode any further,” she said.
They want to use part of a $200,000 federal grant DEM was awarded last year to make natural improvements to the area, while also restricting vehicular access to certain parts of Gull Cove, which is accessed by the northbound lanes of Route 24.
“Every time a car drives out on that little causeway, you’re causing damage,” RIDEM Chief Dean Hoxskie told the commission, which is chaired by Abigail Brown.
The problem is only going to worsen with future sea level rise, said Caitlin Chaffee, NBNERR’s reserve manage.
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