ecoRI News — Walking Tour Illustrates the Difficulty in Accessing the Ocean State’s Public Shoreline

Janet Freedman of URI’s Coastal Institute points out the features of a well-marked shoreline access right of way on Atlantic Avenue in Westerly. (Cynthia Drummond/ecoRI News)

Oct 3, 2022

By Cynthia Drummond / ecoRI News Staff — WESTERLY, R.I. — On a clear September afternoon, a group of about 30 people gathered at the Weekapaug Breachway on Atlantic Avenue for a walking tour of Westerly’s shoreline public access points.

Leading the walking tour were Janet Freedman and Nathan Vinhateiro of the University of Rhode Island’s Coastal Institute, who have been documenting the dynamic nature of beaches, tides and tide lines.

Additional tour leaders were Christine Dudley, the DEM’s deputy chief of freshwater and diadromous fisheries; Leah Feldman and Laura Dwyer of the Coastal Resources Management Council; representatives from Rhode Island Sea Grant; Casey Tremper of Clean Ocean Access; and state Rep. Terri Cortvriend, D-Portsmouth and Middletown, who chaired the special legislative commission studying public shoreline access.

An issue that has elicited some of the strongest public engagement in Rhode Island in recent years, access to the shoreline in coastal towns, including Westerly, has been the subject of in-depth coverage by ecoRI News.

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