Projo — Public Street was blocked off to the public…

The corner of Allens Avenue and Public Street in Providence. David DelPoio

Jul 27, 2021

By Antonia Noori Farzan — PROVIDENCE — From its name, you'd assume that Public Street was intended for the public. 

But before the attorney general's office intervened last winter, fences blocked off the road's eastern terminus where it meets the Providence River. People from low-income neighborhoods in South Providence and Washington Park were cut off from one of the few places where they could walk to the waterfront and fish. 

Now, the long-overlooked stretch of gravel and asphalt,which attorneys say should have been open all along, will be permanently protected as a public access point. The Coastal Resources Management Council voted unanimously on Tuesday night to designate Public Street as a shoreline right-of-way, a move that will prevent it from falling into private hands and becoming off-limits forever. 

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