New paddle trail to connect Portsmouth and Newport

Water trail is the first project of the West Side Master Plan to be realized

August 17, 2008

By Peter B. Lord,  The Providence Sunday Journal  

Last month, Joe White, of Warwick, tried the paddle trail from East Providence to Providence. On Friday, a second trail will be inaugurated at Weaver Cove Boat launch, Portsmouth.

On Friday morning, many of the state’s top political leaders are expected to climb into kayaks and help inaugurate another “blue trail” in Rhode Island, this one extending from Portsmouth to Newport.

An official launch and news conference is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday at the Weaver Cove Boat Launch, which is off Burma Road in Portsmouth.

The launch is one of nine that will be established, all part of the West Side Master Plan that the Aquidneck Island Planning Commission has prepared to make use of more than 400 acres of Navy property.

The new trail follows creation last month of a so-called Roger Williams Paddle Trail running from East Providence to downtown Providence.

Tina Dolen, director of the planning commission, said the public is welcome at the event, either to view it from shoreside or to join with properly equipped kayaks.

Confirmed to take part are U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, Coastal Resources Management Council Chairman Michael Tikoian, Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Director Michael Sullivan and State Sen. Majority Leader Teresa Paiva-Weed.

Paddling is expected to begin at 10:30 a.m., after about a half-hour of presentations and speeches.

Details of the new kayak route can be found by looking at the West Side Master Plan at http://www.aquidneckplanning.org/

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