Barriers remain for West Side drive plan

By Joe Baker/Daily News staff
9/22/06

MIDDLETOWN -- Turning Burma Road into a shoreline drive is "a unifying element" of the West Side Master Plan, local officials were told Thursday.

The Aquidneck Island Planning Commission, which was the driving force behind the comprehensive plan, held an informational breakfast forum to update legislators and local municipal officials on implementation efforts since the plan was unveiled last November.

But the biggest stumbling block to the shoreline road concept remains unresolved. The federal government still owns easements along Burma Road, also referred to as Defense Highway, because of the Navy base. The Navy must declare land along the route "excess" and turn it over to the state for the road project to move forward. They have not yet done so.

The plan also calls for an extension of Burma Road through Naval Station Newport to Coddington Highway. That plan must meet Navy needs for base security, which will require extensive design plans.

Tina Dolen, executive director of the commission, said she believes the Navy is actively discussing the proposal, because they have asked for several copies of the master plan.

"We will not rule out the possibility of Navy property being excessed in the future, but at this point it is too early to tell," Naval Station Newport public affairs officer Lisa M. Woodbury Rama wrote in an e-mail response.

Some of the property that would need to be turned over is the subject of environmental cleanups, which might not be completed until 2012, Rama said.

The state's congressional delegation is trying to keep lines of dialogue open between local and federal officials, said Jonathan Stevens, policy director for U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I.

"This could be a national model," Stevens said of the master plan. "It's a question of being persistent."

Although there is no guarantee the needed land would be turned over or that the Navy would approve plans to run the road through the base, it is important to develop a detailed plan, commission planner Teresa Crean told attendees.

Plans for the new road include a dedicated bike path that would run right to the Sakonnet River Bridge, Crean said.

According to the master plan, the shoreline road would ease the increasing congestion on East Main and West Main roads, the island's two main north-south arteries.

"By diverting commuter and tourism traffic from congested roads to an underutilized corridor, traffic on the island will improve," the report states.