The Greenway Connection is Complete: Celebrating a Major Milestone for the Woonasquatucket River

On June 15, the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council joined community members, partners, and elected officials to celebrate the completion of the newest section of the Woonasquatucket River Greenway.

With a ribbon cutting at Farm Fresh Rhode Island, we marked the opening of a transformative new mile of riverfront trail connecting Olneyville and Downtown Providence, creating safer and more accessible opportunities for walking, biking, paddling, and enjoying the river.

This new section along Kinsley Avenue and Promenade Street has been years in the making and represents a major milestone for the Greenway. The completed project includes separated walking and biking paths, pocket parks at Eagle, Hemlock, and Bath Streets, kayak launches, native plantings, wayfinding signage, and green infrastructure designed to capture and treat stormwater before it reaches the Woonasquatucket River.

The project also features Providence’s first intentionally designed floodable park, helping improve resilience to heavy rain events while creating attractive public space for residents and visitors to enjoy.

The celebration brought together an incredible group of supporters and partners, including Farm Fresh Rhode Island Executive Director Janet Coit, WRWC Executive Director Alicia J. Lehrer, U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, Congressman Seth Magaziner, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley, Providence City Council President Rachel Miller, EPA Region 1 Regional Administrator Mark Sanborn, Restore America’s Estuaries’ Tom Ardito, RIDEM Director Terry Gray, and RIDOT Interim Director Robert Rocchio.

Throughout the event, speakers highlighted the many ways the Greenway benefits the community. Beyond providing a safe route for walking and biking, the project improves access to the river, supports local businesses, helps manage stormwater, creates wildlife habitat, and connects neighborhoods to one another and to downtown Providence.

“The vision for this project was always much bigger than a bike path,” said Alicia J. Lehrer, Executive Director of WRWC. “We wanted to create a space that would improve water quality, reduce flooding, provide safe transportation options, enhance wildlife habitat, support economic development, and reconnect people to the river.”

The Greenway has come a long way since the early days of river restoration. What began as an effort to clean up a neglected urban river has grown into a seven-mile network of trails, parks, and public spaces that serves thousands of residents each year.

One of the best parts of the day was seeing so many people come together to celebrate a project that truly took a village. Federal, state, and local agencies, nonprofit organizations, community advocates, engineers, planners, funders, and residents all played a role in making this project possible.

Following the ribbon cutting, guests joined guided tours of the new section to learn more about its green infrastructure features, river access improvements, and the history of the Greenway. It was a chance to see firsthand how much this corridor has changed and to imagine what future improvements might look like.

For WRWC, this project represents exactly what the Greenway has always been about: creating healthier rivers, stronger communities, and more opportunities for people to connect with the outdoors right in their own neighborhoods.

We are incredibly grateful to everyone who helped bring this project to life and excited to see the community enjoy it for years to come.

If you haven’t had a chance to visit the new section yet, we encourage you to take a walk, ride a bike, launch a kayak, or simply stop by one of the new pocket parks and enjoy the view. We think you’ll agree it was worth the wait.

In the News

The completion of this transformative Greenway project received coverage from several local and regional news outlets: