Town Beach to Close to Vehicles

The Barrington Town Beach will be closed to vehicles starting Oct. 21.

The closure is necessary for the reconstruction of the parking lot as part of a water-quality improvements project, said Town Planner Phil Hervey.

The closure is expected to last for at least 8 weeks and will run until the project is shut down for the winter, said Hervey.

“Barrington Town Beach will have a completely new look by next summer,” said Hervey. “Not only will the project improve water quality and reduce erosion, beach users will be able to enjoy a much nicer facility.”

The $358,630 project includes:

• Re-pavement of the entire parking lot.
• Expansion of the beach area with the removal of sections of asphalt nearest the beach.
• Parking spaces eliminated at the west end of the beach, an area where the asphalt has become undermined due to frequent flooding. Overall, the number of parking spaces will be reduced from about 100 to 80; however, the area near the new beach building will be available for overflow parking as needed.
• Removal of an asphalt swale in the Water Way right of way at the west end of the beach, to be replaced with a drainage swale designed to improve water quality and reduce beach erosion.
• Rain gardens at several locations within the parking lot, including at the end of Bay Road and at the end of Beach Road.
• New wood bollards and wood fence guardrail replacing all existing metal and wood guardrail.
• New plantings and bike racks holding up to 26 bikes, new benches, service access gates and an outdoor shower. 

The existing cinder-block building at the end of Bay Road, which dates to the 1950s, also will be torn down to improve traffic flow into the parking lot and make room for the rain gardens at the end of Bay Road. The block building is no longer needed with the new beach house.

Work is expected to be completed by May of next year, Hervey said.

Contractor for the project is William Anthony Excavating of North Kingstown. Gifford Design Group of Cumberland design consultant.

Barrington is used bond funds to leverage a State Revolving Fund loan for “green infrastructure” improvements at the beach, Hervey said. The State Revolving Fund provides below-market rate loans for water pollution abatement projects, as well as principal forgiveness for inclusion of “green infrastructure” features in the design