Riding your bike in Rhode Island can be very enjoyable and relaxing. Plus, you are burning hundreds of calories while enjoying nature. There are many bike trails that you can take in Rhode Island that are safe and bike friendly. The places below is where we feel you will get the most enjoyment from cycling.
With the opening of a new section at its southern end, the Blackstone River Bikeway grew to just over 10 miles in length, making it — for now — the longest continuous bike path in the state.
The new section of the Blackstone path is fun to ride –– a 540-foot wooden boardwalk on stilts that traverses the wildlife habitat of the Lonsdale Marsh. Here you will see a wetland swamp that illustrated plaques tell us is home to Eastern screech owls and a variety of ducks. The boardwalk is 14 feet wide, and makes a good vantage point to see swamp ferns and skunk cabbage sprouting. The marsh is on the migratory path of heron, swans and ospreys. It’s hard to believe that this beautiful natural area had become a dumping ground before the town of Cumberland purchased it and cleaned it up with volunteer efforts. The Blackstone River bike path has been a community effort on a grand scale. It has been 10 years since the first part of the bike path opened at the Ashton Viaduct in Lincoln. The new boardwalk, dedicated on April 28, is part of a $3.9-million segment of the Blackstone path. At the dedication ceremony, it was announced that a volunteer bike patrol from the National Park Service will ride the path offering assistance and information to cyclists.
At the end of the roadway bike route, Valley Falls Heritage Park makes a beautiful destination for a bike ride at the south end of the Blackstone bike path. Just upstream, visible beyond the Broad Street Bridge, the Blackstone Valley Explorer and Samuel Slater riverboats (operated by the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council) are docked at the Central Falls Landing, where there is plenty of parking
With its dramatic bridges, dams, old mills and now the boardwalk, the Blackstone River Bikeway is fast becoming a favorite of bike path riders –– especially while parts of the East Bay path are under construction. (The Washington Bridge section, at the north end of the East Bay path, which used to allow riders to cross from East Providence over the Seekonk River to Providence’s India Point Park, has been closed for about a year and will remain closed while highway work is under way.
The eventual goal has always been to link the Blackstone bike path with the East Bay Bike Path via India Point Park and a projected linear park crossing the Washington Bridge from Providence to East Providence. If that’s done, the bikeway will be the longest in the state.