Bike Newport is creating Rhode Island’s first “Traffic Garden”, located in the parking lot of the former Maher Center on Hillside Avenue – adjacent to beautiful Miantonomi Park. Please join us for a ribbon cutting celebration on Tuesday, October 10th, from 3-5pm.
Rain has delayed our opening more than once – but all is looking good now for AFTER SCHOOL ON TUESDAY OCTOBER 10TH! Please come from 3:00 to 5:00pm – bring your bikes or borrow one of ours and give the Traffic Garden a whirl. We’ll have educators on hand; helmets, lights and bells for your bikes; some refreshments to boost your energy; and if all goes well plenty of October sunshine! The official ribbon cutting will take place at 3:30pm.
WHAT IS A TRAFFIC GARDEN??
Imagine a mini streetscape just for bikes—bright, colorful, and exciting. A Traffic Garden lets young riders have fun learning and practicing their bicycling skills safely away from cars.
The Newport Traffic Garden will include roadways with vehicle markings, crosswalks, stop signs, and even a roundabout. It will help to improve road safety education, enhance road-sharing skills, and foster a culture of respect and courtesy among all road users.
For the Traffic Garden, the City of Newport generously made available the parking lot of the former Maher Center on Hillside Avenue adjacent to Miantonomi Park. The location is a quick walk or bike ride for many residents and is close to many neighborhood destinations: Pell Elementary School, Bike Newport’s Big Blue Bike Barn and Summer Bike Camp, the Florence Gray Community Center, and the shared use path on JT Connell Highway. This awesome location ensures that lots of folks can easily join the fun – including people who don’t have easy access to cars or reliable transit. Thanks to the City of Newport!
Thanks to the experts at KCI Paving and Concrete and New England Sealcoating for the surface repairs and beautiful paint job! We look forward to having all work completed in time for our grand opening and ribbon cutting by numerous partners and VIPs – now taking place on Tuesday, October 10th, from 3-5pm.
Bike Newport has a history of transforming unused spaces into vibrant community hubs. Look no further than Bike Newport’s “Big Blue Bike Barn,” a one-acre campus on Newport Housing Authority property. We teamed up with the property owner to turn a vacant lot into a vibrant outdoor space for the whole community to enjoy. The success of that transformation is an inspiration to convert other unused spaces for community benefit until they are needed. The upcoming Traffic Garden will likewise be a wonderful community asset until that space is otherwise developed.
Grant support: The Newport Traffic Garden is made possible by a Rhode Island Streets Transformation Grant from the RI Department of Health, Grow Smart Rhode Island and Providence Streets Coalition, by a grant from the RIDOT Division of Highway Safety, and by generous support from an anonymous donor. We’re grateful for these generous awards that are converting our long-held dream of a Newport Traffic Garden into a fun-filled reality.
Be sure to come out and enjoy it!
Bike Newport