“Open Road” Fun at The Sakonnet Coastal Bike & Stroll

Saturday, September 14th, 2024, 9:00am – Noon

The Sakonnet Coastal Bike & Stroll is your once-a-year chance to embrace the magic of a car-free, family-friendly experience along the striking coastline of Portsmouth, RI!

Enjoy the beauty of Island Park and The Hummocks, outside, on the road, safely and with confidence. Bring your kids, your friends … even your friendly furry friends! You’re free to bike, walk, or use any form of non-motorized transport to enjoy this coastal route.

This unique community event is 100% FREE to attend. Donations of all sizes are encouraged to support the event, and also benefit bike safety education and infrastructure advocacy for all of Aquidneck Island.

We ask that you kindly register through Eventbrite & waive liability for each member of your group. Thank you in advance for including a donation as you’re able. Suggested donation: $10 or more per rider.

You’ll see two ticket types as you register: one to register each person attending, and the other to donate in support of Bike Newport’s programs. Thank you! You do not need to print your tickets.

The Sakonnet Coastal Bike & Stroll is presented by Bike Newport and the Island Park Preservation Society, and organized by a committee of Portsmouth residents and members of the state congressional delegation, in coordination with the Portsmouth Police Department and Department of Public Works.

BankNewport is the principal sponsor for the 2^nd Annual Sakonnet Coastal Bike & Stroll. “BankNewport proudly supports Bike Newport’s programs for equitable access to bikes and bike safety education, and is pleased to sponsor this free community event in Portsmouth”, shared Kathleen Charbonneau, Director of Community Relations & Charitable Giving. Bike Newport is grateful for BankNewport’s generous support, and to our additional sponsors: Sunset Cove, Ocean State Air Solutions, Rail Explorers Rhode Island, The Green Grocer, Whipple Tree Experts, and The Bow Bar.

The route includes Park Ave from just after (east of) Mason Ave, Point Road, Hummock Point Road, and Hummocks Ave through (and including) the railroad overpass at Anthony Rd (at the entrance to Common Fence Point), and also including the separated bike lane crossing the Sakonnet River Bridge.

Please see the route map below.

Sunset Cove, located at 706 Park Ave, will serve as the event hub, where at 8:45am we’ll gather to celebrate the start of this fun community event. Clements’ Marketplace is supplying a spring water refilling station at the hub, operated by The Bow Bar alongside their craft strawberry lemonade.

Bike to the event if you safely can: If approaching from (or through) Tiverton, we encourage you to bike across the beautiful separated bike path crossing the Sakonnet River Bridge. We are thrilled to extend this car-free route to Tiverton by way of this separated bike path. For residents of Common Fence Point, you’ll be riding with traffic inside the neighborhood, while the railroad overpass itself will be car-free, and marks the north end of the car-free route.

For those arriving by car, parking will be available along the southern extent of Boyd’s Lane, and along portions of Anthony Road (west of the railroad overpass). Please exercise caution while navigating in traffic to reach the car-free route. And as always, please be sure to wear a properly fitted helmet for your safety. There is no prescribed starting point nor ending point… simply enter the car-free route wherever you meet it, and enjoy!

Please support Portsmouth businesses along the route: Whether during or after the event, please consider grabbing breakfast, lunch, ice cream and more from any of the terrific local restaurants located along the route. If you’re not yet familiar with Island Park, have fun discovering this Aquidneck Island gem.

At 8:30am, Portsmouth Police will begin to close the route to cars. At 12pm, cars will again enter the roadway, so you’ll want to be safely off the road before that time.

The Sakonnet Coastal Bike & Stroll is made possible with the help of more than 30 volunteers who help keep everything safe and running smoothly. If you are interested in volunteering to support this event, please e-mail chris@bikenewportri.org.

We’re very grateful to residents and businesses along the route, many of whom will join in the fun! We thank residents in advance for adjusting the timing of nonessential travel by car during this three-hour community event, for pre-positioning vehicles outside the route where possible, for following guidance for egress routes where unassisted egress is possible, and for kindly awaiting police escort in rare cases when traversing the car-free route is completely unavoidable.

We look forward to seeing you on September 14th! If you have any questions in advance of the event, feel free to contact John Vit at (401) 952-1953.