In the news

There are moments in the life of a community when progress does not arrive through one dramatic announcement or ribbon cutting. It comes instead through partner­ships and working together as one community.

Last week on Aquidneck Island felt like one of those moments.

Within days of one another, two important transportation initiatives moved forward. RIPTA officially launched the new Flex On Demand pilot program for Aquidneck Island, and community leaders boarded the Newport & Narragansett Bay Railroad to dis­cuss the next phase of a long-envi­sioned rail-with-trail corridor along the island’s western shoreline.

These were not isolated events. They are connected pieces of a much larger regional effort now underway to address one of the defining challenges facing Aquid­neck Island: how to preserve our quality of life while ensuring our economy, workforce, and trans­portation systems can support the future.

For years, the Chamber has heard directly from employers about transportation challenges impacting their businesses and employees. Workers commuting onto the island struggle with congestion, limited transit op­tions, and parking shortages. Employers worry about attracting and retaining staff when getting to work itself becomes expensive and time-consuming. Employees arriving for shifts at restaurants, hotels, healthcare facilities, retail businesses, or defense contractors often spend valuable time simply trying to navigate the island effi­ciently.

Transportation is no longer just an infrastructure issue. It is a work­force issue. An economic develop­ment issue. A quality-of-life issue.

That understanding is precisely why the Chamber has taken an active role in supporting regional transportation planning and bringing partners together around practical solutions.

Through the Aquidneck Island and Naval Station Newport Com­patible Use Study, the Chamber has worked alongside Newport, Middletown and Portsmouth leaders, Naval Station Newport, the Aquidneck Island Land Trust, planners, and transportation ex­perts to help shape a long-term vision for the island. The study rec­ognizes both the urgency of our transportation constraints and the opportunities before us if we plan collaboratively and strategically.

The Chamber has also worked closely with RIPTA to help com­municate the realities employers and employees face every day. The launch of the Flex pilot program reflects that ongoing dialogue.

Roughly half of our workforce commutes onto the island each day. Once they arrive, finding and paying for parking becomes another challenge entirely. Many workers need to move throughout the island during the day—to meetings, job sites, restaurants, appointments—without con­stantly relocating their vehicles.

Programs like Flex create the possibility of parking once and moving more easily throughout the island. They help employees get to shifts more reliably. They support businesses already strug­gling with workforce shortages. And they begin reducing pressure on already congested roads and parking areas.

That matters enormously for the future of this region.

The Compatible Use Study makes clear that Aquidneck Is­land’s transportation network is already under strain. 84% of com­mute trips are still made by private automobile, while future growth tied to Naval Station Newport, NOAA, and Coast Guard expansion will place even more pressure on our roads in the years ahead.

Which is why last weekend’s rail corridor discussion felt so encour­aging.

I joined local leaders aboard the Newport & Narragansett Bay Rail­road for a briefing and train ride focused on a vision that has qui­etly endured on Aquidneck Island for more than twenty-five years: a shared-use rail-with-trail corridor connecting communities along the island’s western shoreline.

What struck me most was not simply the practicality of the idea, though there is plenty of that. It was the sense that this island is be­ginning to remember how to think long-term again.

For years, the concept of a multimodal transportation cor­ridor existed mostly in planning documents and conversations. Now, momentum is building. RIDOT discussions are underway. Engineering and implementation planning is beginning. Support for multimodal transportation, re­gional coordination, and improved north-south connectivity across the island is growing.

The brilliance of the rail-with- trail vision is that it understands something essential about Aquid­neck Island: preservation and progress are not opposites. The smartest growth often looks less like expansion and more like res­toration.

Because ultimately, we all want the same thing: an island where businesses can thrive, workers can get to their shifts efficiently and affordably, neighborhoods remain livable, and Aquidneck Island stays beautiful and connected for gen­erations to come.

Erin Donovan-Boyle, President & CEO of the Greater Newport Chamber of Commerce, and Matthew Vargas, Chair, Government Affairs Committee