The coronavirus barrier at the entrance to Rhode Island Road at Sakonnet Point has been removed but issues remain there including safety and public access.
The Town Council will take those up on Thursday (after the Sakonnet Times goes to press) but already the little road has been the focus of visits by the town administrator (at least five times), the police and fire chiefs, and Town Council members. Road residents have hired a lawyer.
It may be short but Rhode Island Road has lots going for it. The road starts at Sakonnet Point Road’s final curve before Sakonnet Harbor, then runs south to near Lloyd’s Beach. It offers spectacular lighthouse and ocean views and has long been a place where residents, and sometimes non-residents, park to walk to the beach.
But that parking (a sign proclaims it temporarily closed to parking at the moment) had also raised concerns among people who live there that emergency equipment, including fire engines and ambulances, might not be able to squeeze past parked cars to reach houses down the road.