It is clear now that the success of the Blackstone River Bikeway is beyond everyone's expectations. With nearly 12 miles completed, literally thousands of walking, running, bicycling and rollerblading trips are taken each month by residents and visitors alike. This is the new "Main Street" in the Blackstone Valley for recreation, health and transportation.
 
When completed, the Blackstone Valley Bikeway will connect to the East Bay Bike Path to the south and to Worcester to the north once the Massachusetts section of the Blackstone Bikeway is completed. This 65 mile long bikeway will become a major amenity for our residents and will fast become an East Coast destination for those seeking healthy, interesting places to learn about and enjoy. The economic impact of spending along the Bikeway will ripple through our Blackstone Valley communities. The importance of completing the Blackstone Bikeway cannot be overstated. No other public investment in our Blackstone Valley has had more impact, and done more to improve our livability index and image for visitors, businesses and residents than the Blackstone Bikeway.
 
Our Planning Departments along with the Rhode Island Departments of Transportation and Environmental Management, the National Heritage Corridor Commission and the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council have been working to complete the Blackstone River Bikeway since the early 1980's. Next year, we enter our fourth decade of bikeway planning and construction. For the last 20 years we have been saying that in five to seven more years the Bikeway would be completed. The completion "goalpost" keeps moving. RIDOT and RIDEM have worked diligently and effectively to bring about the Blackstone Valley Bikeway to completion but the most difficult miles of construction lie ahead. The southern sections from India Point Park, through Providence, Pawtucket and Central Falls to Cumberland are not complete and the northern sections through Woonsocket and North Smithfield to the Massachusetts state line are not finished.
 
Together, as a unified community, we must push to complete the Bikeway in this next decade. If we do not, we will delay our mission to link our communities, reduce reliance on motorized travel, improve access to the Blackstone River and provide a new source of economic development, recreation and tourism. We all can agree that the most well-received public investment in Blackstone Valley's history has been the Bikeway. That said, we do not have the funding in place for construction, and we do not have the public awareness that is needed to get the Bikeway completed. In the past we relied on Senator John Chafee and his personal interest in the Bikeway to secure funds for construction. Many communities in Rhode Island and the nation are seeking funding to construct bike paths so competition for scarce funds and scarce staff-time are mounting. Without a coordinated, well orchestrated community effort to push the Blackstone Valley Bikeway to completion, other priorities will push our competition date backwards once more. We must support the efforts of RIDOT and RIDEM and help them secure the financial and moral support they need to complete the Bikeway.
 
We are seeking to make the completion of the Bikeway a priority at every level of government. We must push ourselves, our state and federal government to complete the Blackstone Bikeway. We want to see it completed by July 17th, 2017 (07.17.2017)
 
I am asking that we all take responsibility for completing the Blackstone River Bikeway and join together to keep the interest in our Bikeway visible at every chance we get. In meetings with the Rhode Island Department of Transportation and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, we have been advised that the Bikeway could be realistically completed in seven years for approximately $30 million. This means that in 2017, seven years from now, we could have a completed Bikeway if the support, funds, and resources are there. We eagerly look for your support, your involvement and your leadership to encourage completion of the Blackstone Bikeway in 2017.
 
Sincerely,
Robert D. Billington, Ed. D.