The Walley Beach/Halsey C. Herreshoff Park is currently closed, a high chain-link fence blocking access, while the equipment and workers of East Coast Construction execute a plan several years in the making.

Part of the plan involves rebuilding the seawall, but there is another aspect to the design that will be very welcome to neighborhood residents who use that shoreline access point as a respite from summer’s heat. It’s a plan that takes the lead from the landscape of many points along the Azorean shoreline, which is often as rocky and well-guarded by barnacled rocks and sharp slipper shells as the access to Bristol Harbor.

The solution? Foot-friendly access paths that allow swimmers to walk into the water, painlessly.

With Narragansett Bay cleaner than it has ever been, taking a swim in the harbor — particularly the southern end — is a great alternative to a time-consuming and increasingly expensive trip to a sandy beach in Middletown or Newport. Recognizing this, the Town Administrator and Community Development offices began looking into ways to make the rocky beach at the end of Walley Street more accessible to swimmers, while causing minimal impact to the natural shoreline.

Plans were drawn to improve the existing pathway and open two other pathways for water access, and both the Historic District Commission and the Coastal resources Management Council approved. The town solicited bids, but when they initially came back in the spring of 2021, they were well over budget. Some creative funding, using resources from the town’s own Capital Projects Account, allowed the town to loan the money to itself from funds accrued from the sale of the shopping plaza on the corner of Hope St. and Gooding Ave.

Funding was finalized in time for winter to set in, but the recent thaw has allowed construction to get underway in earnest. It’s on schedule to be completed in June.