NEWPORT – The city's application for $11 million in federal funding to restore and preserve the Cliff Walk has been approved.
A section of the historic tourist attraction has been closed for more than three years after coastal erosion caused its collapse.
The city’s Department of Public Services was notified that its application for federal assistance through the Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient and CostSaving Transportation grant program was approved, according to the news release issued Thursday.
The $11 million PROTECT grant will bring the total financial commitment for the Cliff Walk restoration to about $22 million. The grant award had originally been announced in April 2024, and this final confirmation of funding allows the city to move aggressively toward completing a final design and project scope.
Newport will now begin working in coordination with the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration’s Providence Office to prepare a formal project agreement under new federal program guidelines.
Confirmed funding sources for the project include:
- $11 million from the PROTECT grant.
- $5 million Congressional earmark included in the Fiscal Year 2024 Consolidated Appropriations Act.
- $3 million from State Green Bond proceeds.
- $3.75 million from the City’s 2024 General Obligation Bond, approved by Newport voters in November.
A section of the Cliff Walk between Narragansett Avenue – at the famous 40 steps to the waterline – and Webster Street has been closed since a washout in March 2022 destroyed a 25-foot section of seawall that held up a portion of the walk. Since then, visitors have instead detoured through the nearby neighborhood before reconnecting with the walk farther south.
The scenic walkway overlooks crashing waves in Easton Bay on one side and snakes past Gilded Age mansions on the other. One study estimated that more than 1 million people visit the pathway each year, but it’s unclear how the partial closure has affected attendance.
A 2018 Salve Regina University study concluded that people visiting the trail contribute more than $252 million to the Ocean State economy every year. The study also found that Cliff Walk visitors spend an average of $126.45 in the city, even though the walk itself is free.
The Cliff Walk has been damaged by the sea numerous times over the decades, including in 2012 when deterioration caused by Superstorm Sandy forced the city to close more than half of the walkway for more than a year.
