Featherbed Lane to Reopen to Cars

The North Kingstown Town Council authorized an engineering firm to draft up plans to Monday night. Featherbed Lane has been closed for more than two years after the historic floods of March 2010 damaged the road and dam beneath it.

Though the road’s reopening may be welcome news to motorists, nearby neighbors have been .  While some neighbors cite the inconveniences of the road’s closure and truancy in the area to support the road’s reopening, others have enjoyed the lack of speeding and accidents on the road due to commuting high school students. At the council’s last meeting, residents spoke of speeding teenagers and a bevy of accidents that have occurred on the road in recent years.

According to Police Chief Thomas Mulligan, the ’s figures on accidents in the area are not above normal. Since 2005, there have been four accidents on the road with a total of 17 motor vehicle violations.

“In general, I feel like we don’t close roads because there’s been accidents on them,” said Council Member Chuck Brennan, a former member of the North Kingstown Police Department. “There are accidents everywhere.”

Members of the North Kingstown Land Trust spoke during the meeting about a parcel of land downstream of the dam owned by the trust and asked the council to consider that the former mill building nearby in their decision.

The council opted for option two, set forth by GZA Engineering. Under this option, called “enlarging and lowering the spillway,” the pond will remain the same size and will require less sediment removal, resulting in less wetlands impact to the area. Though option two is less than options one and three at $551,000 (with vehicle access), it will require more maintenance from the Department of Public Works.