Coventry Center Greenway Bike Path

Type: Permeable pavement

Use: State

Installer: Unknown

Designer/Developer: Unknown

Installation Date: 2003

Address: 2030 Flat River Rd., Route 117, Coventry, RI 02816

Contact:

Lisa Lawless

Engineer at the R.I. DEM

(401) 222-2776

A one hundred foot test section of Netpave 50 was installed by contractors hired by the R.I. Department of Environmental Management (DEM) at the western end of the Coventry Center Greenway bike path in 2003. The bike path is located along the south side of Route 117 in Coventry, and the start of the test section is located just west of the Propane store located on Route 117. Netpave 50 consists of interlocking plastic open grid squares. These squares can be filled with gravel or turf, the grid stabilizes the surface and provides a durable paving solution for parking areas, pathways and access routes.

The cost of paving this section of the Coventry Center Greenway with Netpave 50 was approximately two times the cost of standard bituminous asphalt.

Notes: An in-house DEM construction crew installed a 50-foot long section of Netpave 50 at the Nicholas Farm Management Area in 2001. Lisa Lawless, an engineer at DEM, stated that the in-house crew did not construct any shoulders and that unraveling began to occur shortly after installation. Therefore, the Coventry Center Greenway test installation was built with a stabilized shoulder and has held up much better. Lisa Lawless stresses the importance of a good stabilized shoulder and adequate gravel cover. The DEM has been very pleased with the test section and is planning on paving the entire western end of the bike path, which is 2.1 miles, with the Netpave 50. The project is scheduled to go out to bid for construction in one to two years.

Address: 2030 Flat River Rd., Route 117, Coventry, RI 02816