Office of the Mayor
WOONSOCKET, RHODE ISLAND
Mayor Baldelli-Hunt Announces Paving of "Ruff" Gravel Road Leading to City Dog Park to Enhance Year-Round Accessibility
WOONSOCKET, R.I.: Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt announced today that the Woonsocket Highway Division is paving the gravel road leading to the City's dog park at the Rivers Edge Recreation Complex, as well as the parking lot near the park. The City received approval from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM) to perform the work. The City's in-house crew is doing the paving and expects it to be completed by mid-November.
The Mayor indicated that paving the road and parking lot at the dog park was appropriate because of the sharp increase in the number of resident dog owners using the facility and their expressed interest in having these areas plowed so they can continue to use it in the wintertime.
"Our dog park is a tremendous success, and paving the road and parking lot will make it much easier for our residents, especially seniors, to get there in the wintertime to exercise their dogs and socialize with other dog owners. Allowing our residents more time to be in the fresh air with their dogs at our dog park is a positive thing," said Mayor Baldelli-Hunt. The Mayor added, "I want to compliment our in-house road paving team for moving quickly on this project, for what promises to be another job well done."
Public Works Director, Steve D’Agostino explained that the binder course for the road and parking lot will be installed this year with the topcoat completed next spring. He indicated that the binder course will allow for snow plowing, and for the park to be opened year-round during daylight hours.
"We needed approval from RIDEM before we started paving, but once we received it, our in-house paving crew was immediately able to start the project so we could have the binder course done before winter," said D’Agostino. "That is the advantage of having our City crew, the only in-house municipal paving crew in the state. If we had to use an outside paving company, we wouldn't be able to get this started until next spring, and our dog park would be inaccessible for much of the winter."
Millions of people in the eastern half of the U.S. are expected to feel the effects of a massive storm this weekend. Forecasters say the storm will stretch more than 12-hundred miles from the Gulf Coast to the Canadian border. Possible snow in the north and severe thunderstorms, heavy rain, strong winds throughout the east will start to form on Friday, gain strength on Saturday and become full-strength by Sunday. 
