Reconstruction or retreat? Newport looks to the eroding future of the Cliff Walk.

NEWPORT, RI (AP) – Newport, Rhode Island, is in a bind: Should the city continue to stop its landmark Cliff Walk, even if pieces of the road continue to break into the sea?

Last week, coastal erosion erupted 30 feet (9 meters) from the padded trail that wanders alongside Gilded Age villas high above the Rocky Coast for about 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers). The breathtaking views have made it one of the state’s most popular tourist attractions, and a central part of Newport’s identity.

Looking down at the collapsed section of the trail, where a chain link feeder still dangles in space, city manager Joe Nicholson and director of public service Bill Riccio check to see if they are building up or retreating.

It’s a question they’re been counting on in Newport before. Superstorm Sandy washed sections of Cliff Walk in 2012, and they were repaired.

Nicholson says he wants to rebuild, and asks Rhode Island’s governor and congressional delegation for help. Like many residents, he has walked the path countless times.

“It’s something that’s in Newport’s DNA,” Nicholson said.

He and Riccio do not know how long repairs will take or how much it could cost. It will not be done in time for the summer tourist season. Engineers took the first steps to evaluate the site on Tuesday.

Riccio said that the frozen thaw cycles and mud layers within the shale layers of the cliff may have contributed to the collapse.

But scientists say climate change has created subterranean conditions for last week’s dramatic coastal erosion event.

This is because more frequent, intense storms can combine with sea level rise to increase the threat of erosion, setting the stage for a weather event to trigger a collapse, said Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University.

The first step is the restoration and construction of the Coast Guard, but eventually we will be forced into the managed retreat, he added.

“We are now seeing the devastating consequences of climate change playing out in real time,” the man said in an email.

The coast of America will increase sea levels over the next 30 years as much as in the total of 20 years.

The relative sea level at Newport has risen about 6 inches (15 inches) in the last 50 years and is expected to rise further 10-12 inches (25-30 inches) in the next 30 years, NOAA said.

A big appeal of the Cliff Walk is – as the name suggests – that it is along cliffs. There is no sidewalk next to a quiet pond. There is surfing in a cramped ocean below.

“We humans like to put fixed infrastructures along the coast, especially nice cliff walks around villas to see the view,” said Jeffrey Donnelly, an expert in coastal geology at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

“There’s always this tension between where we want to put things and the dynamic coast,” Donnelly said. That is, the city of Newport should rely on constant repairs to keep the walkway where it is.

John Torgan, director of The Nature Conservancy in Rhode Island, expects cliff erosion to pose a growing challenge to the state’s coastline.

“I think the Nature Conservancy would favor general retreat, which means not trying to stop it, but looking for ways to go into the country and make it greener,” Torgan said. “It’s super challenging and in some places it’s inconvenient – but by the time you know you can not stop the ocean.”

Nicholson, the city manager, said he could not predict the weather, hurricane or disturbance of Mother Nature. And the fact that the walkway is damaged again is not enough of a deterrent. A study estimates in 2018 that more than 1.3 million people visit annually. Nicholson thinks that number is now higher, with people seeking outdoor activities during the pandemic.

“It’s been hit with significant storms, significant events before, and it’s always been retreating because of how iconic it is,” he said. “We will rebound.”

According to Superstorm Sandy, repairing damage to the Cliff Walk and retaining wall buildings cost about $ 5 million in mostly federal funds. Some trails were washed out or collapsed, while in other areas huge boulders were moved by the violent surfers.

The Newport Historical Society has said that, if no one knows for sure, it has certainly been a coastal road along the rocks for hundreds of years.

The section that collapsed this month is next to the private property – the last original summer house on Cliff Walk – the last original belt-style summer house on Cliff Walk – so the road can not be moved inland anyway.

Visitors take a four-minute walk on local roads to get around the 450-foot (137-meter) track.

“That’s wild,” said Rachel Ricci, 21, of Millville, New Jersey, as she spotted the eroding coast on Tuesday. Ricci visits during vacation with a friend. “I understand why it’s closed now.”

John Greichen Jr. lives about a mile away, and says friends from the city always want to visit the road.

“Everyone knows when they come to Newport,” he said, “they have to do the Cliff Walk.”