PORTSMOUTH – The Rhode Island General Assembly in late April voted to further study a bill that would refurbish the Stone Bridge abutment and seek funding to maintain the adjacent “Teddy’s Beach” property.

State Sen. Linda Ujifusa brought a bill forth that would ask the state to refurbish the bridge, a portion of which eroded and collapsed into the Sakonnet River in 2019.

RIDOT installed fencing to close off the property for public use due to safety concerns.

The bill called on RIDOT to seek state, federal and other funds to repair the bridge, as well as funding to clean up and regularly maintain the beach, just south of the abutment.

The state Department of Transportation owns the property.

Locals have complained of littering at Teddy’s Beach and how townspeople can no longer travel over the bridge to the beach, which once was a thoroughfare between Portsmouth and Tiverton.

Reached recently, Ujifusa said that because the work could financially impact other state projects and requires RIDOT funding, it is standard for a bill of this sort to be studied further.

“It doesn’t just slide through,” Ujifusa said, adding that funding for the Stone Bridge project could affect funding for other state projects.

According to Town Administrator Richard Rainer, the town early last year approved a purchase and sale agreement with the RIDOT but backed out because the state would not allow local officials access to the property for inspection. According to reports, that price was $150,000.

Rainer said RIDOT wanted a signed purchase and sale agreement before allowing town officials to conduct an inspection.

RIDOT spokesperson Charles St. Martin III noted that the state traditionally asks for a purchase and sale agreement before further business is conducted.

“Whenever we sell property to anyone, we enter into a purchase and sales agreement with the buyer,” according to  RIDOT spokesman Charles. St. Martin III. “It is a normal and customary process for inspections to happen after that document is signed. The town did not sign the purchase and sales agreement.”

At a February Town Council meeting, the council unanimously  signed a  “resolution to request legislation to effectuate a complete and comprehensive restoration, reconstruction, and refurbishing of the Stone Bridge abutment in Portsmouth,” according to Rainer.

Ujifusa, who represents Portsmouth and Bristol, brought forth the bill.

The bridge was built in 1907. In 1956, the Sakonnet Bridge was first built and took over as the span between Tiverton and Aquidneck Island.

“It remains in a state of serious disrepair and deterioration, is a terrible eyesore on the Park Avenue waterfront,” Rainer said in a written release about Stone Bridge. “It poses a significant risk and hazard to navigation, properties on the north end of Portsmouth, and public safety.”

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Stone Bridge refurbishment plan sent to study by RI legislature