East Bay & Mount Hope Bridge · RI-114

The back way to Newport from Providence: from Riverside the route runs through Barrington, the old centers of Warren and Bristol along Hope Street, crosses the 1929 Mount Hope Bridge, which has no toll, and follows RI-114 down Aquidneck Island through Portsmouth and Middletown to Easton's Beach and Newport. It's 25 miles, one way, and more a ride through bay towns than a road for bends, with lights, pedestrians and bike path crossings. Heading back to Providence, the westbound side of the Washington Bridge (I-195) is being rebuilt, with reopening expected in November 2028.

The Mount Hope Bridge opened in October 1929 and links Bristol with Portsmouth on Aquidneck Island; it's listed on the National Register and charges no toll. Before the bridge, the route runs down Hope Street in Bristol, past Independence Park on the harbor, where the East Bay Bike Path ends, and past the entrance to Colt State Park, 464 acres of fields and shoreline on the bay, a short detour off RI-114. In Portsmouth, Green Animals, a topiary garden with more than 80 shaped shrubs, is a little over a mile down Cory's Lane from RI-114 and opens in season.

This is a ride through towns, not a road for bends: Warren and Bristol have traffic lights, pedestrians and bike path crossings, and the route enters Newport by Easton's Beach. It's one way. For the ride back to Providence, the westbound side of the Washington Bridge on I-195 is being rebuilt, with reopening expected in November 2028, so plan for delays on that crossing.