RI – Newport: Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge and Rose Island Light


Image by wallyg
The Rose Island Lighthouse (closeup) is referred to as "the little lighthouse that could" because the Rose Island Lighthouse is maintained and operated by the non-profit Rose Island Lighthouse Foundation (RILF). Established in 1870, this 35-foot lighthouse, lighted by a sixth-order fresnel optic is built of wood with masonry foundation. After the Newport Bridge was built the Lighthouse was deactivated in 1971 and became badly vandalized. Over the course of the next eight years, members of the Rose Island Lighthouse Foundation cleaned out and restored it to its 1912 appearance. Accessible only by ferry and beyond the reach of Newport’s utility lines and services, the Rose Island Lighthouse stands as an independent, energy-efficient building for over a hundred years. On August 7, 1993, when the funds had been raised to pay all the restoration bills, the light in the tower was joyously relit and today flashes white every six seconds.

The Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge (A HREF="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/1212289301">closeup) is a suspension bridge operated by the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority that spans the East Passage of the Narragansett Bay, connecting the City of Newport on Aquidneck Island and the Town of Jamestown on Conanicut Island. The bridge is four lanes (two in each direction) and is part of RI 138. It is a toll bridge costing, as of 2007, .00 each way. The bridge is the only toll road in Rhode Island. The main span of the Newport Bridge is 488 meters (1601 feet), ranking it number 64 among the largest suspension bridges in the world, and making it the largest suspension bridge in New England. Its main towers reach 122 meters (400 feet) above the water surface. The bridge was constructed from 1966-1969 at a cost of ,742,000 by the Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade & Douglas firm, also famous for engineering the modern New York City Subway and the Cape Cod Canal. The bridge was renamed for U.S. Senator Claiborne Pell after his retirement in 1997, but it is still commonly referred to as the Newport Bridge by residents and historians. The bridge is featured on the Rhode Island state quarters.

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Ben Coulter / Montana Kaimin – Sophomore elementary education student Amanda Shadoan takes a break Monday afternoon in the Bonnie HeavyRunner Gathering Place on the first floor of the Payne Family Native American Center. The center will host American Indian Heritage Day on September 24 2010.
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Native American building welcomes students
Early Monday afternoon, Amanda Shadoan sat near a window with an eastern exposure in the Payne Family Native American Center. The sophomore elementary education major was soaking in the vaulted-ceiling lobby while waiting for her Introduction to Native American Studies class to begin.
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