Over 40 years after the EPA began a historic cleanup of the New Bedford Harbor and over 15 years after the city first conceived of a new recreational space at Riverside Park, North End residents are now one step closer to enjoying widespread waterfront access for the first time in living memory.
U.S. Rep. Bill Keating joined New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell on Monday to announce that the City of New Bedford had received $50,000 in grant funding for the planning and design of the long-awaited Riverwalk in the city’s North End, one of eight Massachusetts grant recipients chosen this year by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Southeast New England Program (SNEP).
First proposed in 2008, the planned Riverwalk will serve the dual purpose of restoring the fragile coastal wetland along the mouth of the Acushnet River and providing North End residents with recreational river access for the first time since textile mills moved into the area, monopolizing the waterfront. While the Riverwalk will eventually span from Coggeshall Street to Graham Street, the first phase under the EPA grant will focus on revamping Riverside Park and converting the existing pond to more flood-resistant marshland.
With federal grants fewer and further between under the Trump administration, Keating said partnerships like these — connecting regional, statewide, and local organizations — are all the more impactful.
“You see people that don’t understand when we’re giving money to environmental [causes], including this administration, how important that is,” Keating said. “It’s so important economically … and having people at the grassroots level be the stewards, be the architects, makes every dollar spent, spent more wisely.”
The $50,000 grant is just a drop in the bucket for the ambitious project, estimated to cost about $20 million in total. Michele Paul, city director of Resilience and Environmental Stewardship, said as of September 2025, the city had secured about $2.9 million. Paul anticipates that the rest of the $17.1 million will be covered through a variety of grants, with very little coming from the city budget. Paul could not specify which grant opportunities the city will be pursuing.
The grant, administered despite the federal government shutdown through the nonprofit Restore America’s Estuaries, covers the entire planning and design process for the Riverwalk, city public information officer Jonathan Darling said Monday. The city commissioned environmental engineering firm Horsley Witten Group to reimagine the new park space. Local nonprofit Groundwork South Coast will lead community engagement efforts around the new project.
The wait is hardly over — construction on the new Riverwalk likely won’t begin until November 2027. Mitchell said the city is in the process of securing the state permit to allow public access on the waterway.
Once built, however, Mitchell hopes the project’s benefits trickle in, eventually attracting restaurants, retail, and other development.
“What we’d like to see is investment up and down the corridor, of people enjoying it, both on the water and by the water, and then allowing that growth and interest and investment to benefit the neighborhood going west from the river,” Mitchell told The Light Monday. “So that’s in the long run, but that’s probably going to take 10 to 20 years to play out.”
Designs for the riverfront space include nature trails, recreational boating access, and even accommodations for crew races and rowing practice through the Acushnet’s narrow neck.
“It turns out that as rowing courses go, it’s naturally perfect,” Mitchell said. “It’s 2,500 linear feet of straight water with very little tidal action.”
The Riverwalk could potentially transform the historically Portuguese neighborhood that has since become home to some of New Bedford’s newest immigrants, many arriving undocumented from countries like Guatemala and El Salvador.
Reaching out to these communities has become tricky, Groundwork South Coast Engagement Manager Maria Fortes said. Recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids have made residents wary of attending public events.
“At Riverside Park, there’s a soccer field where still a lot of families come and have games, but then they’ll quickly leave,” Fortes said. “We’re doing everything in our power to have them come back without fear.”
Fortes plans to start informing families of the proposed park space this Saturday, Oct. 25, at a Harvest Celebration at Riverside Park. Families will be able to pick up fresh veggies, carve pumpkins, and participate in other fall-festive activities.
The city hopes to hold a more formal community engagement meeting sometime before Thanksgiving, Paul said. The last public meeting about the Riverwalk took place in 2013.
A large part of her work is simply reminding North End residents that the project is still happening, Paul said.
“We’ve been talking about it for so long that people just kind of either forgot about it or thought it’s not gonna happen,” Paul said. “But that’s what we said about South Coast Rail, and it did happen.”
Email Brooke Kushwaha at bkushwaha@newbedfordlight.org.
More air quality testing needs to be done and the reports / results made public to reassure residents that are engaging in any activities near the river to make sure it’s safe and there is no longer any air quality issues.
The last air quality study was completed in June of 2017 and identifies New Bedford Harbor as major source of Airborne PCB’s. The study appears in the Environmental Science & Technology Letters and concludes the airborne PCB emissions were so high that researchers said the harbor was the single largest continuous source of airborne PCB’s ever measured from natural waters in the United States or Canada.
Here is the link to the article (https://www.bu.edu/sph/news/articles/2017/new-bedford-harbor-identified-as-major-source-of-airborne-pcbs/).
With 1 in 3 EPA staff being eliminated under the current administration, who will enforce these standards?
https://theconversation.com/trump-administration-is-on-track-to-cut-1-in-3-epa-staffers-by-the-end-of-2025-slashing-agencys-ability-to-keep-pollution-out-of-air-and-water-265249
Last test was completed in 2017 and completed by an independent company, but let’s go along with what your saying. Why even talk about utilizing these areas and endangering residents till further air quality testing are completed?
Most importantly future air quality tests to have any credibility have to be completed by an independent company (not government agencies) so the results can be trusted.
This is nit-picking, but Mitchell is wrong to say that the Acushnet is suitable to host a rowing race, much less that “it’s naturally perfect.” A rowing race is 2,000 meters (6,560 ft). The *bare* minimum necessary is 2,100 meters, but that assumes geography that the Acushnet doesn’t provide. Either way, let’s stick to the facts.
Please tell us what’s the nit picking and what facts do you want to stick to?
I gave you a report that was completed in 2017 and concludes the Airborne PCB Emissions were so high that researchers said the harbor was the single largest continuous source of airborne PCB’s ever measured from natural waters in the United States or Canada. No independent studies completed since.
Here is more https://www.epa.gov/new-bedford-harbor
Page 3 – Establishment of Ten Sediment Cap Areas
During this Superfund dredging program, ten specific areas were deliberately not dredged because it was considered not feasible, advisable or cost effective to do so with the dredging equipment available at the time.
Additionally he Gentlemen below makes another great point that when it rains millions of gallons of raw sewerage pour into the harbor.
The only way to know that residents are safe is for a independent group to be hired, complete a thorough study of the harbor (all contaminations), and make the report open to the public.
The commenter did state the facts about the area need for a race. Time to pay attention and read the comment before you reply. Knock it off. Bullying will get you no where!
Don’t allege bullying, when I am just providing information, if you can’t handle that exchange, it’s time to step back from the conversation.
All the while the city is discharging millions of gallons of raw sewerage into the harbor every time we get substantial rainfall. For years this has been happening. To the point that shellfishing in the city and surrounding towns is now of limits. What a colossal failure!
Not necessarily What is needed with that money. Unless allof it is earmarked. There are other areas that could be used more wisely.
Agree!