The Rhode Island Current reported that then-Attorney General Peter Neronha posted in May, after weeks of watching westbound traffic back up across the Jamestown-Verrazzano Bridge and onto Conanicut Island: "I would insist that every major bridge and highway construction project be done at night." He wasn't wrong about the frustration. For most of this spring, getting home from the mainland after work meant idling behind a line of cars creeping over steel plates at walking speed, and getting to Narragansett Avenue for dinner meant hoping the restaurant you wanted was actually open that week.
The bridge backups eased this year; the restaurant scene had already begun to fill back in by late 2025. Runners in Saturday's Jamestown Rhode Race circled the island past a village that looks different than it did even twelve months ago, offering a clear view of how much has changed. If you've been off-island more than you'd like this year, or just haven't walked down Narragansett Avenue in a while, here's what actually changed.
The Bridge, in Two Halves
The Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority has spent 2026 replacing the seven original joints on the Jamestown-Verrazzano Bridge, a structure completed in 1992. The work started on the westbound spans, the direction most islanders use to get home in the evening, and for the first few weeks it ran during the day. That produced exactly the kind of traffic Neronha was describing: one lane, a raised plate covering the joint work, and a recommended crawl of 25 mph through a stretch of road that backed up for the bridge's full length during peak hours.
RITBA shifted the westbound work to overnight hours, Sunday through Thursday from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., starting May 31, 2026. Traffic in daylight went back to two lanes. By late August 2026, the authority confirmed the westbound joints were finished and crews had moved to the eastbound spans, work that's expected to continue through the rest of the 2026 construction season.
What that means in practice: the drive home in the evening, the one most islanders make daily, has been clear of construction lanes since late summer. The overnight work now underway is on the eastbound side, so if you live near the bridge and hear equipment after dark, that's the direction it's coming from, and it's the second half of a project that's been running since spring.
A Long Vacancy at 14 Narragansett Ave
The bridge wasn't the only long-running friction on the island this year. At 14 Narragansett Ave, the address that spent most of the past six years unable to hold onto a tenant finally did.
Jamestown Fish closed there at the end of 2018 after seven years in business. What followed was a run of false starts that most longtime residents can probably recite from memory:
| Year | What happened at 14 Narragansett Ave |
|---|---|
| 2019 | Jamestown Fish listed for sale at $1.6 million, no buyer |
| 2020 | Sold at receivership auction for $1.3 million to MTM Jamestown Fish LLC, led by Paul Mihailides |
| 2021 | Resold in June to residents Seth Goldenberg and Elizabeth Newton for $1.6 million; Curiosity & Co., a bookstore and wine bar, opened two months later |
| 2021-2022 | Curiosity & Co. didn't survive its first winter |
| Spring 2025 | A deal to open a Tuscan restaurant under restaurateur Anthony Tarro's Siena brand collapsed after a neighbor enforced 2003 deed restrictions capping service hours and prohibiting amplified music |
| December 17, 2025 | Crudo Oyster Bar & Coastal Italian Kitchen opened |
Crudo is the work of three longtime friends, Tony Lanni, Jeff Merlino and Anthony Quetta, who already run Merlino's Pizzeria in Cranston and opened the original Crudo in Smithfield in March 2024. As reported by the Jamestown Press, Merlino has said the appeal of the Jamestown site was personal as much as commercial, calling it a place he's always come to get away with his kids. Whatever the mix of instinct and timing, the address that saw a short-lived business and a long vacancy now has one that's made it through its first winter.
The Address Still Waiting
Two doors down, at 22 Narragansett Ave, the former J22 Tap & Table is in the middle of its own transition. Mindy Zhang, who has owned Mindy's Restaurant and Sushi Bar in Portsmouth since 2021, appeared before the Jamestown Zoning Board of Review in late April 2026 for a liquor license tied to Mindy Galley, an Asian fusion concept she originally hoped to open in February 2026. Permitting pushed that timeline back.
If Mindy Galley opens, it closes a real gap. Jamestown hasn't had a dedicated Asian restaurant since Peking Garden closed in 2016, when the Bomes Theatre was renovated. Nine years is a long stretch for a specific kind of cuisine to be missing from a village this size, and it says something about how slowly this particular commercial strip turns over that the wait has lasted this long.
The rest of the short block has been more settled. Beech Restaurant and Bar, at 13 Narragansett Ave, has been running under chef Kevin Gaudreau since 2022, after a renovation that added new HVAC, electrical and a glassed-in porch to extend dining into the colder months. Angels Kitchen, at 23B Narragansett Ave, reopened in September 2024 after an eight-month closure and has stayed open since. Between those two anchors and Crudo's arrival, Narragansett Avenue has more restaurants operating at once than it's had in years.
Beyond the Village Strip
The momentum hasn't stopped at Narragansett Avenue. Snack Bar Royale opened on the water in Jamestown this year under chef Jake Rojas, who closed his Providence spot, Tallulah's Taqueria. The new place serves oysters, burgers and fries alongside ice cream and cocktails, and it's a different kind of addition than Crudo or Beech: casual, waterfront, built for a walk-up crowd rather than a reservation.
Further down Conanicus Avenue, JB's on the Water has kept its waterfront patio and full bar running through the season, drawing steady weekend brunch crowds and dog walkers to its outdoor tables. It's not new, but it's worth naming because it's the kind of dependable option that makes the newer additions easier to plan around. You don't need every night to be an event. Sometimes the value of a maturing dining scene is just having more than one place open on a Tuesday.
What the Race Route Showed
Saturday's Jamestown Rhode Race sold out its field of 425 runners well before race day. The half marathon starts and finishes at Fort Getty, loops past Mackerel Cove, drops into the village, follows the east shore past Watson Farm, then climbs back along the west side past windmills and working farmland before returning to the start.
That course runs directly through the stretch of Narragansett Avenue where a short-lived business and a long vacancy preceded Crudo's arrival. Runners passing through the village Saturday morning went by a strip that, for the first time in a while, had more open doors than shuttered ones. And the drive to get there, for anyone coming from the mainland to watch or volunteer, didn't involve the same westbound crawl that defined the spring.
None of this means the island has finished changing. The eastbound bridge work continues into fall, Mindy Galley's opening still depends on a licensing process that's already run longer than planned, and Narragansett Avenue has shown before that a filled storefront isn't the same as a permanent one. But the pattern this year has been resolution more than disruption, on both a road that residents use every day and a strip of restaurants that residents have been watching, hoping, for most of a decade.
If you're weighing what a season like this one tells you about the pace and character of life on Conanicut Island, whether you're already here or thinking ahead, Lisa Ardente would be glad to talk it through. Let's Connect.
