The East Coast Greenway , being planned to connect major cities from Maine with Florida, will pass through Rhode Island. Rhode Island's North-South Trail , traverses 70 miles through rural western Rhode Island, offering hikers connections between eight State forested management areas. The Block Island Greenway offers a 14 mile hike through some of the island's most lovely terrain. Shorter loop trails are popular recreational destinations in many state and local parks and nature refuges around the state. In urban areas, trails and paths can also offer transportation opportunities by linking neighborhoods to parks, shopping districts, schools, libraries, and other community facilities .
Greenways created along river or stream corridors provide open space and public access to the water.
By shading and anchoring the stream banks, riverine greenways also maintain the natural processes and biodiversity of the river, and provide habitat and migration routes for wildlife. Depending upon the arrangements under which they were created, natural riverine greenways may or may not provide public access and usage. Greenways open up rivers that may have been so overgrown, walled-in, and concealed that people who have lived near them their whole lives are unaware of their history and importance, or even their existence. Although water quality may remain a detriment, improvements in water pollution abatement made during the past two decades are making the idea of river greenways a viable solution for reconnecting many communities to the rivers that flow through them. Urban river greenways can include river walks and promenades, picnic areas, and, where water quality conditions allow, fishing and canoe access points.