The commercial district of West Kingston includes the Sosnowski Farm, ready for business, at the junction of Routes 138 and 110.

Though the village is located to the west of the University of Rhode Island, traffic in rural West Kingston is most definitely affected by the sprawling campus.

Even in the summer, traffic on Route 138 is constant and swift. It gets even more intense during the academic year: URI has a student population that exceeds 15,000, and most of them live off campus.

The Ryan Center, URI’s 7,657-seat sports arena, is on the western edge of its campus, nearer to West Kingston than the historic Kingston village center.

West Kingston also has traffic generated by the 120-year-old Kingston train station, which provides Amtrak service to the area.

West Kingston is home to the Courthouse Center for the Arts, housed in a handsome granite building, the former Washington County Courthouse. A whimsical modern sculpture designed by Donald Gerola stands in front of the historic building.

But apart from the main thoroughfares, West Kingston is a quiet place to be.

The 3,349-acre Great Swamp Wildlife Reservation is in West Kingston, though the reserve’s acreage extends into neighboring Richmond.

The 6-mile South County Bike Path begins near the Kingston train station and the northeastern side of Great Swamp.

From the train station, the bike path follows the easement of the old Narragansett Pier Railroad, and it passes through two more South Kingstown villages, Peace Dale and Wakefield, and winds into the oceanfront Pier section of Narragansett.

There are plans to extend the path, officially named South County’s William C. O’Neill Bike Path, another 2 miles.

West Kingston is also home to the Cottrell Homestead Dairy Farm, which is part of a Rhode Island dairy collaborative that produces the Rhody Fresh brand of milk.

Across from the farm on Kingston Road is West Kingston’s own town-run park, which includes a baseball field, a playground, basketball hoops, tennis courts and rest rooms.

West Kingston has a small commercial/industrial area near the southern side of Fairgrounds Road. Businesses include American Power Conversion Corp., Arnold Lumber Company, First Student and South County Post & Beam.

There were six houses listed for sale in West Kingston last week. On the low end is a Colonial built in 1850 on Blackbird Road, being sold in as-is condition for $235,000.

Most of the West Kingston houses on the market are priced in the 300s. A 1974 Colonial at 30 Laurel Lane is on the market for $375,000, and a 1975 Colonial at 1141 Liberty Lane is priced at $399,900.

A three-bedroom, three-bath Cape built in 1908 at 3686 Kingston Rd., near the intersection with Fairgrounds Road, is offered for $327,000, and it is identified as a short sale. The property includes a separate one-bedroom accessory building, according to the listing information.

A two-bedroom contemporary ranch at 73 Glen Rock Rd., on the Queen’s River waterfront near the Glen Rock Reservoir, is on the market for $389,000.

On the high end is a 1987 custom Colonial reproduction on 8 acres, with an 800-square-foot guesthouse, at 560 Usquepaugh Rd. It is priced at $745,000.

POPULATION:

(South Kingstown, 2000) 27,921

MEDIAN HOUSE PRICE:

(South Kingstown, 2008) $316,000

ET CETERA:

Opened in 2002, the $54-million Ryan Center is named for CVS Pharmacy CEO Thomas M. Ryan, a 1975 URI graduate and major benefactor.

cdunn@projo.com