Urban Planning and Transportation Issues in Biggest Little State in the Union
Urban Planning and Transportation Issues in Biggest Little State in the Union
ProJo.com: Cicilline urges study of transportation needs in Providence area
Prov Mayor David Cicilline wants the lege to create a commission to study transportation issues holistically in the state's urban center. He wants the General Assembly to create a 17-member legislative study commission on transportation and appropriate $375,000 for the study. Besides Providence, the study area would include North and East Providence, Central Falls, Pawtucket, Woonsocket, Cranston and Warwick. Commission members include Grow Smart RI's executive director and the head of RIPTA.
This is a very welcome (and seemingly out of the blue) initiative by the mayor. Smart growth is thrown out there, and with towns like North Providence and East Providence who are currently embracing New Urban principles, there's a good chance that this type of study will lead to reforming some areas with transit-oriented designs.
On the subject of parking, I hope the mayor's director of administration John C. Simmons was misquoted or something when he said: "Maybe we [just] need to build two parking garages that are in an area that could bring people in and out of the downtown area so that we don't have as much congestion either at night or in the morning." I'd like him to explain how inviting more cars downtown will ease congestion anywhere, but whatever. This isn't to say that Providence doesn't need a parking garage or two, one of which is going forward to construction soon.
Unlike his predecessor Buddy Cianci, David Cicilline doesn't get mentioned in the same sentence with the phrase "urban visionary," but if he keeps this kind of forward thinking up, he will be.
BONUS: Here's a free suggestion to the commission: offer incentives to downtown businesses to promote employee bus ridership via discounted or free bus passes. There's an excellent opportunity to test this program as downtown will soon have a large influx of GTECH'ers while their new headquarters will contain only 80 spaces for hundreds of employees.
TrackBackhmmm... I agree with Em 1000 percent. Providence is a metropolitan area of over 1.5 million people, slightly larger (and much less dense) cities are mounting rail projects. Providence should be talking about rail now as part of a 10-20 year transit plan.
I know there is talk of re-opening the east side tunnel to BRT. This should be a high priority especially with the planned improvements on the East Providence waterfront. Furture LRT corridors leading to the tunnel need to be identified. There could be an LRT terminal in Capital Centre at the Providence end of the tunnel, but the ROW needs to be secured now before development blocks the path.
Rhode Island also really needs to be working with Massachusetts to get equal coverage for the entire metro area. Attleboro and Seekonk should have Cranston like bus service, but since they are on the wrong side of the state line they don't. There should also be express bus service along Route 195 from Fall River, but again that pesky state line blocks it. If we can run MBTA commuter trains into Rhode Island, there's no reason that it can't be worked out to bring RIPTA buses into Mass. Better transit in the Providence metro serves the needs of both states.
May 8, 2004 11:43 PMGood comments from everyone. I in particular like the encouragements for bus ridership from business.
Regarding light rail, I'm as big a fan of it as anyone, but I'm not sure it would work for the Providence metro area. Here in Minnesota (only 3 more weeks here until I move to Providence!) Minneapolis/St. Paul, a metro area only slightly larger population-wise than Providence, is finally starting to get light rail up and running, but this metro area is like 1000 times larger and less dense than Providence. Cities like Boston, NY, and Chicago were built around their light rail lines, which often determined growth. So this begs the question:
Exactly where would light rail in Providence go?
1) Train tunnel: I agree. This should be high priority.
2) Along the waterfront: A natural location for many cities, but that would cut off parks and views.
3) Where on earth could you fit it in downcity, with its narrow colonial streets, that was convenient? And is downcity really big enough to need a subway/LRT? If you did it, it would have to be a subway, and that's big $$.
4) Count the East Side out... You can barely plant a shrub in that area without a NIMBY neighborhood action group ready to take you to court.
I think Providence's best hope is a more robust bus system, two tiered, with better neighborhood coverage with one tier and an expanded trolley bus system to hit "landmarks" and shopping. They might wish to build some "bus and taxi lanes" as well. Much, much cheaper than LRT. What does everyone else think?
Garris
May 9, 2004 09:51 AMThe tunnel idea grabs my imagination and runs for miles. Man, do I want this thing done, what a great idea. A no brainer, I dare say. I'm trying to find more concrete info about this, I'll post when I do.
The line would only go to Main St, though, and not into Capital Center. Bringing it farther than the tunnel entrance would completely eat up parcel 4 and bring back the rail overpass on Main St that was removed in the 80s. No thanks.
I think there'd have to be a trackless trolley loop to incorporate Kennedy Plaza, Capital Center, and the State Offices, with a stop at the end of the EP tunnel line.
Here's some pics of the Providence end of the tunnel:
Tunnel 1
Tunnel 2
Tunnel 3
Tunnel 4
Tunnel 5
I read somewhere that if the tunnel did get done, it'd probably be around 2010... Too bad. It makes a lot of sense if those East Providence units get built. Would Main St. really be a desirable "destination," however? There's no real room for a "station" that I could see in your pics...
Still, though, where else in the metro area could light rail go?
Garris
May 10, 2004 12:34 AMAs far as I can tell, there's no real movement on this project at all. No one with any authority or ability to get it done is involved, it's a slightly better enunciated version of my Providence Aquarium!
But anyway, that spot is a perfect place for the "station". I put it in quotes because all you'd really need is a set of stairs/elevator and a street façade. If I could draw, I'd post it, it's all clear in my head.
May 10, 2004 01:21 AMProvidence itself doesn't need train tracks crisscrossing it, its big enough to walk around in a few hours. What I meant is that Providence needs to be linked to the rest of the state by train. Stations in all the major cities and towns would make sense. There are already tracks, just not enough stops/stations. And its not usable by commuters - a roundtrip ticket from Kingston to Providence is $48.
May 10, 2004 10:58 AMI think there are a few corridors within the city that could, in the next 15-20 years, support light rail. If Allens Ave. ever gets redeveloped in Cianci's 3-cities vision, Eddy/Allens would be a good corridor, could reach down to Roger Williams Park perhaps. And Broadway was built for streetcars, if development continues in the Onleyville area, it could support streetcars.
The city once had a vast system of streetcars, I don't think we'll ever see anything like what we had back in the day, but if the city keeps growing, it could support some.
But I agree with Em about using rail to connect the Metro Area and the state as a whole. We could easily put in place a DMU or EMU system running from South County through the city to Pawtucket and Attleboro. There's also the rails up to Woonsocket that don't see any passenger service now. And if rail were put in the East Side tunnel I'd certainly want to see it running through EP and down the East Bay and/or into Massachusetts along 195.
May 10, 2004 09:51 PMLiving in a city with old streetcar routes still running, I am a huge fan of streetcars. Allen's Ave would be ideal, and the right of way to the park is still there (I've put a bit of thought into this idea). I'd especially like to see replicas of the old Providence streetcars be used.
As for the commuter line, here's a little map I made with stations in Westerly, Kingston (maybe a little rerouting to get to URI's campus), Wickford Junction, TF Green, Cranston/Park Ave, the Providence Station, Pawtucket and Woonsocket. I took the liberty of coming up with suggested one-way fares (man, am I a nerd...)
May 10, 2004 11:20 PMIf El Paso can do it, why can't we?
http://www.elpasotexas.gov/sunmetro/sun013103.asp
I'm a geek too:
http://members.cox.net/weybosset/Providence/Providence%20Transit002%20GIF%20Resized.gif
Total fantasy, trillion dollars, ain't gonna happen ever, map.
May 11, 2004 12:22 AMTaking another look at the tunnel portal in Providence, it looks like it would not be a problem to bring streetcars down to street level at Main Street and run them in the street into Kennedy Plaza, where they could terminate, or run further along the lines I proposed above.
Inbound trolleys from EP could descend to street level, cross over to Canal Street via Elizabeth Street (which is a small alley between Main and Canal with surface parking currently on one side), a trolley stop could be built at this location. Trolleys could follow Canal to Exchange and loop around Kennedy Plaza in front of the Biltmore the way the green line trolley buses currently do. Outbound trolleys would leave Kennedy Plaza via Washington Place and turn onto Main and into the tunnel. The outbound trolley stop could be a siding on Main before turning up the hill to the tunnel.
I would open the tunnel first to buses, as this is the most economically feasible project right now, but renovate and open it to allow for future LRT use. It could be allowed to run both LRTs and buses, Seattle has a tunnel like this.
June 20, 2004 05:29 PM
