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I'm pretty sure this twitter praise is for Chestnut St in the 195 District, I guess for parcels 28, 30 & 31
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195 Providence Innovation & Design District
- Thread starter New England Born & Raised
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New England Born & Raised
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I remember walking under that overpass to get to Leo's Restaurant on the right in the old red brick Irons & Russell Building that was feet from the cars on Rte 195. It was a pretty uninviting street scene back then. Furthermore, even the drive on the old Rte 195 was no picnic as the road had many curves in order to snake around the buildings downtown. It also had that horrible interchange with Rte 95 where the exit was on the left on Rte 95 South and the merge from Rte 195 to 95 entered on the left. Far better today on many fronts.
A drive along the old Rte 195:
A drive along the old Rte 195:
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stick n move
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Massive upgrade. Theres still a million empty lots downtown so theres a really long way to go, but theres so much potential. Its pretty surprising how providence hasnt really been able to ride the coat tails of Boston and act as a relief valve for lab/housing pressures, but it seems like that may be changing soon. It seems like the momentum is building more and more with each new development.
I think Providence has always been just too far for the vast majority of Boston workers. That's a rough 5 day/week commute. What's really changed is that there's been an explosion of remote work and hybrid work which makes Providence an option for people who might have otherwise ruled it out if they had to get to Boston every day.
I can speak from experience. We (my wife and I) love Providence, and have always liked the idea of living there. But our offices are in downtown Boston. So it wasn't an option when we were commuting. But now we're both hybrid with quite a bit of flexibility. So we've been looking at properties in PVD for a while and will very likely end up there. As the uncertainty wears off about whether or not hybrid/remote work is permanent, I think you'll see more people making similar decisions. We know a few already.
MjolnirMan
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Living walking distance from Providence Station and working somewhere on the T in Boston/Cambridge is mainly doable, especially if you use the "express train" trick of taking Amtrak instead of the T. That difference turns a masochistic 2.5+ hour round-trip super-commute into one that's competitive in time and comfort with many intra-MA driving commutes.
Definitely. And Amtrak’s dynamic pricing often means fares are $5-10 each way on the sub 40 minute ride. I still wouldn’t love to do it daily (especially coming from Eastie where my commute is 15 minutes door to door), but that’s better than many MA commuter rail trips.
New England Born & Raised
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The Providence line of the MBTA Commuter Rail system will be the first to go electric. The necessary track infrastructure is already there for Amtrak. The MBTA's biggest investment will be for new electric engines. The introduction of this service should reduce the trip from Providence to Boston by a good ten minutes or more. That will make commuting between the two cities more popular.
New England Born & Raised
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Construction update on the Parcel 9 Phase 1 mixed-use, mixed-income family development in Providence, Rhode Island. This is next to the Holy Rosary Church across from Trader Joe's by the S Main Street off ramp from Rte 195 west. The project will transform the vacant 1-195 Redevelopment District parcel into a 127-unit community with 66 affordable and market-rate apartments, retail space, and an affordable childcare facility. The project will offer a mix of studio, one-, and two-bedroom apartments catering to residents with incomes ranging from 30% to 120% of the AMI. The first phase is set to open in September 2024.
