TheRatmeister
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Since the Worcester one got a little sidetracked
If you designed transport for Providence what would it look like?
- Thread starter TheRatmeister
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A good starting place for this discussion would be to recap the original (WWI-era) plans for a subway system in Providence.
The East Side Trolley Tunnel was built because the grade up College Hill was too steep for streetcars to climb, but City leaders were aware that tunnels like Boston’s Tremont Street Subway could also be useful for reducing downtown congestion and improving traffic flow.
The City Council hired William W. Lewis, who was the Assistant Engineer for the Boston Transit Commission (which built the Tremont Street Subway) as a consultant. Lewis released a report in 1914 that proposed a set of north-south and east-west tunnels (route alignments are described in detail on p.23). It’s initial iteration would have taken many pages out of the Tremont Street Subway’s playbook, i.e. underground turning loops for streetcars returning to the surface, but Lewis clearly stated the tunnels and stations should be future-proofed to eventually upgrade to rapid transit, replacing the streetcars with heavy rail trainsets.
These tunnels would have shared a short trunk under today’s Washington Street between the city’s older commercial center (Market Square, today’s RISD campus) and its newer commercial center (Exchange Place, today’s Kennedy Plaza). A “Central Transfer Station” would have been built under Exchange Place, with an underground pedestrian tunnel linking it to Providence Union Station.
Ultimately the idea was proposed “too late” to be built. The war put everything on ice, and after it ended, industry started moving south, out of New England. Other important changes have happened in the century since, like Providence’s train station getting shifted off the convergence of the city’s natural north-south and east-west axes of travel. Interesting to compare the map for RIPTA’s Metro Connector with the map of the proposed Providence subway tunnels to see how similar the dominant travel axes remain.
The East Side Trolley Tunnel was built because the grade up College Hill was too steep for streetcars to climb, but City leaders were aware that tunnels like Boston’s Tremont Street Subway could also be useful for reducing downtown congestion and improving traffic flow.
The City Council hired William W. Lewis, who was the Assistant Engineer for the Boston Transit Commission (which built the Tremont Street Subway) as a consultant. Lewis released a report in 1914 that proposed a set of north-south and east-west tunnels (route alignments are described in detail on p.23). It’s initial iteration would have taken many pages out of the Tremont Street Subway’s playbook, i.e. underground turning loops for streetcars returning to the surface, but Lewis clearly stated the tunnels and stations should be future-proofed to eventually upgrade to rapid transit, replacing the streetcars with heavy rail trainsets.
These tunnels would have shared a short trunk under today’s Washington Street between the city’s older commercial center (Market Square, today’s RISD campus) and its newer commercial center (Exchange Place, today’s Kennedy Plaza). A “Central Transfer Station” would have been built under Exchange Place, with an underground pedestrian tunnel linking it to Providence Union Station.
Ultimately the idea was proposed “too late” to be built. The war put everything on ice, and after it ended, industry started moving south, out of New England. Other important changes have happened in the century since, like Providence’s train station getting shifted off the convergence of the city’s natural north-south and east-west axes of travel. Interesting to compare the map for RIPTA’s Metro Connector with the map of the proposed Providence subway tunnels to see how similar the dominant travel axes remain.