Pawtucket-Central Falls MBTA Commuter Rail Station | Pine and Barton Streets | Pawtucket

I went by the Pawtucket MBTA Commuter Rail Station yesterday near noon and took a look at the new parking section which was opened just last week. It appears that nearly all the spaces are coming close to being full. I estimated that there were only about 20-30 unused spaces at the time I was there. The new total lot capacity is now at some 470 spaces so that would mean that there were near some 450 cars. This would seem to indicate that the station is attracting far more than the 400 boardings a day that it had in its initial months as many also arrive there on foot and by bus.

The additional new parking (270 more spaces)
Pawtucket Station-New Parking.jpg
 
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New England Born & Raised said:
The new residential complex that will be across from the station in the former Pawtucket Manufacturing Company mill at the corner of Barton and Pine Streets is taking form. It is a two phase project that includes a renovation of existing space and new construction. When both phases are complete, the total project will have approximately 182 housing units and 153 parking spaces.
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258 pine st?
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I thought that was proposed not that long ago, if its already under construction thats awesome.
 
stick n move said:
258 pine st?
258pinestreet.jpg


I thought that was proposed not that long ago, if its already under construction thats awesome.
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My recent photo was of a different development (both renovation of existing space and new construction) to the west of the tracks at #327 Pine Street at its corner with Barton Street. The photo above is of entirely new construction project at the corner of Pine and Waverly on the eastern side of the tracks. There are no shovels in the ground yet for this project which is on the site of a former factory that was demolished after a fire.
 
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Oh ok gotcha. I tried finding some images of what 327 pine is going to look like but cant really find much about it. It’s hard to find much information about current and planned developments in the city overall.
 
stick n move said:
Oh ok gotcha. I tried finding some images of what 327 pine is going to look like but cant really find much about it. It’s hard to find much information about current and planned developments in the city overall.
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Yea totally agree! I looked with no success. From what I’ve seen in person 327 looks quality, at least so far.

I found a Dexter St render (https://www.dexterstreetcommons.com/) which is another largeish one in the vicinity of these two Pine St projects being discussed. Curious how this will turn out as well.
 
stick n move said:
Oh ok gotcha. I tried finding some images of what 327 pine is going to look like but cant really find much about it. It’s hard to find much information about current and planned developments in the city overall.
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I too have not found renderings or much else about the 327 Pine Street Project. This project at the corner of Pine and Barton Streets involves two phases that include a renovation of existing space and new construction. When both phases are complete, the total project will have approximately 182 housing units and 153 parking spaces. The site was once the home to the Pawtucket Manufacturing Company,

This Feb-2023 photo looking south down Pine Street toward Barton shows the first phase renovation of existing space
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This January-2024 photo is from the other perspective looking north from Barton down Pine. This shows the phase two new construction on the site of the open space that had construction vehicles in the 2023 photo
Barton-Pine.jpg
 
nicanbot said:
Yea totally agree! I looked with no success. From what I’ve seen in person 327 looks quality, at least so far.

I found a Dexter St render (https://www.dexterstreetcommons.com/) which is another largeish one in the vicinity of these two Pine St projects being discussed. Curious how this will turn out as well.
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After some initial demolition work, everything stopped on the Dexter Commons project. I have seen little evidence at the site or in the news that leads me to believe this project is actually progressing. I fear the onset of Covid, lower commuter rail numbers with WFH, and higher construction/borrowing costs may have either very much delayed it or killed it all together.
 
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nicanbot said:
Yea totally agree! I looked with no success. From what I’ve seen in person 327 looks quality, at least so far.

I found a Dexter St render (https://www.dexterstreetcommons.com/) which is another largeish one in the vicinity of these two Pine St projects being discussed. Curious how this will turn out as well.
Click to expand...

New England Born & Raised said:
After some initial demolition work, everything stopped on the Dexter Commons project. I have seen little evidence at the site or in the news that leads me to believe this project is actually progressing. I fear the onset of Covid, lower commuter rail numbers with WFH, and higher construction/borrowing costs may have either very much delayed it or killed it all together.
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There was an update today in the Valley Breeze on the Dexter Commons project. The project is not yet completely dead as developers are asking for another extension.

www.valleybreeze.com

Dexter Street developer asks for extension

PAWTUCKET – A key commercial and residential project expected to help transform the area around the Pawtucket-Central Falls Commuter Rail Station remains on hold, and developers this week were seeking
www.valleybreeze.com www.valleybreeze.com



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Dexter Street rendering looks great! I wish we had some of this over in Everett. Dexter Street seems thoughtfully designed with some architectural character and varied facade.
 
New England Born & Raised said:
There was an update today in the Valley breeze on the Dexter Street project. The project is not yet dead as developers are asking for another extension.

www.valleybreeze.com

Dexter Street developer asks for extension

PAWTUCKET – A key commercial and residential project expected to help transform the area around the Pawtucket-Central Falls Commuter Rail Station remains on hold, and developers this week were seeking
www.valleybreeze.com www.valleybreeze.com
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With a general consensus that interest rates should start trending downward in the near future, I think we'll see a lot of "approved" projects take their time to get going. Developers will want to hold off on securing financing if they think rates are going to be friendlier in 5 or 6 months.
 
Both 258 pine and dexter street are great looking projects. Besides the station it seems like next to nothing has changed in pawtucket or been built in decades so just even seeing a few new buildings go up I feel would send a message that theyre open for development.
 
It will be interesting to see the effect here of the reopening of the nearby (<2miles) S Attleboro Station on May 20th. S Attleboro is set to only use the southbound (west) track platform until a new overpass is built. This will limit the number of stops. The station does however provide more parking with some 570 spaces but it has charged ($6/day). Pawtucket has about 470 spaces and to my knowledge is still not yet charging for parking. My guess is that while Pawtucket may lose some traffic due to the easy access of S Attleboro, it should keep most of its current users as it will have more trains and has free parking. A change to those dynamics might however lead to more going to S Attleboro in the future. At any rate, I think Pawtucket has been a success and will continue to be so with more housing currently being either built or planned close to the station.



www.wpri.com

MBTA reopening South Attleboro train station

The station has been closed since February 2021, when it was determined the pedestrian bridge was unsafe and beyond repair.
www.wpri.com www.wpri.com
 
I suspect South Attleboro is going to see extremely limited ridership with this service. While it's a bit more convenient to I-95 and US 1A, P/CF has more trains, bus connections, and more surrounding density. Cynically, I wonder if this is an attempt to say "look, no one's using South Attleboro now that P/CF is open. We can just close it and not spend the money to rebuilt."

While it lacks the city-center location and bus hub of P/CF, South Attleboro isn't a terrible location. It's a good spot to have park-and-ride spots (especially as Attleboro looks at redeveloping some of its parking lots), and the whole MA side of the tracks is ripe for TOD. The RI side has decent enough housing density (~5 units/acre) that with walkability improvements and bus connections timed to trains, it could generate decent ridership - especially with enough reverse-peak trains to serve Providence commuters.
 
The EGE said:
I suspect South Attleboro is going to see extremely limited ridership with this service. While it's a bit more convenient to I-95 and US 1A, P/CF has more trains, bus connections, and more surrounding density. Cynically, I wonder if this is an attempt to say "look, no one's using South Attleboro now that P/CF is open. We can just close it and not spend the money to rebuilt."

While it lacks the city-center location and bus hub of P/CF, South Attleboro isn't a terrible location. It's a good spot to have park-and-ride spots (especially as Attleboro looks at redeveloping some of its parking lots), and the whole MA side of the tracks is ripe for TOD. The RI side has decent enough housing density (~5 units/acre) that with walkability improvements and bus connections timed to trains, it could generate decent ridership - especially with enough reverse-peak trains to serve Providence commuters.
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I have had similar thoughts. And now that it's been running for nearly 3 weeks, I'm even more convinced. The parking lot is still pretty empty and I've yet to see more than 4 or 5 riders on the platform to board the peak morning trains.

It's weird to me that they'd re-launch service with a low-key announcement less than a month before the service is scheduled to start. They're also launching at the start of the summer season when ridership tends to (I believe) dip a bit anyway. Beyond that, there are a multitude of reasons for the MBTA to create a data point on the lack of usage to shut it down. It needs $70+ million in repairs. P/CF just opened down the road and there's clear overlap. P/CF is operated/maintained by RIDOT, so the MBTA would essentially be passing off responsibility for the local station to Rhode Island.
 
The EGE said:
While it lacks the city-center location and bus hub of P/CF, South Attleboro isn't a terrible location. It's a good spot to have park-and-ride spots (especially as Attleboro looks at redeveloping some of its parking lots), and the whole MA side of the tracks is ripe for TOD. The RI side has decent enough housing density (~5 units/acre) that with walkability improvements and bus connections timed to trains, it could generate decent ridership -
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The RI side is mainly mobile homes though. Doesn't feel like the typical CR crowd.

The EGE said:
especially with enough reverse-peak trains to serve Providence commuters.
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What Providence commutes, lol. I suppose there might theoretically be an employee or two that works at the shopping center?
 
jklo said:
The RI side is mainly mobile homes though. Doesn't feel like the typical CR crowd.
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The RI side is comprised of a bunch of somewhat dense neighborhoods that end abruptly at the Mass. border. The mobile home park is actually on the Attleboro side.

But maybe because of its proximity to the cloverleaf and shopping plaza —the stop in general feels like it will always be more car-focused, like Route 128.


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New England Born & Raised said:
www.valleybreeze.com

No drop-off in ridership at Pawtucket-CF station after S. Attleboro reopens

PAWTUCKET – Transit observers were watching curiously to see the impact of a reopening train station in a neighboring community on ridership at the Pawtucket-Central Falls Commuter Rail Station.
www.valleybreeze.com www.valleybreeze.com
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Based on the eyeball test, this checks out. Even at peak times, the most people I've seen getting on/off at S. Attleboro is 4-5. I realize it's a holiday week, but I don't know that anyone boarded my train today.
 
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