Providence developments

Benefit House, designed in the early 60s.

A shame this went unbuilt. Looks a lot like some of the stuff Ken Yeang is doing in Southeast Asia today.
 
I was in Providence yesterday for PRONK (Providence HONK Festival). Since I had my bike with me, I wandered onto the closed section of elevated I-195, which still stands between Wickenden and Franklin streets. I saw another cyclist and a few pedestrians up there, since the city hasn't blocked off access in any way.

Is there a schedule for demolishing this, and if so, any plans to have an official celebration on top of it before it goes away? What will be built on the land below once it is gone?
 
^Ron, I was going to post some information on it, but there's a lot more in depth at this website.

Long story short, it will be demolished and it will mostly be replaced with development and minimal park space (one or two plots including riverfront plots that will be connected by a pedestrian bridge). It seems they didn't want their own "Greenway" in PVD. A major overhaul of the street grid is due too.

In other news on Greater City, Providence:

Chevron (the same) has become involved with a plan to build a massive mixed-use condo development (including a marina) on the East Providence waterfront. The project will include over 600 condo units and 40,000 square feet of commercial space. More information can be found here.

A rendering:
Eastprov.jpg
 
Cool, sounds like a news story for smaller cities out of the housing bubble era. Looks nice.
 
^Yeah it does sound like that. Condos always make me skeptical right now, but we'll see. I haven't been paying attention to PVD all that much recently, so I was surprised to hear how far along this is. It was approved unanimously a few months ago and with Chevron as a developer, it seems like it's likely to get done. It's supposed to break ground in early 2011 so it's not as if it's some "vision" at this stage in the game. Big money developer, all the approvals in place and I think this may actually get done.

Unfortunately, the architecture and the layout isn't anything spectacular. It seems like a lot of wasted space. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised since this is a fairly suburban development. They say that they're taking future light rail into consideration but this looks nothing like TOD to me. We'll see. I don't think I'd live there. The view is of industrial wharves and oil tanks across the harbor.
 
apperently the InterLink has been completed.
Providence Business News reads - "Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority trains are expected to start pulling into the station by the end of the year. Currently, the line from Boston ends at Providence."


http://www.warwickonline.com/view/f...rLink-is-here?instance=lead_story_left_column

It?s about connections ? connecting people with planes, trains, cars and buses.

It?s also about the economy, jobs and, most important, the state?s future.

Those were the messages yesterday as the $267 million Interlink facility, tying Green Airport with a parking garage for rental cars and commuters and soon to start rail service to Boston, opened officially yesterday.

The InterLink, silvery, sparkling and full of promise, opens as airline traffic at Green continues its downward slide and the economy sputters. The good news, as Gov. Donald Carcieri emphasized, is that the project is finally a reality and that it has been completed under budget and on time.

Carcieri identified the InterLink as one of four major projects he has hoped to complete during his administration. The others are the I-Way in Providence, the extension of commuter MBTA rail service south of Providence for the first time in 40 years and the connecting roadwork to Quonset.

Also on his list is the extension of Green?s main runway, which is the subject of an environmental impact statement to be finalized by the end of the year. The Rhode Island Airport Corporation proposes lengthening the runway from 7,166 to 8,700 feet.

?When we get the runway expanded, that?s the next hurdle,? he said to a crowd of more than 150 business leaders, officials and people involved in the project gathered on the terminal?s second floor.

Carcieri called the airport a major gateway to our state.

?Rhode Island is not only open for business, but it?s a first class place.?

The dream of connecting the airport with rail service dates back at least 15 years as more than one speaker recalled. Mayor Scott Avedisian remembered how he stood on the roof of the airport parking garage with the late Senator John Chafee and then Mayor Lincoln Chafee, to get a visual of the proximity of the railroad. Avedisian said a picture of that meeting underscored how much has changed, especially now that he has gray hair.

Yesterday, former Gov. Lincoln Almond offered an insight to one of the scores of roadblocks the state encountered to get the idea off the drawing boards and into the ground. After the ribbon cutting, Almond said the Massachusetts legislature passed a bill preventing the MBTA from expanding service to Rhode Island. It looked like Rhode Island could build its station and there wouldn?t be trains. However, efforts to expand Boston?s Logan Airport worked to the state?s advantage. Logan needed air quality credits to offset the increase in traffic. Almond said Logan got them with the extension of rail service now seen as reducing vehicular traffic and pollution for them.

Numerous speakers, including Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and House Speaker Gordon Fox, recognized the Chafee role in the project. Lincoln Chafee, now running as an independent candidate for governor, watched proceedings from a front row seat.

?Once we had the money that was the hard part,? he said as the formal portion of the program concluded and people lined up to use the terminal escalator to the InterLink.

At the rail end of the skyway, rental car counters were open and doing business. The car companies pulled up stakes at the airport Tuesday night and were up and operational the next morning.

The buy-in of the car companies was critical to the project. Customer facility charges paid on rental cars, which the companies started collecting long before the project started, will pay for a major portion of the skywalk, as well as finance operating costs.

The car companies were hesitant to commit to the project, pressing instead for a garage in the short-term lot, in front of the terminal, that would have precluded the need for the skywalk. Almond said Hertz was the key player. He said he put in calls to the company?s leadership, recalling one conversation lasting more than an hour before they consented to explore the idea.

?There were an incredible number of hurdles. [John] Chafee and [Senator Claiborne] Pell would be beaming,? said Almond.

Rhode Island Director of Transportation Michael Lewis, who observed he is the last in a string of DOT administrators to work on the project, was impressed by the accomplishment.

?The political leadership [needed] to implement a project of this size can?t be overstated,? he said.

House Speaker Fox also spoke of the cooperation and coordination between levels of government.

Gregory Nadeau, deputy administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, was impressed.

?This is truly a world class facility,? he said. ?We?re looking at he future of transportation.?

Read more: Warwick Beacon - It took 267M and 10 years but InterLink is here
Click to expand...
 
update apperently a deal was struck...

http://www.projo.com/news/content/MBTA_SERVICE_TO_GREEN_10-13-10_17KBM5K_v26.23e6e81.html

By Paul Edward Parker

Journal Staff Writer

The state Department of Transportation and three railroads have reached a deal to begin commuter train service connecting T.F. Green Airport to Providence and Boston this fall, according to Rhode Island officials.

The station, with 800 parking spaces for commuters, will also serve those in central and southern Rhode Island who want to avoid Providence Station while taking the train to Boston and other points in Massachusetts.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, which oversees commuter service to Boston, will determine the date when service will start after preparing train crews, said Amy P. Kempe, Governor Carcieri?s press secretary, adding that it is expected ?before the holidays.? The DOT, MBTA, Providence and Worcester Railroad and Amtrak have planned an announcement for 11 a.m. Wednesday at the airport rail station.

The station is part of the $267-million Interlink, a facility that also includes a commuter parking garage, rental-car facilities and an elevated Skywalk connector to the airport terminal. The Interlink is slated to open Oct. 27 when rental-car operations are to begin there.

Initially, trains will stop at the airport six times a day, according to Kempe. ?The schedule is yet to be determined.?

Late next year, the number of daily trains is expected to double, as the Boston-to-Providence-to-Warwick service will be extended to a new Wickford Junction station in North Kingstown.

The trains will link the airport to downtown Providence and Boston, as well as commuter stops along the route in Massachusetts, including South Attleboro, Attleboro and Mansfield.

Commuter parking will cost $6.75 a day, with a $30 daily surcharge for those who do not remove their cars by midnight. That is to discourage air travelers from using a garage intended for rail commuters.

On Tuesday morning, Kevin A. Dillon, president of the Rhode Island Airport Corporation, the state agency that runs Green, hailed the impending start of rail service. ?It does a lot for us,? he said. ?It gives us another great ground transportation option. This makes it even more convenient than it was.?

Dillon added that train service will help market Green to travelers looking for alternative routes into Boston as well as to airlines with service to Europe, where travelers are accustomed to trains linking airports to the cities they serve.

The rental car companies will all be on one floor of the InterLink at 700 Jefferson Blvd. Currently, many rental-car companies operate out of kiosks on the bottom level of the airport, while others have locations along Post Road. According to airport officials, all rental-car companies will close on the night of Tuesday, Oct. 26, after the final flight arrives at Green, so they can begin operations at their new InterLink locations the next morning. The Skywalk will also open that morning.

pparker@projo.com
Click to expand...
 
I wish they would pick up a few of the soon to be ex amtrak AEM-7's for this line. Isn't it already completely electrified?

although there is a reason they are replacing the AEM's. might be more trouble then its worth.
 
I think that segment is completely electrified already. At least from Warwick to PVD. I don't know about the rest of the route into Boston.

Anyway, the finalists for the new Pedestrian Bridge (where I-195 used to run) have been selected. I like numbers 3, 5, 8, and 10, but 10 is my favorite by quite a bit. A complete summary of them, with photos, can be found here (greater city, PVD). Under each entry is a link to a flicker page with more renderings and descriptions.

1)
ped1.jpg


2)
ped2.jpg


3)
ped3.jpg


4)
ped4.jpg


5)
ped5.jpg


6)
ped6.jpg


7)
ped7.jpg


8)
Ped8.jpg


9)
ped9.jpg


10)

ped10.jpg


11)
ped11.jpg


Side note: I don't know which rendering I think is more comical, 6 or 4. 6 has the transparent people and the guy happily riding his bike through deep snow (with snow on the tires.. nice details) but 4 is apparently its own micro climate. It's clearly autumn on the bridge and still spring or summer on either side. Impressive.
 
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I kinda dig them all. I'm surprised none of them are some concrete bore which any highway firm would have thrown up (I'm looking at you Albany, NY).
 
expanding the realm of possibilities to include such terrible looking function-only structures, you are right. But of those shown, I think some are better than others. In Portland, they recently designed a pedestrian overpass that is essentially like what you described for albany, only it has some sort of metal feathers on it. poor design.
 
Well, I'm assuming there is no concrete bore because these are the 11 finalists. So there may very well have been some generic looking designs of that nature, but they didn't make it to the final 11 selections.

Patrick, I'm surprised you picked #2. That was my least favorite. I think that many of the paths sort of lead to nowhere and there are a few dead ends. It also has a small, empty plaza. I REALLY think the "The Creative Capital!" sign is so tacky (really, an exclamation point?). Maybe it'll grow on me. You're right though, a good number of the renderings are sort of "meh;" disheartening considering the fact that they are the "finalists."

I think #8 will be the likely winner. It's probably cheaper than #10 (the design they favor over on greater city: providence) and it's functional and elegant.

I think Portland's design was at a disadvantage due to location of the airport and the fact that it will also have to accommodate cars. Those are tough constraints to work with. I would have left the feathers out though.
 
Yeah, i suppose you're right about the trails to nowhere in 2...I guess it just looks more like a public work of art. But from a functionality perspective, it may have more than needed. Perhaps some of that extra unneeded space of trails could have been put into more adornments...I don't know. You're also right on about the constraints Portland had to work with...I guess if nothing else it is an improvement over the existing drab structure. I like 8 equal to 4 in Prov, so I'd be happy seeing either one. Pedestrian bridges are great. But also expensive. wish there were more.
 
^They're all posted on page 13 of this thread.

I'm psyched about the prospect too. I need to get down to PVD and get some photos before the old highway comes down.
 
So this class I'm in keeps emphasizing that NIMBY is a degrading term used to discourage the legitimate participation of interested citizens. Sure, I guess that's true sometimes. But with a project like this, how can anyone complain? It's a bridge. Yet I bet you're right, people will complain. They always do. I'm not convinced that NIMBY is a term invented to delegitimize interested citizens with whom you disagree. I think there are really people that just like to complain. thoughts anyone else?
 
[drum roll.........] and the winner is:



Number 10!
ped10.jpg


The city announced today that design number 10 was the winner of the contest.

Here is their full entry (many more pics).
 
Lrfox said:
[drum roll.........] and the winner is:



Number 10!
ped10.jpg


The city announced today that design number 10 was the winner of the contest.

Here is their full entry (many more pics).
Click to expand...
I think it's great. This proposal was by far the most dynamic concept, bringing in the best variety of program. The only concern is that this is the most expensive one of them all. It will definitely pay off, though.

I'm very impressed that Providence is actually caring about and funding design, rather than simple functionality. They could have easily hired a civil engineer to just build a footbridge for a fraction of the cost. Over the years, it would deteriorate and you'd have another structure fall victim to the life cycle of Providence. This design competition definitely shows Providence taking a step forward in reinventing itself as it struggles to find its identity.
 
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