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Transit 2020


quente

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Here's my latest fantasy map, I tried to reign myself in and make the fantasy feesible in the real world:

TransportPVD_004.jpg

The colors do not represent individual lines, but rather possible phases of construction, lines would be connected together to provide through-service and ideally would allow for some level of flexibility in through-routing. Only major stops are marked.

Northeast Corridor (NEC)

The purple line is obviously the Northeast Corridor Amtrak/Commuter Rail line, you'll notice many stops are also labelled RIPTA. I propose a DMU rapid service along the NEC. Service could conceivably run from Woonsocket (where it would connect to an extention of the Franklin MBTA Line) to as far as Quonset Point. It could also run simply from Pawtucket to the Airport. DMUs would provide approximately 20 minute headways between T and Amtrak services providing a level of service approching subway frequencies. Stops would be at Pawtucket, Branch Avenue, Providence Station, Olneyville, Cranston Street (serving Niantic Office Park and Brewery Parkade via improved pedestrian circulation), Elmwood, Park Avenue/Cranston, T.F. Green and points south. Amtrak would serve Providence Station and T.F. Green. MBTA Commuter Rail would serve Pawtucket, Providence Station, Park Avenue/Cranston, T.F. Green, and points south.

Valley Line

The Valley Line runs from Providence (Gaspee) Station to Olneyville Square. The Gaspee Station platform is on the currently closed section of Exchange Street between the train station and Station Park. Leaving the station, trains turn left on Gaspee Street continuing down Hayes turning left on Park Street behind the mall. Behind the mall the trains turn right onto Promenade Street. Promenade Street is closed to vehicle traffic and becomes a transit/bikeway. Kinsley Street on the other side of the river becomes two-way and all roads that currently end at Promenade cross the river to meet Kinsley. This will require new bridges at Holden, Leland, and Bath Streets. Bath should be realligned to meet the ramp from Route 95.

Once the line reaches ALCO, there are two options. There may be room to keep it next to the river sliding alongside ALCO, however this may require engineering to shore up the banks of the river to support the rail traffic, and may necessitate the need for some outboard sections of track to hang over the river. The other option is to turn the tracks up Hemlock Street to Valley Street. I prefer the Valley Street allignment as it serves more people currently living north of Valley Street and is a straight run to Olneyville Square once the tracks are on Valley. The ALCO allignment forces trains to use Eagle to Atwells to get to Valley Street. Once on Valley Street, trains travel direct to Onleyville Square.

East-West Lines

The East-West Line has branches at either end. The Broadway Branch starts in Olneyville Square sharing a terminal with the Valley Line. The train then uses Broadway into the city to Empire then to Washington Street. It could be argued that Westminster would be a better route since Westminster has more potential for dense residential and retail development, however Broadway's configuration allows for better rail service. And even with the eventual reopening of Cathedral Square, Westminster's connection to Downcity is a bit clumsy. The Broadway allignment also allows for service to the Dunk and the Convention Center. I don't think Broadway is wide enough for a true median running service like seen on the B and C lines in Boston/Brookline. Trains could simply run in traffic making stops like buses, or with turnouts to station stops, this is similar to the E line in Boston south of Brigham Circle. Market Street in San Francisco should be looked at as a model for how to build the streetcar on Broadway.

The other western branch is the Elmwood Branch. The Elmwood Branch provides needed service to the densely populated south side of the city. The Elmwood Branch would start at Park Avenue in Cranston with the Harbor Junction Branch in a stop set above the NEC tracks. From Park Ave. the trains continue to Elmwood north past the zoo through Elmwood to Broad Street, then to Empire where it joins the Broadway Branch on Washington Street. An alternative is to make the Elmwood Branch turn down Reservoir and become the Reservoir Line south to Garden City and Warick Mall.

The central section of the East-West Line runs along Washington Street through Kennedy Plaza to the East Side rail tunnel. Trains reach the tunnel via a two-way transit lane on the Washington Bridge then the directions split and use Canal and North Main for access to the tunnel. Making the grade change from the street to the tunnel portal is a challenge, but there *should* be room to create an incline from North Main to the tunnel entrance. Subway stations would be built to serve Thayer and Gano Streets. The Thayer Street Station would obviously represent a huge expense and could be dropped, service to Brown of course is a good incentive for building this station. The Gano Street Station can site outside the tunnel portal at the East End making that station much more feesible. Trains continue across the river on the erect bridge. This bridge will need work to get it into working order. It may in the long run be better and cheaper to construct a new fixed span bridge. If a new bridge is built it should provide two-tracks and a lane for bikes and pedestrians to cross the river at this location.

In East Providence this line splits into two branches again. The East Bay Branch heads south serving the new waterfront developments. The other branch heads north to the new Henderson Transitway. The center lanes of the Henderson Bridge will become a transitway for buses, with the trolleys joining the transitway on the EP side of the bridge. The Transitway continues along the land cleared for the never built Route 44 Expressway to Pawtucket Avenue. At Pawtucket Avenue a new transit center is built where buses from Taunton and Fall River meet the trolley line before continuing into Providence. If possible, the East Side Tunnel should be rebuilt so that buses can use it with the trains. This way the Taunton and Fall River buses will utilize the tunnel to provide Express Service to Providence. A one-lane reversible peak-direction bus lane will need to be built on Pawtucket Avenue to get Fall River buses from Route 195 to the Transit Center, and new bus only ramps will need to be built at Pawtucket Avenue and Route 195. A busway should also be considered for at least part of Route 195.

Pawtucket Line

The DMU rapid service on the NEC could make streetcar service to Pawtucket redundant. However, it is still worthwhile for local service along North Main. And North Main could and should see much more dense residential and business development. Streetcar service could feed an explosion in residential development in this area. North Main does likely have room for median running trolleys like Boston/Brookline's B and C lines. If trains are put in the median, Jen's trees will have to be transplanted. The trees could stay if service were made more like what would be built on Broadway. The Pawtucket Line would start at Providence (Gaspee) Station. Leaving Exchange Street trains would turn right onto Gaspee Street continuing to State Street then right onto Orms. Left onto Charles in Randall Square then right onto Randall Street to North Main Street. Alternately, trains could run from Gaspee to Smith to North Main, though it is probably worthwhile to directly serve Randall Square. Running trains up to Orms Street also gives access to people living in nearby areas of Smith Hill. Trains would travel north on North Main into Pawtucket and would terminate at Pawtucket/Central Falls Station.

Given my proposal for rapid services via DMUs along the NEC from Pawtucket, it may be best as a cost saving measure to allow for other lines to be built, to upgrade North Main service to a BRT line rather than rail. The line should see large buses running at approximately 7 minute headways (service more-or-less on demand) and should be branded as a unique service.

Johnston Line

The Johnston Line would be an extenstion of the Broadway Branch and Valley Line west from Olneyville Square. Trains would run in a transit way along Route 6 to Route 295. Trains would run rapid with limited stops along Route 6. At Route 295 a park and ride facility would serve commuters, a transit village could also be built at the interchange along Route 6.

This route may also be better as BRT with a transitway along Route 6. Buses from points west of 295 could then feed into this transitway.

Reservoir Line

The Reservoir Line would provide service to Mall Land south of the city. This would run in a median along Route 2, or ideally elevated above Route 2 to provide completely grade seperated high speed service. The faster this line moves, the more it's suburban patrons are likely to use it. The line's southern terminus would be as far south as Artic Village or the Rhode Island Mall. The perfect world scenario sees the RI Mall being knocked down and a dense transit village growing in it's place. Warwick Mall and Garden City's parking lots would see housing grow out of them, and more dense retail and residential development would follow the train up and down Route 2. New bus lines would provide cross service so that stations along Route 2 would have east-west connections to other parts or Cranston and Warwick.

In the north the Reservoir Line would either continue north along Reservoir until it reaches and becomes the Elmwood Line. The other alternative is for it to turn down Park Avenue and reach the RIPTA/T station there, and connect to the Harbor Junction Line for service into Providence. The Harbor Junction Line would likely see faster service than the Elmwood option, however slow service on Park Avenue itself could negate that. Service along Park Avenue would of course help bring transit oriented devlopment to that area.

Smith Street Line

Just like the name says, the Smith Street Line runs on Smith Street. Service starts at Gaspee Station and continues up Fountain to Smith. Intial line runs along Smith as far as RIC. Future extentions could make the line run to Smithfield Crossing on Route 295.

Harbor Junction Line

The Harbor Junction Line starts in the south at Park Avenue/Cranston Station where it has a platform above the NEC tracks. At Park Ave. the line meets the MBTA Commuter Rail and RIPTA Rapid Service on the NEC as well as Elmwood Streetcars and the Reservoir Line. Harbor Junction travels north along Route 95 with stops at RWP, Broad Street, Eddy Street... then it turns up Allens Avenue. The line runs up Allens to Eddy to Dwyer/Memorial where their are two optional routes through Downcity. Ideally the Allens-Eddy-Dyer/Memorial section would run in a seperate median to maximize speed on the line, especially if it serves as the northerly portion of the Reservoir Line.

This line could also run on Eddy instead of Allens, which would provide better service to the already densely populated areas of South Providence. However service on Eddy Street would have to run in traffic, the Allens Ave. allignment allows for trains to run in a separate median providing faster service. Cross-town buses would give South Providence residents access to the line, and of course the pedestrian environment between Allens Ave. and the rest of South Providence would have to be impeccible to allow for residents to walk to/from the train.

One allignment through Downcity is the Exchange Allignment. Trains would run up to Memorial at the Crawford Bridge then use the plaza beside the Textron Building to reach Exchange Street, which is then a straight run to Gaspee Station. This plaza is an univiting, windswept area that is most often in the shadow of the buildings around it. Historically the plaza was a part of Exchange Street. There is not enough room for a trolley stop in the plaza, trains would simply run through a transit only section with room beside it for pedestrians. This area could be glassed over to provide shelter for pedestrians passing through. Below is a diagram of possible platform allignments for a stop on Memorial/Dyer before turing into this transitway.

MemBlvd_Trolley.jpg

There would be another stop in Kennedy Plaza, likely infront of the Post Office before reaching Gaspee Station.

The other allignment is Dorrance to Kennedy Plaza. Trains would run up Eddy/Dyer to Dorrance, then use Dorrance to K.P. At Kennedy Plaza trains would turn onto Washington and share a platform with the East-West Line infront of Burnside Park, then turn onto Exchange to reach Gaspee Station.

I prefer the Exchange Allignment as trains would be slowed by running in traffic on Dorrance under that allignment.

Obviously this is a lot of service that would take a lot of money and years to build. But I think we certainly could see all of this happen in the next 25 years. I would start with the Harbor Junction and Valley Lines and the rapid service on the NEC via DMUs. Follow that up with the East-West Lines beginning with the Broadway and Henderson Branches. Then Elmwood, Reservoir, Johnston, and Pawtucket.

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i love your maps and ideas... i have a couple comments/suggestions. i think a smith street streetcar line from the center of north providence into downtown would be highly beneficial. the amount of commuters i see on smith is huge and it's wide enough to handle street cars with their own lane once you get out of smith hill if you remove parking from one side of the street. in smith hill, it would have to run in line with regular traffic (this is east of oakland ave). this line could possibly even go as far as smithfield crossing, maybe express to there from north providence center? i think that might be a long ways away, but it's quite feasible and likely that a route to NP center would work and be highly used.

i also think the east bay branch of the yellow line could be extended farther south to riverside, like the willet ave/county rd area. or do a loop around willet ave, crescent view, bullock's point.

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Yes, the East Bay Line can certainly continue south. That terminus is a good first step, any further south of there and you need to start building new bridges and viaducts, so it would continue south if the need warrants those investments. It would also need to maintain room for the bike path to parrellel it.

Looking at the map more, the East-West Line has four legs, adding a Smith Street line would make a 4th leg out of the other lines (radiating from Gaspee Station), so there would be an even number of lines to through-route. I'll add Smith Street. But I'm wondering if North Providence will allow rail from the city. I'm sure they would be too afraid of drug dealers taking the train up there to terrorize them. :rolleyes:

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Looking at the map more, the East-West Line has four legs, adding a Smith Street line would make a 4th leg out of the other lines (radiating from Gaspee Station), so there would be an even number of lines to through-route. I'll add Smith Street. But I'm wondering if North Providence will allow rail from the city. I'm sure they would be too afraid of drug dealers taking the train up there to terrorize them. :rolleyes:
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I definitely think the streetcar lines have to be a combination of interurban and local use. A line from Coventry on the ROW could come with limited stops thru West Warwick and Cranston. It could then become a local line onto Cranston Street at the Lowes/K Mart Plaza. This would give it speed for suburbanites and high density to make it feasible.
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N E W S R E L E A S E

TRANSIT 2020 WORKING GROUP PRESENTS RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ENHANCING MAJOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TOOL: PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

Recommendations presented by Transit 2020 Working Group lay the framework for improving the metropolitan area

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The above link gave me the full story, no subscription needed. For some reason you don't need a sub for all stories on PBN.

Almost a year after first convening last April, the group is releasing a 36-page report this week,

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http://www.projo.com/ri/providence/content...AS.3321248.html

good to see things like transit and other concerns we have on here.. such as skyline lighting, are being addressed as quick as they are.

"Skyline lighting (including Textron) is going to be one of Greater City: Providence's initiatives... You'll be reading more about this soon...

- Garris

"

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I'm also very exciting about the near and long term possible changes/improvements. The Train station bus hub needs to find itself near the very top of the list. Once the commuter rail is extended to the TFGreen and Wickford, RIPTA will really be able to create these nodes in KEY locations within it's network. KP should remain the focus of downcity/commercial and related routes/riders whereas the new train station node would be focused on governement, retail (PPM), residential (H2O place, CapCove, etc), and most importantly, INTERMODAL transit between rail and bus. This locatin would act as an important connecting point to move people across the State RIPTA system whereas KP would be more for the 'local' users. The Airport and Providence (and every other new rail station that gets added) need to act as the regional transfer hub between bus and rail for that area. The train (and express buses to fill in the schedule gaps) act as the spine of the system. KP becomes more of a 'destination' facility eliminating most of the intended connecting traffic. Each node would also have express bus to KP (Providence station would have trolley service to KP every 10-15 minutes max) as well as rail and bus to Providence station and any other key point within it's region (i.e. Wickford would have buses to the Wickford shopping areas, etc.) Airport would capture Coventry, WW, and Warwick buses. Kingston would be for URI, etc., etc.

Man, I wish I was on that transit 2020 group...

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* Streetcar lines along Valley Street and Allens Avenue. [it seems like these are the only lines that are ever mentioned with this project - I don't get it. :dontknow: To my mind, citing other lines that run through downtown or the neighborhoods would be a better way to sell the project. Imagining a streetcar ride around Downcity or Broadway for example is very appealing - I get the vision. Click-clacking along Allens Avenue and coming across the Motiva storage tanks or the 195 overpass doesn't quite do it.]
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Im all about transit development in providence... thoguh the word "streetcar" has me a little worried. Ive been to two cities (Little Rock, and San Francisco) recently that have "vintage style" streetcars, and in urban area's the old fashioned street cars look ugly , I would hope that Providence would use a newer, more modern streetcar system.

I can see a line starting at the Amtrak Station, comming down Exchane st, then into Kennedy Plaza, then down into Weybosset st, over bt JWU then iver vacated 195 land (though maybe getting over to cathedral Sq, then heading down into the Hospital. The route could actually extend north from Union stattion and go on smith Street up to PC. This route could also perhaps extend further south to Roger Williams

For an east/west route, I would start it at Thayer street and use the tunnel to get to Kennedy Plaza, then over by the convention center/dunk, then allong atwells, perhaps into the American Locomitive Mill development area.

NO:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=167282

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=161894

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=127349

YES:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=160011

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=113163

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=93366

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i don't see what's ugly about the 3 pics you said "no" to. i do like those kinds of streetcars. however, if you look at the transit2020 website, they have pics of newer style ones from cities like portland.

i like the ones in philly...

stupid pics won't display... they can be seen here. there's both older and newer style trolleys, and i think they're all pretty cool.

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I'll take whatever they can afford to be honest - I know RI always settles for the cheap, but it's what we can afford that counts. The less expensive to install, purchase, maintain, and operate, the greater, faster, and larger the system will be. Having said all that, I certainly don;t want something that is so cheap that it looks reaaly bad or is an operational money pit...

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the ones in philly were bought from another city and refurbished. i imagine it was cheaper for them that way.

frankly, i don't think that having an old style trolley running through downtown would look out of place. it would simply conjure up memories of times past and what providence used to be. i think it'd bring back a feel that's pretty good... so long as the seats were padded. :thumbsup:

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