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IN-PROGRESS: "Iway" 195 Relocation/Wash. Bridge


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Excellent shots! Thanks for putting these up. One thought came to mind from looking at the picture. It looks like the superstructure will be fully assembled at Quonset, then floated up the bay, and hoisted into place on top of the piers. Would it be advantageous for someone to get a pic of the foundation in front of the hurricane barrier and post it here? We could get a sense of how all the pieces of this project is coming together.

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Would it be advantageous for someone to get a pic of the foundation in front of the hurricane barrier and post it here? We could get a sense of how all the pieces of this project is coming together.

I had posted a photo a while back from high up in Rhode Island Hospital of the work they were doing along 95. I'll try to take another photo in the next week or so. Honestly, it's not all that exciting. Just huge mounts of earth being strategically placed in preparation for the bridge, although I believe the foundation on the East Prov side is in a quite advanced state of construction...

- Garris

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Hi everyone!

I'm fairly new to this forum, but I already have a huge favor to ask of everyone. For my seminar class (which is called Providence Politics) I am writing a 30 pages thesis about the relocation of I-195 and the implications it will have on Providence. I have a good amount of information done about the actual relocation of the highway and the land it will open up etc. However, one area my professor told me to focus on was what potential political implications the relocation will have. (ie what role will the city play once the relocation is complete.) I am having trouble finding information about this. If anyone could help me out in anyway, with any kind of information it would be GREATLY appreciated as the semester is getting down to the wire and the stress level in my system is greatly building. Thank you to all.

anthony

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Hi everyone!

I'm fairly new to this forum, but I already have a huge favor to ask of everyone. For my seminar class (which is called Providence Politics) I am writing a 30 pages thesis about the relocation of I-195 and the implications it will have on Providence. I have a good amount of information done about the actual relocation of the highway and the land it will open up etc. However, one area my professor told me to focus on was what potential political implications the relocation will have. (ie what role will the city play once the relocation is complete.) I am having trouble finding information about this. If anyone could help me out in anyway, with any kind of information it would be GREATLY appreciated as the semester is getting down to the wire and the stress level in my system is greatly building. Thank you to all.

anthony

Hi Anthony, and welcome.

I'm no expert on this, but I've had the oppurtunity to serve on a couple of civic boards in community, so let me give you my take on this. I-195 is an interstate owned by RI - that is; the state owns the property the road sits on. Once the existing road is relocated, the property is still owned by the state even after the existing road is taken down. Obviously, the state would transfer some of this property over to the city so roads that were severed when the road was built could be reconnected once again. For the remaining property, the most likely scenario is that the property would be sold to a management firm who would then market the property for remaining development. This was the scenario when the train station was moved; the tracks were relocated, the river was moved, and this opened up propert downdown. Much of this land was sold to Capital Properties Inc. This company partners with the city and the state to attract businesses, etc. to build on the land. One case study you could focus on is the new GTech HQ. The parcel where the building is being built lay vacant ever since Waterplace Park probably a decade ago. To develop the parcel, the state awarded a 20-year contract to GTech to provide lottery services and the city has a tax treaty with GTech to make the property taxes more reasonable. This also occured with Providence Place Mall - the state waived sales taxes on all building materials purchased to build the mall and the city provided PPM something like a 20 or 30 year tax treaty fixing property taxes at a rate independent of the city's current tax rate. You can safely assume that this state/city partnership would also be employed on the I-195 land since the precedent was set with the railroad track relocation with varying degrees of success. Your thesis may want to play on this aspect of past precedent, but it's up to you. My best advise is to research the history, political climate, partnertships, et. al. regarding the railroad relocation downtown, and that should give you the background necessary to provide the thesis your professor is looking for; and I'm reasonably certain he/she knows all about the Capital Center project that I've touched on. Hope this helps you out and gives you a good starting point.

Mike :)

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However, one area my professor told me to focus on was what potential political implications the relocation will have. (ie what role will the city play once the relocation is complete.) I am having trouble finding information about this.

You might want to take a look through the Boston Globe articles about the land use from the teardown of the I-93 expressway. The land there was divided into greenspace and commercial/retail space and of coruse is not quite yet under development. However there was a lot of political fighting for what the space would be as long as 20 years ago when the Big Dig was first up for funding, and that fighting continues today. There is a bunch of stuff in the globe still current (i.e. not yet in their archives, which you have to pay for).

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  • 2 weeks later...

http://www.projo.com/business/content/proj...0x.d8ac415.html

Article about the 40 acres of land that will be available after 195 is relocated. Half the land will be for private development, and "would compete with property and buildings in the Route 495 beltway in Massachusetts." Hmm. Hopefully the buildings won't be laid out like the ones around 495...

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He recommended that in the next 12 to 24 months, city and state leaders define the street grid, the financial design responsibilities and the criteria for drainage, signage and curbing. He said developers need that information, as well as what set-asides are made for open space and educational or nonprofit institutions.

He also encouraged the formation of a special-purpose corporation to manage development issues and a new business group, similar to the Artery Business Committee in Boston, to help developers understand the process.

All good ideas. The time to plan for this land is now. I say the city/state needs to get it's plans in order for streets and open space, then start selling land right away, before the highway comes down. The proceeds from the pre-sales can be used to fund the redevelopment of the grid. Meanwhile developers can be going through design review and all the steps needed to get things developed in the city, and we can see buildings going up soon after the highway comes down.

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Perhaps we can get a photo of the abutments over the Providence River(Garris)? This editorial describes the art-deco pylons that will hold the span up. Mabye they're finished and awaiting the arrival of the span next spring...

They've got deco-ish abutments on the Point Street Bridge over 95. You can see them from 95, of course a walk or a drive down Point Street would allow one to see them upclose.

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  • 1 month later...

Crossing the Jamestown Bridge on my way to work, I've been looking at this thing every day now for months. One day my curiosity got the best of me and I even did some lurking around Quonset Point, trying to find a good angle to get a good look-see.

Wasn't easy. And I must say, I wasn't quite comfortable doing it either. They definitely don't encourage "tourism" down there.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Any hope for moving I-195 underground as it moves along the water through the East Side of Providence? I know probably pretty unlikely. I visited that Fox Point neighborhood, and I was really impressed by how independant and self-sustaining it seemed to be. Seems like a kind of up and coming area, but I-195 presents such a physical barrier to the water that it seems to really hold it back.

This project is impressive though. It will be great to actually be able to walk to the restaurants and bars near the hurricane barrier without having to negotiate a bunch of highway onramps.

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Any hope for moving I-195 underground as it moves along the water through the East Side of Providence?

Nope. But check out this page about the new pedestrian overpass that will connect the Fox Point neighborhood to India Point Park.

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Any hope for moving I-195 underground as it moves along the water through the East Side of Providence? I know probably pretty unlikely. I visited that Fox Point neighborhood, and I was really impressed by how independant and self-sustaining it seemed to be. Seems like a kind of up and coming area, but I-195 presents such a physical barrier to the water that it seems to really hold it back.

This project is impressive though. It will be great to actually be able to walk to the restaurants and bars near the hurricane barrier without having to negotiate a bunch of highway onramps.

Putting I-195 underground will never happen as the realignment using a bridge over the Providence River is well underway. As for the severing of the Fox Point area to the waterfront to the south, that will be abated by a wide pedestrian overpass as shown here on R.I. DOT's website:

http://www.dot.state.ri.us/projects/constr...pedbr/index.htm

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