Greater City Providence

ProJo: Bids opened for Providence train station exterior work

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Photo taken in 2006

With a bid of approximately $6.9 million, J.H. Lynch & Sons submitted the lowest of five proposals for the construction work. Bids were opened Friday at the R.I. Division of Purchasing office on Capitol Hill.

State officials will take about two months to review the bids and certify the winning bid.


This project will address the deplorable conditions of the plaza areas around the station, repairs to the garage roof (which is the plaza), and improve pedestrian, bike, bus, and auto connections between the station and Kennedy Plaza.

We should likely expect work to begin in the spring 2015 construction season.

RIDOT recently was awarded a TIGER grant to design a new intermodal bus station at the train station. Voters will be asked to approve the purchase of bonds through Question 6 to further that project to reality.

Jef Nickerson

Jef is Greater City Providence's co-founder, editor, and publisher. He grew up on Cape Cod and lived in Boston; Portland, Maine; and New York before settling in Providence. In addition to urbanism, Jef is interested in art, design, and ice cream. Please feel free to contact Jef if you have any question or comments about Greater City Providence.

6 comments

  • I am looking forward to the rendering of the new bus station.

    On an unrelated note, I am very disappointed in the First Bristol plans for only a 6 story hotel on the “triangle” parcel. It is the ideal spot for a 15-20 story structure.

    But, the economy…

  • This is long overdue. I hope that cathedral square gets repaired/redesigned in the near future. There needs to be more focus on creating great public spaces in every single neighborhood of Providence.

  • I hope that they’ll figure out the drainage problem in the huge field across from the mall. While I love the field, whenever it rains the cement pathways fill up with water and the ground is sopping wet and muddy. And in the winter, everything freezes solid and the walkways become solid ice. Not fun.

  • Providence already has a great system of parks and public spaces…it needs more vertical buildings that produce tax revenue.

  • The Journal article lists several local/regional contractors that were in the same ballpark on their bids, and then Lynch, which was the outlier and significantly lower. This should make us wonder.

  • We definitely need a GRAND plan for Providence station. Not just one that is repairing failing elements of the station, but a whole new station that works for our generation and is an engine for the future of Providence. The streetcar connecting bus service at kennedy plaza would work perfectly. There are development parcels all around the current station that can be used for a new station. This should not just be a pipe dream!! Things in Providence move all too slowly- I would says snails pace, but you can actually see a snail move. if we don’t start making huge investments in infrastructure quickly, we will never be able to catch up with the rest of the world and compete as a city.

    Look at what Denver has done. Their Union Station is now a world class multimodal hub of the west. They have invested billions of dollars on 122 miles of commuter and light rail connecting all of metro Denver. I’m originally from Providence and have lived in Denver for 4 years. The amount of economic investment from companies is INSANE!!! A whole new neighborhood around Union Staion is being built up from literally nothing in the time i’ve been here. There was a lot of parking there once upon a time and now the lots are being developed like gangbusters with skyscrapers now casting their shadows on the new Union Station.

    http://www.rtd-fastracks.com/dus_1

    Hopefully, Providence does commit to the streetcar and starts building it sooner rather than later, but this is NOT enough. Something else MUST be done to incorporate mass investment in infrastructure- maybe a multimodal hub in Providence and not in the middle of nowhere. If Providence is to take itself seriously as a real city, it MUST not only start talking about doing something, but ACTUALLY DO IT!!!

    There is a reason I don’t live there anymore and why young natives are moving out in droves…quality of life is seriously lacking, even with all the arts and music. IF YOU FOCUS ON TRANSIT, WALKABILITY, LIVABILITY, BIKABILITY, SUSTAINABILITY, AND A DENSE URBAN CORE NOT RIDDLED WITH PROFITABLE PARKING LOTS, then I GUARANTEE you will have a prosperous city and state where people actually move TO, instead of move away from.

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