[alert type=”muted”]The Providence Planning Department is having a public informational meeting about the bridge today (Sept. 29th) at 5pm.[/alert]The first permanent structure to rise from Providence’s Interstate 195 lands almost certainly won’t be a new office or apartment building, but the long-planned pedestrian bridge crossing the Providence River.
After four years of planning, the 330-foot-long arc connecting new parks planned for both sides of the river is now nearly ready for bids from construction contractors.
[…]“We are at 30 percent design and on schedule for the project to be bid out by the end of this year,” Bonnie Nickerson, Providence director of long-range planning, said last week. “The details being worked out now are very technical, such as levels of lighting. The structural elements and design decisions have been made and those are solid.”
Is this the bridge that the Carpionato proposal was to make into something similar to Florence’s Ponte Vecchio bridge (with shops along the sides)?
No, the Carpionato bridge was to cross mid-block over Wickenden Street. Although with this pedestrian bridge it has been proposed to have a cafe under the main bridge deck.