RIPTA wants to hear from riders and residents on where a new transit line should go

The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority wants to jumpstart one of the top priorities of its four-year-old master plan for public transportation in the state: the creation of a new high-capacity transit line from Central Falls to Warwick.

This week the statewide bus system is launching a series of public meetings to help figure out what the "Metro Connector," the working name for the new line, should look like and what its route should be.

The connector, which would build on RIPTA's high-frequency R-Line bus route, could end up being a bus rapid transit system with dedicated lanes for buses, or even a light rail system.

TF Green or Garden City

The connector concept sketched out in the 2020 Transit Master Plan included a couple of route options for the new line.

One would start at the Cumberland/Central Falls line and go south through the new Pawtucket commuter rail station, where it would picks up the route of the R-Line. In downtown Providence, it would turn west through the Elmwood neighborhood and follow Reservoir Avenue into Cranston, past Garden City and ending up at CCRI.

Another option would start in downtown Providence and follow the R-Line route south of Kennedy Plaza to Broad Street in Washington Park, then continue through the Edgewood section of Cranston into Warwick, where it would follow Post Road to Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport and finally CCRI.

To figure out which route and which kind of vehicles would work best for a new metro connector, RIPTA won a $900,000 U.S. Department of Transportation grant and hired consultant Nelson Nygaard to conduct a study expected to cost $1.7 million. The state is kicking in around $250,000 toward the study with other federal funds making up the rest.

RIPTA spokeswoman Cristy Raposo Perry said while the Transit Master Plan routes provide a starting point, the study will not be limited to those options and can will look at various scenarios and route permutations.

Perhaps more ominously for transit advocates, she said RIPTA is also looking at whether the new line will get dedicated lanes to make it faster or run in street traffic like a conventional bus.

As part of the public engagement process for the study, RIPTA is hosting public forums starting next week at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

• Tuesday, Sept. 24: Pawtucket Public Library, 13 Summer St., Pawtucket

• Wednesday, Sept. 25: West Warwick Library, 1043 Main St., West Warwick

• Thursday, Sept. 26 : Providence Department of Planning & Development, 444 Westminster St., Providence, 1st Floor Conference Room

Additional meetings, including in Cranston or Warwick, are expected to be added in following weeks, RIPTA said. Members of the public are also encouraged to fill out an online survey about the project at ripta.com/MetroConnector/.

When will it be built?

Whichever the route is chosen, don't expect construction to begin any time soon.

RIPTA, which began the connector study earlier this year, does not expect to have a report with final recommendations published until summer or fall of 2025.

There is no cost estimate for the project yet and no funding has been secured beyond the study grant.

"The intent of the study is first to figure out what is the preferred routing of that system. Second of all to get a preferred alternative, which will get us into the capital pipeline with the Federal Transit Administration," Interim RIPTA CEO Chris Durand said at an event Monday at the Pawtucket/Central Falls MBTA station. "That's where we would get the big funding."

In addition to convincing federal officials to provide capital funding, and state leaders to help close RIPTA's ongoing operating deficit, the agency will also need to convince local officials along the chosen route that a bus rapid transit or light rail line is in their best interest.

What does Cranston Mayor Ken Hopkins, who is running for election this fall, think of a new high-frequency bus or rail line zipping through the middle of the city?

"In concept, increased transit along Reservoir Avenue as a highly traffic commuter road could be beneficial," Hopkins spokesman Zachary Deluca wrote in an email. "Of course, such a project would need to be vetted thoroughly to consider the impacts on local business and residential areas along this proposed transit route."

Breaking ground on amenities center at Pawtucket MBTA station

In other transit news Monday, RIPTA and state officials broke ground on a new $5-million "amenities center" building with bathrooms, a police substation and driver break rooms at the Pawtucket MBTA station.

Construction by contractor Bentley Builders is slated to start next week and be completed by late fall 2025 or early 2026, according to a RIPTA news release.

At the groundbreaking, Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebien said the 1,000 parking spaces in the surface lot next to the train station is full and he would like more to be built to serve the station and surrounding development.

Now he is talking to the state about building new parking garage decks and above the lot, potentially with apartments above the cars in what would potentially be a public-private partnership.

"With the mixed use we are going to need it," he said about more parking. "We have talked to the state in general, to put plans together. We know we are going to need to build up, and we are allowed to build up, so how many parking tiers are we going to need and how much housing can we put above it."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RIPTA wants to build a new transit line. Where should it go?