The Providence Amtrak station is set to undergo a $5.7 million renovation next spring, according to a statement released last week from Gov. Lincoln Chafee’s ’75 P’14 office.
The Rhode Island Department of Transportation will receive funding from the Federal Highway Administration to improve the 27-year-old train station’s pedestrian and mass transit entryways, said Bryan Lucier, RIDOT spokesperson. The south plaza entrance will be refurbished, adding a new RIPTA bus stop to the station and beautifying the landscape, he added.
Other changes will include increasing bicycle storage, better accommodating queuing taxis and adding more parking spaces, said Robert Azar, director of current planning at the Providence Department of Planning and Development.
The construction project will begin spring 2014 and take approximately a year to complete, Lucier said. The renovations will “provide riders with better information and access when they arrive in Providence, whether they’re trying to take a taxi or bus or simply walk downtown.”
RIDOT does not anticipate any disruption in train or bus services as a result of the project, but some passengers may be forced to find alternative parking while the station’s parking garage is being revamped, he said.
The plan will add bus connections between the station and Kennedy Plaza on Exchange Street, said Amy Pettine, RIPTA’s director of planning and marketing. The project will change the streetscape and add a new screen with real-time bus arrival information and a RIPTA ticket-vending machine at the station.
“We’re creating bus access directly in front of the station,” Pettine said. “Right now it’s a little counterintuitive if you want to take a bus from downtown … you kind of have to walk up the street and the bus stop is off to the side.”
These improvements will strengthen access between the two busiest transit hubs in Providence — the train station and Kennedy Plaza, Pettine said.
RIPTA will service the new bus stop with the new R-line, which will arrive every 10 minutes beginning in January 2014, she said.
RIDOT will also use a $3 million Federal Railroad Administration high-speed rail program grant to collaborate with Amtrak to alleviate congestion at the station, said Cliff Cole, a representative in Amtrak’s Government Affairs office.
Cole said other proposed changes include greater “access points to the platform, enhanced station facilities, additional parking and improved freight and passenger services within the rail tunnel.”
The scheduled construction is not expected to affect Amtrak operations, he said. All entrances are scheduled to remain open but with limited access to walking paths and the parking garage, he added.
Amtrak will also work in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security to improve passenger rail safety and security, as well as physical security at the station through upgrades to the security camera system, Cole said.
A number of federal and local politicians attended the groundbreaking ceremony April 15, including Chafee, U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., U.S. Rep. James Langevin, D-R.I., U.S. Rep. David Cicilline ’83, D-R.I., and Providence Major Angel Taveras.
“These upgrades and improvements will help us make the experience of traveling to Providence via rail more convenient, more pleasant and more reflective of our outstanding capital city,” Chafee said in the press release.
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