RIPTA awarded $5.6M for bus service improvements in Pawtucket

PAWTUCKET Mayor Donald R. Grebien said the federal funds will help create a multimodal transit hub. / COURTESY CITY OF PAWTUCKET
PAWTUCKET Mayor Donald R. Grebien said the federal funds will help create a multimodal transit hub. / COURTESY CITY OF PAWTUCKET

PAWTUCKET – The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority has received $5.6 million in federal funding for bus facility upgrades and service improvements in Pawtucket.
The award was announced this week by U.S. Sen. Jack F. Reed.
Reed said that RIPTA has been awarded $5,636,745 in funding through a “Buses and Bus Facilities” grant program administered by the Federal Transit Administration. The funding will enable RIPTA to build amenities for bus passengers near the new Pawtucket/Central Falls Commuter Rail Station being planned for the city.
Reed, who called the grant award “good news for Pawtucket,” said it should help upgrade bus stops, enhance safety and improve transit services.
Mayor Donald R. Grebien said the funds will help create a multimodal transit hub.
“The vision has been to create a multimodal transit hub that will allow everyone, including pedestrians and cyclists, to easily travel to and from Pawtucket and access all our great city has to offer. This grant is another significant step, on the heels of the recent TIGER grant award, toward achieving our shared vision,” Grebien said.
In applying for the grant, RIPTA said its goal was to build a new bus hub adjacent to the new Pawtucket/Central Falls Commuter Rail Station planned for Pawtucket near the Central Falls border between Barton Street, Conant Street, Goff Avenue and Dexter Street.
That project, which is partially supported by a $13.1 million federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant recently awarded to the state Department of Transportation, is expected to open by 2020.

The new transit center will include several bus berths featuring digital signage with real-time information, ticket vending machines and an enclosed waiting space.
The project is expected to cost $7 million with funding also being contributed by the city of Pawtucket, RIPTA and the state of Rhode Island.

Located in the Blackstone Valley Visitor’s Center building at Main and Roosevelt streets, the Pawtucket bus hub is the second busiest hub in RIPTA’s statewide system with eight routes offering connections to Providence, Central Falls, Cumberland, East Providence, Lincoln, Warwick and South Attleboro.
RIPTA has been looking for a new location in Pawtucket for a couple of years since its current lease expires next year.
The new commuter rail station is about a half mile west of the existing bus hub.

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