Study: Stadium would add cars, but mass transit plays role

THE NEW OWNERSHIP GROUP of the Pawtucket Red Sox is looking to put the team in a new stadium in downtown Providence along the water. / COURTESY PBC ASSOCIATES
THE NEW OWNERSHIP GROUP of the Pawtucket Red Sox is looking to put the team in a new stadium in downtown Providence along the water. / COURTESY PBC ASSOCIATES

PROVIDENCE – The proposed minor league baseball stadium will generate a peak traffic count of 1,800 vehicle trips an hour, when visitors arrive for the games or events, but will not tip surrounding intersections into failure, according to an analysis prepared for the team’s owners.
The peak hour for traffic in Providence, under existing conditions, is between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m., while the peak traffic for the baseball park is expected to come over a two-hour span before a night game. The study assumes that these peak volume hours coincide.
The ballpark, which would host the relocated Pawtucket Red Sox, is designed to seat 10,000 fans and would be located on a site on Dyer Street downtown, overlooking the Providence River. A traffic impact and access study, prepared for the owners by Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc., assumes that the team will play 70 to 75 home games, and host 10 local concerts, football games or other events.
The traffic report projects that nearly one-in-five ballpark attendees will either take mass transit or walk or bike to the games.
It was provided to members of the Interstate 195 Redevelopment District Commission this week, in a public presentation of the project by the principal owners of the PawSox. Although many of the commission’s questions Monday centered on the financial aspects of the PawSox proposal, several members said traffic was a concern.
The proposed site is a 13-minute walk from the train station at Providence Station, and six minutes from the bus depot at Kennedy Plaza. Two RIPTA buses will pass along Dyer Street. Because of its proximity to public transportation, the traffic engineers have projected that 4 percent of the ballpark attendees would take mass transit, while another 15 percent would walk or bike to games.
The analysis assumes that the ballpark sells out, and that cars traveling to the games are carrying 3.3 people, the average for commuters to McCoy Stadium. The team owners argue that the facility will appeal to thousands of workers downtown, and to people who live nearby, or across the river in Fox Point and College Hill, who could walk across pedestrian bridges to the site.
“There are thousands of people who live and work downtown, who have never been to McCoy Stadium. They would welcome an opportunity on a summer evening to walk across a couple of streets to see a ballgame,” said James J. Skeffington, an attorney who is president of the PawSox ownership group. “They would walk to the ballpark. That obviously reduces the traffic congestion.”
The analysis looked at 20 intersections near the proposed site, as well as at leading entry points to the city.
Although several of these intersections are projected to have a degraded “level of service” by 2020, including Memorial Boulevard at Francis Street, Point Street at Eddy Street (southbound approach) and Francis Street at Exchange Terrace (southbound approach), the analysis found the ballpark operations would not have a direct impact.
In responding to initial questioning by commission member Melissa Husband, Skeffington said the report had not taken into account special events in Providence, such as Water Fire or concerts at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. Further analysis would be needed, he said.
For ballpark patrons who drive to the games, the area around the site includes ample parking, the report found. More than 12,800 off-street parking spaces are available within a 10-minute walk of the site, and another 1,380 spaces are available on street. The analysis assumes that the Garrahy and South Street Landing garages, which are now planned, will be available for ballpark visitors.
By comparison, said Larry Lucchino, a PawSox owner who is also president of the Boston Red Sox, Fenway Park has limited options. That major league ball park has 6,200 spaces within a 10-minute walk.
“There is a volume of parking that is really desirable,” he said of the Providence site.

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1 COMMENT

  1. Making McCoy Stadium a part of the new Blackstone River Valley National Park and using state funds and matching federal funds to renovate McCoy Stadium and improve the infrastructure in the Blackstone Valley would be easy for the average Rhode Island taxpayer to understand. A 10 million dollar investment by the State of Rhode Island would produce 90 million dollars of matching federal funds to accomplish both of the above mentioned goals
    There has also been talk about building a MBTA Station in Pawtucket. If the MBTA station was built on the main Amtrak right of way at the end of the George R. Bennet Highway in Pawtucket, travelers could transfer to a shuttle train system on the P&W right of way for the one mile trip to McCoy Stadium. This P&W right of way parallels the Blackstone River Bikeway from Pawtucket to Worcester. There would be easy commuter rail access to within 300 feet of McCoy Stadium from Worcester and from Boston. What could be better for the new owers of the PawSox and the new Blackstone River Valley National Park? This new MBTA Station would benefit both.

    Ken Berwick, Smithfield, RI