As work proceeds with the relocation of Interstate 195, planning for how to develop the 19.2 acres that are being freed up is well under way as well.
No development plan has been approved yet, but Mayor David N. Cicilline believes that a nonprofit institution could occupy a significant part of the new riverfront area set to open in 2012 after the completion of the project.
Johnson & Wales University has expressed interest in consolidating a new campus center along a stretch of Pine Street to be opened up when the old I-195 is demolished. Cicilline told Providence Business News that may be possible, if an agreement for payment in lieu of taxes can be worked out.
An institutional presence in the area could provide an anchor for private investment on the remainder of the 19.2 acres of available land, he said.
And while Cicilline stopped short of predicting skyscrapers, he did say he expects that the private development will take the form of high-density commercial and residential development.
“I will very strongly advocate for density and height, particularly as you come off the water,” he said. He hopes to restrict height on parcels close to the river, “to preserve view corridors.”
Buildings that now enjoy river views over the existing interstate may see their vantage blocked by the new development, Cicilline acknowledged.
“Cities are growing, living organisms,” he said. “It’s going to require everyone to adjust.”
The bidding process is now beginning as the city, the R.I. Department of Transportation (RIDOT) and the R.I. Economic Development Corporation (RIEDC) seek a firm to market the new parcels in the development area. The three entities expect to select a contractor by August and then have a plan completed for marketing and permitting parcels by Dec. 31, said Providence Director of Planning and Development Thomas F. Deller.
The permitting process will include right of first refusal for the state, followed by the city, Deller said. Neither government entity is likely to move to build facilities on the new land, however, he added.
The process may be governed by a development corporation, modeled after the Capital Center Commission, Cicilline said. Existing city zoning will govern private development.
“We’re also looking at a variety of different models that might streamline the development and make it easier for developers and investors,” he said.
Cicilline said new waterfront commercial construction will be attractive to biotech, life sciences, biomedicine and financial-services companies, and may bring new company headquarters to Providence.
Selling the parcels of land turns out to be a relatively simple process since only about 5 percent of the acreage was taken by eminent domain when the highway was built in the 1950s. Those parcels may be subject to laws that give the original owner right of first refusal, Deller said.
“It hasn’t been a big deal because it’s so little land,” he said.
RIDOT project managers say the highway relocation itself is moving forward on schedule. The new Interstate 195 is scheduled to open to traffic from all four directions by the end of next year (see box).
According to Frank Corrao, deputy chief engineer at RIDOT, work on the highway relocation is now about 75-percent complete, not including the demolition work on the old I-195.
The next major milestone will be the opening of a new right-hand exit, connecting southbound traffic on Interstate 95 to eastbound I-195. That is expected to be complete by late fall.
The new exit will improve traffic flow by replacing a left-hand exit leading to the old I-195, Corrao said. “It eliminates people having to go from a low-speed lane to a high-speed lane to take an off-ramp.”
So far, the India Point Park footbridge is the only piece of the project that has been significantly delayed, Corrao said. Also known as the Fox Point footbridge, it connects the East Side to India Point Park, and was originally set to open by the end of last year. Officials now say the new, 50-foot-wide pedestrian bridge will be complete by late this summer or early fall.
Once the highway relocation is complete, contractors will begin demolishing the old interstate on both sides of the Providence river, and reconnecting streets through neighborhoods now bisected by the highway.
Private development will not begin until 2012, when that phase is finished. But work on two parks, connected by a footbridge across the river, is set to begin in 2010 or 2011.
In 2006, Boston firm Brown, Richardson and Rowe won a competition to design the 6-acre west-bank park and the 2-acre east-bank park. At the time, the company projected it would cost $3.6 million to build the west-side park, and $800,000 for the east-side park.
The dual-park design, dubbed “Fish Playground,” is currently in a schematic stage, said Nina Brown, a principal at Brown, Richardson and Rowe. The firm is hammering out a contract with the state and the city to complete the design work.
Brown said the final design will incorporate public comments offered after the firm won the initial design contract – including requests for more access from city streets, clearer views into the park from surrounding neighborhoods, and a park bike trail connected to the riverside bike trail.
“It was great to have a community process after we won the competition,” Brown said.
The most visible work now taking place is excavation of the Interstate 95 median, in preparation to shifting lanes to allow for the construction of new on- and off-ramps to I-195. So far, similar lane changes have allowed the RIDOT to maintain the same number of travel lanes on the interstate while construction work is under way, Corrao said.
Ramp closures have been relatively painless, he said. Iway project contracts specify contractors must build temporary access ramps before closing existing ramps. The May 23 closure of the Friendship Street on-ramp to I-195 east “worked out extremely well,” Corrao said, because the project already had in place a temporary ramp on Hoppin Street.
The next ramp to close will be the Broad Street ramp, this fall, officials said. That ramp is heavily used by drivers heading to the highway from Federal Hill and the Dunkin’ Donuts Center-Providence.
A temporary ramp at Blackstone Street will take its place until the completion of a permanent new on-ramp on Point Street.
If all goes as planned, some Providence residents may no longer have to drive at all. Cicilline said he hopes high-density development in the new riverfront area will support a light-rail public transit system, as outlined in the city’s 12-year Providence 2020 plan.
Under a new administration in Washington, D.C., more funding should be forthcoming to expand public transit, Cicilline said. Providence can be near the front of the line for those grants if it plans accordingly, he said.
“Ultimately, you should be able to live and work in Providence and not own an automobile,” Cicilline said. •
