PAWTUCKET DOWNTOWN DESIGN PLAN FINAL ... - VHB.com

VISION Concepts
HOW DO I MOVE AROUND DOWNTOWN PAWTUCKET
CONCEPT 2 : TAKE THE EXCHANGE
Exchange goals
Find alternative transportation easily
Make it safe to ride a bike
Help kids get to school
Add trees and beauty to Downtown
Exchange components
Intersection diets
Bicycle lanes
Sustainable plantings & trees
RIPTA bus focus
Specific RIPTA bus shelters
Improved crossing at Tolman HS
Normalize intersections
Exchange Street has historically been a linkage between the river and the rail
line and later to the interstate highway. The original train station was located at
Montgomery and Exchange Streets before the rail line was moved farther west
towards Goff with the station moving north towards Barton and Broad Streets.
Exchange is one of the best linkages between the what is anticipated to be
the new commuter rail stop station and the Blackstone River. It is a wide street
with many trees that function now as a clear way to move around the center
of downtown. It is one of the only two-way boulevards in Pawtucket and the
only one near downtown (Park Place, while wide, does not allow clear two-way
travel),
The Exchange Project is intended to establish the importance of multiple forms
of transit and make finding, accessing and crossing between them easy. With
the introduction of the RIPTA rapid bus system that will efficiently connect
downtown Pawtucket with downtown Providence, this is an opportunity for the
city to capitalize on statewide investment. There are also numerous bus lines
that currently move through downtown, many of which run along Exchange
Street, Roosevelt Avenue and HIgh Street.
The Exchange project looks to reinforce the “boulevard” and traffic calming
nature of Exchange Street by reducing automobile travel lanes, increasing
on street parking, adding bicycle lanes, increasing the number of trees and
plantings, coordinating with new RIPTA bus shelters and generally making
pedestrian travel safer by having short crosswalk distances at intersections and
better coordinated signals. The bicycle paths also are designed to form two
“circulator” loops around downtown playing on the legacy of Pawtucket’s much
derided traffic circulator and connecting the two high schools, the Blackstone
Academy and an elementary school along with McCoy Stadium, home of the
PawSox, and three other neighborhood schools with downtown. Students
often use the bus system after school as well, so this makes it safer and easier
for students to access public transportation. Connecting the schools with the
bicycle loops also encourages students to ride their bikes, decreasing early
morning and afternoon pickup and drop off traffic on Exchange Street and East
Avenue and increasing their physical fitness.
Adding bicycle lanes in to an area that currently does not have them is a
difficult investment since having designated bicycle riding space is mostly
effective if it is part of a larger system. In this case, as loops bisected by the
coming Blackstone Valley Bikeway, they are self-contained system that can be
expanded upon through future efforts.
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PDDP VISION