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

VISION Concepts
HOW DO I EXPERIENCE THE RIVER
PROJECT 4 : ENJOY THE RIVERWAY
Riverway goals
Help people get to the river
Offer a beautiful place to get exercise
Protect the river’s natural resources
Encourage appropriate development
Riverway components
Links existing public green spaces
Create view spots and corridors
Adds to tree canopy
Links City to planned BV Bikeway
Defines BV Bikeway parking areas
The Blackstone Valley River is the heart of downtown Pawtucket and its
greatest natural resource for natural habitat, public space and private
development. Always an important place, the Pawtucket Falls were an
important Native American fishing and crossing point. For colonial Europeans,
the water was first resource for living and then for power as industrialization
harnessed the potential energy of the falls and Pawtucket became the
birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution. The placement of Slater Mill,
followed by mills of many types over the next hundred years, was key in the
development of the city and the Blackstone Valley region.
Eventually, industry changed, out grew its small-scale facilities, and abandoned
the Pawtucket downtown area. Because there had been few or no industrial
regulations, the river became the most polluted river in the United States,
destroying fish, wildlife and plant ecosystems. Eventually, development along
the river was abandoned as it was a dangerous flow of toxins and decay.
In the mid 20th century, public efforts began to bring the river back to health.
In the 1970s, the Zap the Blackstone initiative and Environmental Protection
Agency regulations started programs to revitalize the water quality and natural
health of the river region. Over the past few decades, the river has increasingly
become safe and renewed and it is anticipated to hit key water quality
milestones in the coming decade increasing the potential of public access.
In the future of downtown Pawtucket, the river will be a crucial place for
recreation, healthy ecosystems, transportation, economic growth, and
residential use. The existing surviving mill buildings have already become
places for adaptive reuse and new neighborhood growth. These are
sustainable housing types and help increase the city’s tax base.
The next infrastructure investment will be the Blackstone Valley Bikeway
which will be built through the downtown area. The PDDP team recognizes
the potential to leverage this effort into a larger network of public spaces that
link existing properties from downtown north to Central Falls and south along
both sides of the river to the Festival Pier, Town Landing, East Providence and
Providence.
These linked spaces form the proposed Riverway-- it would include publicly
owned land for recreation or development that includes public space.
Currently the spaces along the river are either highly urban and built or leftover
wild spaces that neither function as healthy ecological spaces nor as functional
public recreation areas. If these spaces are tied together, the network could
become an emerald necklace of natural beauty for healthy living.
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PDDP VISION