subway/rapid transit line between Pawtucket and TF Green Airport (Providence: construction, contractors)

[Urban Peasant]

There is already a similar post in this forum talking about high speed trains but I thought I would like to propose a similar but simpler idea. After visiting Providence and vicinity four times the past year and reading about the congestion surrounding the Kennedy Bus Terminal, I thought up the idea of a rapid transit/subway line that would run from Pawtucket (or preferrably Valley Falls) right through downtown Providence, past Roger Williams Park, and to TF Green Airport. It would service nearly all the major business and tourist areas of metro Providence and local buses and bikepaths would feed into it. Also, since it would be the first rapid transit line outside of metro Boston, I am sure it will attract great fanfare.

Why hasn't the State of Rhode Island done something like this if they already realize that metro Providence has traffic issues. Is there not enough funding available? Would it be a project that many people would support? Or is Providence just too small a place to sustain a rapid transit line?

[Jimrob1]

I agree that would be a nice mode of transportation. Im originally from the region, well the Mass side anyway. I know RIPTA the regional bus company has never been very efficient and has had numerous budget cuts thru the years.

If such a venture were to ever take place, it would I imagine have to be subsidzed by both Federal and State tax dollars. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that to happen. I don't really think that Providence is a big enough city/ metro area to support such an undertaking. Again, I agree it would certainly be nice.

[urbie]

Phoenix put in something recently. I think it cost roughly a billion dollars a mile. No way have we got that kind of money.

All of these pie-in-the-sky ideas about bringing back trolleys, putting in high-speed rail, and so on, are all well and good -- but neither the money nor the political initiative is there, nor will it be there at any time in the foreseeable future.

[Jimrob1]

Originally Posted by urbie

Phoenix put in something recently. I think it cost roughly a billion dollars a mile. No way have we got that kind of money.

All of these pie-in-the-sky ideas about bringing back trolleys, putting in high-speed rail, and so on, are all well and good -- but neither the money nor the political initiative is there, nor will it be there at any time in the foreseeable future.

Yep that is all true, Unfortunately the gridlock and the severe stress of driving in such a mess of congestion isn't much of an option either. I think we have to do something in any populated areas. Every year there are more and more cars, and the roads just can't handle all of this traffic. Even if more and more roads were built it wouldn't make much of a dent in the mess. After all only so many roads could be built in the first place, unless every inch of ground was covered with them.

[Urban Peasant]

I just don't get it though. A billion dollars a mile! Public works projects really shouldn't be so expensive as to be impossible to afford. Toronto, Ontario's latest rapid transit line, the Shepard Subway, met disaster when funding was cut and it is now a subway to nowhere and Toronto is considered a big city by most standards. New York has forever wanted to build the 2nd Avenue Subway but has never gotten the money for it. Even Boston, my hometown, has grandiose plans to extend our existing rapid transit system but those plans often go nowhere. Our city leaders are forever touting "bus rapid transit" when they know that such an idea doesn't work well in our already congested streets.

There was a time when there weren't that many complaints about building subway lines. In fact, there was a time in our history that people looked down on subway construction and yet they were built anyway in spite of any costs. I really wonder what is the cause of all these expenses. Are workers getting paid too high wages? Are contractors getting too greedy? Are unions or government? Or is the price tag just overblown simply because not enough people are willing to shell out taxpayer money for a noble cause?