Rhode Island’s Pawtucket-Central Falls Station Launches Service
Written by Kyra Senese, Managing Editor
Rhode Island’s new Pawtucket-Central Falls Station opened for service on Jan. 23.
RIDOT
The new Pawtucket-Central Falls Transit Center opened for service on Jan. 23.
The new transit center is the result of more than a decade of collaboration between state and local officials, transit, bus and railroad stakeholders, according to the Rhode Island Department of Transportation.
In an emerging area of transit-oriented economic development in Pawtucket and Central Falls, RIDOT said the new station will provide a robust combination of commuter rail and bus service.
The center will allow commuters to easily switch modes of transportation between commuter rail operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority’s statewide bus network.
The Pawtucket-Central Falls Transit Center’s opening marks the culmination of years of planning and completion of a $63 million design-build project initiated by RIDOT in 2018, officials said.
More than two-thirds of the project’s cost, about $43 million, was covered by federal funds, a release said. This includes a $13.1 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant and a $7 million Bus and Facilities Grant from the Federal Transit Administration, as well as $20 million in funding from the FTA’s Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program.
The station, intermodal connectivity, and pedestrian access will not only help catalyze transit-oriented development, but RIDOT said the improvements will also pave the way for higher levels of future transit share for commuters and workers at the site.
The Pawtucket-Central Falls station will supplement the MBTA’s three other stations—Providence, T.F. Green, and Wickford Junction—with numerous stops in Massachusetts along the route to the South Station in Boston, a release said. The MBTA will make 40 weekday stops and 18 weekend stops at the new station.
