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(rshsdepot) Warwick, RI
From today's Providence Journal.
Bernie Wagenblast
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Airport train station revived
01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, August 22, 2007
By Cynthia Needham
Journal Staff Writer
A sky bridge with moving sidewalks will connect the proposed train station,
lower left, with the T.F. Green terminal.
WARWICK — The swath of land just west of the airport doesn’t look like much —
a tangle of weeds and fencing that swells around train tracks.
But officials say that’s about to change. The long-stalled plan to build a
transportation hub at T.F. Green Airport is again moving forward. State
Department of Transportation officials have reached a preliminary agreement with
Amtrak to allow MBTA commuter trains to connect Warwick to Boston.
Details of the agreement are not yet public, said DOT Deputy Director William
“Chuck” Alves. But the provisional deal clears the way for construction on
the $222.5-million facility, scheduled to start “any day now,” according to
the state Airport Corporation.
Beyond rail service, the six-story “intermodal” station will feature a
rental-car concourse and parking garage with spots for commuters traveling to
Boston. The facility will straddle the train tracks and connect to the T.F.
Green terminal by a 1,250-foot elevated sky bridge — longer than four football
fields — that will wind over Post Road. Original plans called for a “people
mover,” essentially a monorail, to shuttle passengers. That idea was later
scrapped in favor of moving sidewalks.
The new station is set to debut in the fall of 2009, said airport spokeswoman
Patti Goldstein.
But with a project better known for its delays than for any real progress,
the deadline question looms. First it was an inability to reach a deal with the
rental-car companies that slowed construction, then the need to secure more
financing. Last summer, nearly a decade after the hub was proposed, officials
gathered in the blazing July heat for a ceremonial groundbreaking on the
facility.
A year later, the dusty lot remains untouched. The latest snag was the
failure to reach an agreement with Amtrak — which owns the train tracks — to
allow Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority commuter rail trains from Boston
to continue service to Warwick and eventually, farther south to Wickford
Junction.
At an airport event earlier this month, Governor Carcieri announced, “I think
we’ve finally resolved the issues with the intermodal.”
While the project is indeed moving forward, Alves said it’s early yet to be
declaring victory. Terms of the agreement with Amtrak still need to be worked
out, including fee scales and schedules (commuter rail trains are tentatively
set to make eight round-trips to Boston per day on weekdays only).
Amtrak itself still has no plans to stop its high-speed Acela and Metroliner
trains at the airport. The state was unable to work out a deal to get Amtrak
to serve the station without adding at least $50 million in new tracks. But
state officials say they are still confident that the company will change its
mind down the line.
Preliminary construction on the new transportation center is expected to
begin in a matter of days, Goldstein said. First on the to-do list: the airport
will reconfigure the short-term parking lot slightly to build the foundation
for the sky bridge.
Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian, a frequent and vocal critic of the airport,
said he believes the inter-modal station will serve the city well. By moving
the rental-car lots to one centralized location, the companies will cut down on
traffic knots that crop up farther north on Post Road. Because the hub will
also serve as a Boston commuter station, the mayor said it will provide a
convenient resource for local residents and could bring new economic development
with the influx of commuters traveling to Warwick from Boston.
News of the intermodal progress comes as sister airport and chief competitor
Manchester-Boston Regional Airport has ramped up its transportation options.
Last fall, that airport started a free shuttle service from several
metropolitan Boston areas. Deputy Airport Director J. Brian O’Neill says the shuttle
program has been so successful, the airport is thinking of adding more
Boston-area stops later this year.
Then, this summer, New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch signed legislation
establishing a New Hampshire Rail Authority, which could eventually add passenger
rail service from Boston to the Manchester airport — a move that would no doubt
ratchet up competition for metro-area customers.
Ditching the car and the traffic in favor of a train en route to the airport
is an appealing option, Avedisian acknowledges, especially where Green is
concerned. “When you make it that convenient to take the train from the Route
128 park-and-ride to the Warwick station, get off the train, go up an
escalator, across moving sidewalks and down to the terminal, it’s a lot more effective
means of transportation than driving a car,” he said.
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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1595
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org