If a commuter rail stop were placed in Pawtucket, it could be used by more than 1,000 people every day by 2030, with about 75 percent of those travelers being new users of commuter rail.
That is the estimate presented to the public last month as part of the first phase of a federally funded feasibility study. City officials commissioned the $344,000 study to determine which, if either, of two proposed sites for the stop would best fit the use.
Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc., a Boston-based planning firm, has been examining the Pawtucket/Central Falls Station on Broad Street – a structure, straddling the boundary between the cities, that served as a rail depot before closing in 1959 – and the abandoned Providence & Worcester Railroad Co. rail yard on Pine Street.
The first phase of the study focused on whether placing a commuter rail stop in Pawtucket made sense. According to VHB Planning and Operations Manager David Wilcock, it appears that Pawtucket and Central Falls would benefit from the service.
The study projected about 1,100 daily commuters would use the service to and from Boston, with about one-quarter of them relocating from the South Attleboro and Providence stops.
The study also estimated the stop would have 250 to 550 riders utilizing the service to Providence. Another 150 to 170 people would use the service to T.F. Green Airport in Warwick, where an intermodal train station is being built.
One thing that remains undetermined is the cost of locating the stop in Pawtucket, Wilcock said. The city could make the necessary upgrades to either proposed site for about $25 million, including parking, platforms and general enhancements. But the cost of making the railroads in the area suitable for use is unknown.
The next phase of the study will evaluate both Pawtucket sites, attempting to determine which would better meet the requirements for a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority commuter rail station.
According to Wilcock, both sites have unique characteristics that will play a role.
The depot site, which is closer to downtown Pawtucket, would have about 25 percent of its users walking to it. The rail yard would have 10 percent of its riders coming by foot.
But unlike the depot site, the rail yard has room for ample parking. The depot probably would have to include a separate structure for parking, Wilcock said.
The use of either site may be contingent on the plans of the respective property owners.
The abandoned rail yard, owned by the P&W RR, is the site where Pawtucket Transfer Operations is proposing its trash transfer station, a plan that has drawn objections from a number of parties who fear it would stymie efforts to revitalize the city.
The former depot is being eyed for redevelopment as well, but that property’s owners may be more agreeable to any potential plans to locate a commuter rail stop at the site. Owned by Memphis-based SMPO Properties and a local partner, it is being considered for use as a retail complex, with as much as 45,000 square feet of space, as well as housing.
City Planner Michael Cassidy, who also heads the Pawtucket Redevelopment Agency, has in the past said the use of eminent domain may be necessary to move the project forward while SMPO continues a legal dispute over title to the property.
But Cassidy said last week that the developers are looking to re-establish the commuter rail at the site. “Now we just need to figure out if the development that they want to do can be done without impacting the commuter rail station,” he said.
