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huron9000 t1_j9jtmh1 wrote

Reply to comment by Markcharles3 in what providence should and could have been, minus the mountains by mzzy_ozborne

How would you improve the way the river was reconfigured?

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Markcharles3 t1_j9lj0gq wrote

I think there is a lot of lost opportunity along the promenade/ Kinsley St areas. There are things there now that are ok but just take a look at that Alco building, very uninspiring aside from the neon sign.
All the empty lots along the back of the mall that had some of the nicer spots of the River.
Listen, I can’t say I have the answers for it all but we really could have been inspiring. Take for example the plan to take the 6/10 connector area and essentially bury it to be underground and creat new green space, businesses and housing above. It would have connected the neighborhoods instead of a huge highway cutting it up. I’m sure you can still find the plans somewhere for it. It was pretty cool. Also, about 20 years there was talk of doing something similar between the Atwells Ave and 195 on-ramp on 95. Similar to the federal building in Fall River going over the highway, it would have covered the highway and created all new space to connect downtown with the west end. These are just some examples but there have been other great projects that slipped away

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huron9000 t1_j9m58nb wrote

I agree about the Promenade/Kinsley areas. But none of that has been reconfigured in the last 50 years, so I took your comment to refer to the 1990s era river-relocation project that created Waterplace Park etc.

As far as burying the 6/10 connector, that recent proposal was a pleasant fantasy. It failed for the same reasons that sunken highways across the nation remain uncovered: expense.

Unfortunately, decking over highways or rail lines in the United States is wildly expensive- mostly due not to actual technical costs, but to the cascade of bureaucratic regulatory costs, which have killed almost every project of this type since the big dig in Boston.

Fun fact: The 6/10 connector is now widely blamed for severing the connecting urban fabric between Federal Hill and Olneyville. In fact, that connection was severed decades before, by rail lines.

The highway paralleled those rail lines, and surely reinforced the separation. But it isn’t accurate to say that the 6/10 connector was what cut these neighborhoods apart. That had already been done by the railroad right of way, decades before.

Edit: typo

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GotenRocko t1_j9mp1cn wrote

Right I actually said the same thing about that 6/10 plan, how is it reconnecting anything when the rail line is still there. There's a reason that on the wrong side of the tracks is a saying that was from well before highways came about.

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