Construction on Thayer Street

Construction for the Thayer Street Improvement Project commenced the morning of Wednesday, September 27. Work focuses on sidewalk demolition and tree work, starting on the first block north of the RIPTA tunnel and continuing to move north, skipping the block containing the Brown Bookstore.

The City of Providence has finalized the funding for the City’s half of the cost of the Thayer Street Improvement Project, and construction commenced the week of September 25. Barring a spate of bad weather or other unforeseen complications, the project should be completed in this construction season with the exception of trees, which do better when planted in the spring. That means the Street should be looking good for the holidays! After value engineering aimed at containing the cost of the project within the $800,000 committed by Brown and the City, the project consists of the following improvements:

Accessibility for wheelchairs at intersections
Sidewalk repairs and grading corrections
Decorative banding of the crosswalks
New trees
Additional trash receptacles
New street signs

The one major element that had to be eliminated due to the cost was the addition of new decorative street lights, which by themselves represented nearly half the cost of the project before they were eliminated. While we were sad to see them go, there is a benefit to eliminating them: the 20-odd additional lampposts would have absorbed a fair amount of the already limited space on the Street's sidewalks. However, in future the Thayer Street District Management Authority has the power to undertake its own capital improvement project to install these lights if it so desires.

While the Thayer Street Improvement Project is being undertaken and paid for by Brown and the City, the Thayer Street District Management Authority Board ("TSDMA") has reviewed and approved the changes to the Plan, which has also been widely publicized and discussed over the last year at College Hill Neighborhood Association meetings, Brown Community Working Group meetings, Brown Campus Advisory Board meetings, Brown Institutional Master Plan public forums, special open meetings held by the TSDMA in May specifically to give any interested parties the opportunity to review and comment on the Plan, and TSDMA Board meetings. The project has its own professional project manager who is responsible for ensuring that owners', merchants' and patrons' concerns are addressed quickly and as satisfactorily as possible given the inevitable disruption that sidewalk and street construction causes in a retail area with heavy pedestrian and vehicle traffic. The TSDMA will be responsible for maintenance of the improvements and of the street in general going forward, and has a $60,000 annual budget to fund such upkeep, funded by the special assessment that the DMA is empowered by City ordinance to levy.

Thayer Street property owners received the final Tree Plan for a last check on tree placement. Check the Brown Bookstore windows for a Thayer Street Improvement Project display!