India Point Park

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India Point Park is a park in the Fox Point neighborhood of Providence, Rhode Island that abuts the Seekonk River. The park takes its name from the maritime activity connecting Providence with the East and West Indies.^[1]

In the 1960s, declines in the area's use for shipping lead to its being redeveloped as recreational space.

Local architectural historian W^m McKenzie Woodward notes^[2] that the construction of Interstate 195 isolates the park from the rest of the East Side, which he believes is an effect poorly mitigated by the pedestrian walkway. Consequently, more space than might be desired is reserved for parking since the park is mostly reached by car. This will hopefully be remedied by the new pedestrian bridge under construction now with the relocation of the highway.^[3]

Through the late fall of 2007 and winter of 2008, RIDOT continued work on the replacement bridge, to be called the India Point Park Pedestrian Bridge. The bridge was scheduled to open in September 2007, but efforts to save a large caliper tree on the Fox Point side and more complicated than expected construction on the India Point Park side has pushed the opening to mid 2008. [1]

The new pedestrian bridge will be five times wider than the one it replaced. It will feature benches, decorative lighting and landscaping of flowers, shrubs and small trees on the bridge itself as well as on a stair and ramp system on the India Point Park side. RIDOT has a web site listing computer renderings of the new bridge, as well as animations of the project. [2]

[edit] References

^ About the Park. Friends of India Point Park. Retrieved on 2007-01-03.
^ Woodward, William McKenzie (2003). PPS/AIAri Guide to Providence Architecture. Providence, RI: Providence Preservation Society, 143–144. ISBN 0-9742847-0-X.
^ RIDOT to Close Fox Point Pedestrian Bridge to Prepare for Replacement Project. Rhode Island Department of Transportation (2005-09-08). Retrieved on 2007-01-03.