Rhode Island’s Compact Size Could Drive Transportation Reboot

  • Date: 02/03/2021

Rhode Island’s small size — about 1,200 square miles compared to Massachusetts at about 10,500 — provides it with a unique opportunity to move people around more efficiently. Nearly 80 percent of the state’s population already lives within a 10-minute walk of a transit stop, according to John Flaherty, deputy director of Grow Smart Rhode Island.

“If we get serious about it, public transit can be popular,” he said. “It’s a reflection of our values.”

This transformation begins at home. The Ocean State doesn’t need to wait for 10 other states to embrace a regional collaborative that relies too heavily on electric cars to improve its own public transit system and to make its communities more bicycle and pedestrian friendly, like what is being planned for South Kingstown and Providence and what has been done in Central Falls.

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