The East Side Trolley Tunnel, also known as the East Side Transit Tunnel or the College Hill Tunnel, is a bi-directional tunnel in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...

, originally built for trolley use in 1914, and now used for public transit buses. The East Side Trolley Tunnel could be considered the first

bus rapid transit Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...

link in North America, because of its exclusive and continuous bus use since 1948.

Description

The tunnel runs for under College Hill on Providence's East Side, with its east portal at Thayer Street, the busy commercial district near

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

, leading to its west portal at North Main Street near the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...

. It provides a gentler 4% to 5% grade compared to the steeper 10% grade of the city streets above it, while also allowing public-transit vehicles to bypass traffic and stoplights. The tunnel traverses a drop in elevation from its east portal to its west portal. The tunnel is reserved exclusively for buses—currently the

RIPTA The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) provides public transportation, primarily buses, in the state of Rhode Island. The main hub of the RIPTA system is Kennedy Plaza, a large bus terminal in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. In ...

routes 1, 32, 33, 34, 40, 49, and 61. Police and Fire Department vehicles also may make use of the tunnel. The facility carries around 4,500 riders daily (almost 10% of RIPTA ridership), via approximately 1,680 buses per week. The Thayer Street stop is the 6th-busiest of the 4,000 stops in the statewide RIPTA system. The tunnel allows faster transit access from College Hill to

Downtown Providence Downtown is the central economic, political, and cultural district of the city of Providence, Rhode Island. It is bounded on the east by Canal Street and the Providence River, to the north by Smith Street, to the west by Interstate 95, and to th ...

and the RIPTA transit hub at Kennedy Plaza. Despite signs explicitly forbidding trespassing or use of

skateboard A skateboard is a type of sports equipment used for skateboarding. They are usually made of a specially designed 7-8 ply maple plywood deck and polyurethane wheels attached to the underside by a pair of skateboarding trucks. The skateboarder ...

s in the tunnel, fast skateboarding through the tunnel is fairly common. Auto parts salesmen, couriers, and other delivery personnel have been known to "shoot the tunnel" to avoid traffic congestion, though risking a substantial traffic fine.

History

Prior to the construction of the Trolley Tunnel, the steepness of the streets climbing College Hill led to the 1888 construction of a cable-car line by the

Providence Cable Tramway Company The Providence Cable Tramway Company built and operated a cable car line in Providence, Rhode Island. It was incorporated in 1884 and eventually absorbed into the Union Railroad. Construction began in late 1888 and revenue service began on Januar ...

, the only such system ever to be built in New England. The west portal of the tunnel was built directly under the Waterman Building (1893), the original classroom and museum gallery structure of the

. Extensive and complex construction methods were required to support the building as the tunnel was bored underneath it. In 1948 the tracks were removed, and the tunnel was paved for use by buses and trackless trolleys. The tunnel was used by two trackless trolley routes, Elmgrove Avenue and Hope Street, from fall 1948 to fall 1953. The trackless trolley system in Providence was dismantled in the mid-1950s, the last route closing on June 24, 1955. In 2018, US Senator Jack Reed (RI-D) toured the tunnel with

officials, and announced a $903,000 federal grant for planning repairs and improvements to the heavily-used transit structure.

Gallery

The Waterman Building (1893) of the

is visible directly above the west portal openings. File:No cable-cars on College Hill.jpg, Illustration of the west portal (c.1914) File:WHERE THE "JITNEYS" DO NOT RUN.jpg, Photograph of the west portal (1915) File:Providence20June071914ShelterTunnel.jpg, West portal on North Main Street (2007) File:Providence20June071914Date.jpg, Tile on the tunnel's west portal marks year of opening

References

{{commons category Bus rapid transit in Rhode Island Railroad tunnels in Rhode Island Transportation in Providence, Rhode Island Buildings and structures in Providence, Rhode Island Tunnels completed in 1914 Rhode Island Public Transit Authority Transportation buildings and structures in Providence County, Rhode Island