Apponaug Circulator
WDA Design Group provided comprehensive streetscape and landscape design services for the Apponaug Circulator, a large-scale roadway and streetscape reconstruction project located in the Apponaug Village section of Warwick, RI. The project goal aimed to create a significant reduction of vehicular traffic on the portion of Post Road that passes through the civic core of Warwick by by-passing it onto an extended Veteran's Memorial Drive towards Route 2, extending the roadway corridor through the site of a former mill complex, relocating a portion of the Apponaug River, and introducing a series of five roundabouts throughout the village in place of existing signalized intersections.
WDA worked closely with the State, the City and the Apponaug community to develop a vision for the Village that fosters a strong sense of community identity while also implementing important traffic and pedestrian safety measures. The reduction of traffic volume through the heart of the Village is seen by the City as a key to the revitalization and redevelopment of the Village. Through numerous meetings and design charettes with members of the City Planning office, the City Landscape office, and the Apponaug Area Improvement Association, WDA created a series of measures that fundamentally altered the previous Apponaug streetscape, transforming it into a series of discrete landscapes that contain both unifying design elements as well as unique community identity markers. The community felt strongly that each of the five new roundabouts that were created as part of the roadway improvements should carry a theme that reflects the rich cultural history of the Village. Based on the communities’ input, a series of landscape treatments were developed for the roundabouts that subtly reference the Villages’ maritime and industrial history, while acknowledging the impact of the historic architecture along the civic core of Post Road.
Along the newly redesigned streetscapes, WDA worked with the Association to develop a core design vocabulary which included street trees, wider sidewalks, bike lanes, specialty pavements, specialty period lighting, a “kit of parts” streetscape furnishings package, and custom-designed steel planters for areas where street trees cannot be planted. As an overall deign approach, WDA employed a series of context sensitive solutions in response to the diverse urban roadway edge conditions, and the fundamental core of our original proposal- to create an "urban forest" within the heart of the City- was met with enthusiastic approval by the Village community and the entire City.
DETAILS
Location: Warwick, Rhode Island
Client: RIDOT and City of Warwick
Completion Date: 2017
PROJECT TEAM
WDA Design Group
Michael Dowhan - Principal in Charge
Erik Vangsness - Project Manager
Gordon R. Archibald, Inc., Coordinating Consultant
Antonio P. Franco, Lighting Consultant
SERVICES PROVIDED
Landscape Architecture
