Newport Transportation & Visitor’s Center

The original terminal was a painted tube steel structure with a fabric roofing system to resemble the white sailcloth seen on the yachts in Newport Harbor. This active transit hub built in 1988 was reaching the end of its useful life when Hurricane Sandy, the major storm event of 2012, inflicted severe damage to the fabric roofing and paved drop–off/pick–up area.

RI Public Transit Authority took the lead with the City of Newport and Discover Newport to assess the damage and develop a new vision for the transportation terminal. The transit hub provides essential services for public transit connections for Island residents to reach destinations throughout the state of Rhode Island. The terminal also provides rider service to the thousands of visitors accessing tour buses to local tourist destinations of interest during the hectic summer and fall tourist seasons.

The project was funded by 90-percent federal grant money secured with the assistance of Rhode Island’s Congressional Delegation, and with the local match provided by the City of Newport and Discover Newport. The federal funding was made available by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) through a grant program intended to not only repair transportation structures damaged by the storm but also make them more resilient to future severe weather events.