I agree, I'm skeptical that this relatively small amount of money will make much of a difference, and the goals described by Reed's office seem awfully lofty for "just" $27m. I look forward to additional info (and, ya know, actual progress).

This line:

> The city intends to use this funding to “advance engineering and systemic construction” of the Urban Trail Network in Providence.

Makes me think that this might be more about creating blueprints for the infrastructure more than actually building it. Like, coming up with the detailed engineering drawings for what a bike and pedestrian friendly section of urban residential street should look like, so the next time a street is being redone that uniform template can be applied. Then car/bike/pedestrian interaction will be predictable throughout the city, and therefore safer and more accessible. Much better than the mish mash of where a bike lane goes in relation to street parking, whether it's differentiated by paint or reflectors or curbing or just shared with cars, how car turn lane crossovers are handled, etc. Defining the Providence Way of handling those things seems like a good place to start.

But ultimately I don't know anything and can only hope this will be managed with some semblance of intelligence.