By Steve Klamkin WPRO News

A new, $40 million commuter rail station is in the works for Pawtucket and Central Falls, a few miles from the South Attleboro and Attleboro MBTA stations, whose parking lots are frequently filled with cars belonging to Rhode Islanders.

“We’ve got a preliminary design in hand, we’re going through the environmental permitting that we should be submitting in the next day or so, and we expect by the end of December that we’ll be putting out to bid a design and bid contract,” said Director Peter Alviti of the Rhode Island Department of Transportation.

“Hopefully it will be awarded in the winter and put the shovel in the ground by next spring,” said Alviti, who added construction should be completed by 2020.

He was joined by the mayors of Pawtucket and Central Falls, Congressman David Cicilline (D-RI1) and Lt. Gov. Daniel McKee to highlight a new sign heralding the work, at the corner of Goff Avenue and Pine Street, the scene of a roaring fire several years ago that destroyed an old mill building.

“Not only is it a good day for Pawtucket and Central Falls, but it’s a good day for Blackstone Valley and the State of Rhode Island,” said McKee at the brief ceremony in which he and the others posed for pictures.

Alviti and the local officials said they hope the station, to be built with a $13.1 million federal grant and another $3 million contribution by the two cities, will help spark economic renewal in the area.

“The breweries, the new housing and the mills, and how do we link Pawtucket and Central Falls to the rest of the state and beyond,” are questions that local officials will have several years to consider, said Jan Brodie, Executive Director of the Pawtucket Foundation, which describes itself as a representative of the business and not-for-profit sector in Pawtucket.