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Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence will be expanding and improving over the next few years. And what they have planned sounds exciting.

After voters in Rhode Island approved a $15 million bond last fall for improvements for

They plan to have the Rainforest Exhibit open by spring 2017

Roger Williams Park Zoo, they got to work on their master plan. Now the board of trustees say a 20-year plan that will be rolled out in three phases will get underway next spring.

According to NBC 10, the first phase will be a $10 million Amazon Rainforest Exhibit that will feature birds, primates, small cats, and “a lot of neat animals you won't see anywhere else.” They plan to have the Rainforest Exhibit open by spring 2017.

While that is going on they also plan to expand the Education Center and the Reptile Exhibit.

Phases two and three are a bit further off but will include a new grand welcoming entrance, expanded parking, tigers and grizzly bears. Those phases will be worked on over the next 14 years.

The hope is to have over one million people visiting the zoo per year

The hope is to have over one million people visiting the zoo per year after phase one is completed. The entire first phase won't be done until  2022, which would mark the 150th anniversary of Roger Williams Park Zoo (one of the oldest zoos in the nation by the way).

Each phase will cost nearly $25 million, which is more than accounted for with bond money.

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