Officials from the state of Rhode Island gathered this week to highlight the much-needed improvements to Route 146 made possible by a $65 million INFRA grant secured this summer by the state's Congressional delegation.
The estimated $150 million project will replace multiple bridges along the Route 146 corridor, repave 8 miles of roadway, and correct numerous safety and congestion problems—including at the Sayles Hill Road interchange where today's event took place.
The Rhode Island DOT's (RIDOT) project will remove the traffic signal where Route 146 meets Sayles Hill Road and build a bridge so the highway can pass freely over Sayles Hill Road. This intersection averages more than 85 crashes per year and is a source of significant congestion and travel delay. It is the only signalized intersection on the entire Route 146 highway corridor in Rhode Island.
"Today, we are announcing the start of relief for the 170,000 vehicles that navigate the bumps and ruts of Route 146 every day. Help is on the way. This is a critical transportation route that has gone unimproved for far too long," RIDOT Director Peter Alviti Jr. said in a statement.
Other highlights of the project include replacing two bridges along the corridor and doing preservation work on four others; building frontage roads for easy and safe access to businesses at the Sayles Hill Road interchange; repaving Route 146 from the I-295 interchange to the Massachusetts state line Adding bus-on-shoulder accommodations along the southern end of Route 146 in North Providence and Providence; extending existing fiber optic lines and Intelligent Transportation Systems/traffic monitoring from the I-295 interchange to the Massachusetts state line; rebuilding the Route 146/Route 146A interchange, removing dangerous U-turns using a diverging diamond interchange; extending the weave length for the Route 99 Ramp and Route 146 south Improving the geometry of the I-295 southbound off-ramp to Route 146; building new drainage systems; replacing guardrail and making other safety improvements such as wrong way driving detection systems.
More than 171,000 vehicles travel Route 146 between Providence and Worcester each day.
Design work is well underway and RIDOT anticipates advertising for construction in late 2021 with construction starting in spring 2022. Construction on the entire project will be complete in 2025.
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SOURCE: Rhode Island DOT
