Rhode Island Roads - RI 146


RI 146, not MA 146.


RI 146 started out as a two-lane road between Providence and Worcester, MA. It then became a divided four-lane highway, and bit by bit over the years has either been bypassed or upgraded to full freeway for much of its length. The last two-lane section is about to be converted to a freeway-freeway interchange in Worcester at I-290, but parts of RI 146 are still open-access and have traffic lights. RI 146A and RI 246 are both older routings of 146, and they have their own pages (linked at bottom).


Photographed from RI 246, this is one of the last BGS's on RI 146 SB, and has seen better days. That should be I-195 East, and both of these exits are along I-95 South after RI 146 ends. I bet the greenout on top covers Providence Exits.


The DETOUR tag should be orange, but the shields should be white. Then, once you turn the corner, you see the difference between actual shields versus a newer generation of LGS shields. And this isn't even that great of an RI 246 shield - the font is too bold and may not even be the right one. (It's part of a newer generation as well.) Yes, RI 246 begins out of the middle of an exit ramp, which doesn't make it all that easy to get to/from depending on your direction of origin or destination.


An old alignment of the Louisquisset Pike heads north from the SB ramp to RI 116 WB. It is indeed rare for a road to begin on a cloverleaf ramp, but not unheard of. What's especially rare here is that the entrance to the road is dirt. While one may argue that there is not intended to be a right turn there, clearly it has been done many times and no signage has been erected to stop the practice.


Heading north up the old Pike. In the second photo you see a faint trace of center stripe.


Looking south - is that a dead end sign? If traffic isn't supposed to enter or leave via the cloverleaf ramp, RIDOT has to do a lot better job closing off that connection.


North of the supposed dead end, there are businesses with trucks, and then the road curves away from the old Pike alignment into Albion Rd.


Heading onto the C-D road for the RI 99, I-295, and RI 116 interchanges, and showing off some narrow shields and newly placed commas on RI 146 SB. There are C-D roads starting at RI 99 to the north, extending through the I-295 interchange to the RI 116 exit, because all three are spaced quite closely. You may be wondering why RI 146 is exiting itself; it's really not, because the sign is meant for the C-D road.


More old narrow shields, NB. Also, MA looks better than Ma., and the EXIT 1/4 MILE needs some help to look normal.


This guy's on the RI 99 NB offramp to Sayles Hill Rd. If it were done correctly, I'd be saying "these guys are."


Old signs on RI 146 north of RI 99 - you can see the businesses on either side of the roadway, along with the left-turn-only lane (something not commonly found on freeways). The last two are on opposite sides of the same gantry. The more I see in RI, the more button copy I find... these bring the total count of signs to eleven.


Closer shots of both sides of that middle photo.


After the only signals left on MA-RI 146, 146 goes back onto a freeway at this point. Again, I want to see MA instead of Ma., and I'd also like to see "Lane" instead of "Lanes" because there are only two total under this sign. At this point, both are the left lanes, both are the right lanes.


The first two traditional Woonsigns are on Social St. WB in Woonsocket, helping you stay on Social St. The third one is after Social turns into Main St., pointing across the Blackstone River at RI 122 and Court St. RI 146 signs will have traffic bear right on Carrington Ave. and take Park Ave. south to RI 146A, which then heads south to RI 146 in short order.


Pardon the graininess, but this is Greene St. at Park Ave., taking traffic from RI 104 out of the city onto Park Ave.


NB at and then turning to the end of School Street just south of the Massachusetts line. I really tried to help blot out the sun glare. Sorta. Minimally.

Into Massachusetts on 146
Onto I-95 from 146
Onto RI 246, old 146 south of I-295
Onto RI 146A, old 146 north of I-295
Onto I-295
Onto RI 116
To RI 126
To RI 5
To RI 102
To Woonsocket
Back to Rhode Island Roads
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