Photo courtesy of RIDOT

According to the state transportation department, the R.I. 146 Reconstruction Project is scheduled to finish in 2026.

The critical Rhode Island Highway 146 renovation project that originally began in 2022 is progressing nicely, state officials have reported, with recently installed center posts and beams now clearly revealing how far the roadway will be raised to allow Sayles Hill Road to pass underneath.

In the last full week of January, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) closed lanes overnight to install three long beams onto the brick structures that will support the future bridge at the major intersection in North Smithfield.

Approximately $65 million of the project's $196 million cost is being funded by a U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) INFRA Grant, due to the efforts of Rhode Island's Congressional delegation.

More than 171,000 vehicles travel R.I. 146 between Providence and Worcester each day, the Valley Breeze, a weekly news publication in Lincoln, R.I., noted Jan. 29.

Charles St. Martin, RIDOT's chief of public affairs, told the Breeze that the project is moving ahead on time and on budget, and the installation of the beams will help the state agency continue construction through the remainder of the cold New England winter.

"When finished, it will help ease chronic congestion, travel delays, and motor vehicle accidents at the intersection," he said.

Currently, the intersection at Sayles Hill Road sees about 85 crashes per year and also has been the site of many pedestrian deaths.

The only signalized intersection on R.I. 146 is at Sayles Hill Road. St. Martin explained that when the project is completed, pedestrians will be able to walk alongside the road and under the new highway overpass from one side to the other.

Critical Rhode Island Highway Rehab Long Overdue

Prior to the beginning of the construction at the site, RIDOT noted on its website that the highway is "a critical transportation route that has gone unimproved for far too long."

Other highlights of the effort besides the R.I. 146 bridge over Sayles Hill Road include:

• Preserving or rehabilitating four other bridges along the corridor.
• Building frontage roads for easy and safe access to businesses at the Sayles Hill Road interchange.
• Repaving R.I. 146, deemed to be in poor condition, from the Interstate 295 interchange north to the Massachusetts state line, a distance of 8 mi.
• Adding bus-on-shoulder accommodations along the southern end of the highway in North Providence and Providence.
• Rebuilding the R.I. 146/R.I. 146A interchange and removing dangerous U-turns by replacing it with a diverging diamond interchange (DDI).
• Extending the weave length for the R.I. Highway 99 ramp at R.I. 146 southbound.
• Improving the geometry of the I-295 southbound off-ramp to R.I. 146.
• Installing new drainage systems.
• Replacing guardrails and making other safety improvements such as wrong way driving detection systems.
• Extending existing fiber optic lines and Intelligent Transportation Systems/traffic monitoring from the I-295 interchange to the Massachusetts state line.

According to the state transportation department, the R.I. 146 Reconstruction Project is scheduled to finish in 2026.

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