NORTH SMITHFIELD – The Rhode Island Department of Transportation hit a new landmark in the project to install a bridge to carry travelers along Route 146 over Sayles Hill Road this week, installing three long steel beams at the busy intersection.
The flyover bridge will allow travelers on the highway to bypass the intersection, easing congestion for the roughly 171,000 vehicles that travel the route between Providence and Worcester daily. The intersection currently sees more than 85 accidents each year, and has the only traffic light along the highway in Rhode Island.
RIDOT closed lanes on the highway over the weekend and placed the new beams.
The bridge work is part of a $196 million project to improve the Route 146 corridor that began in 2022.
“Route 146 a critical transportation route that has gone unimproved for far too long,” the agency notes in the project highlights.
The improvements also include replacing multiple bridges, repaving 8 miles of roadway and correcting numerous safety and congestion problems. Construction is expected to be finished in 2026.
https://www.dot.ri.gov/projects/Route146/
This is a great resource to check out the project.
Looks narrow. Hoping they are making this 4 lanes (2 each direction) as shown in the original design image.
I’m sure they are, they can’t take away any lanes yet without opening new ones for traffic reasons.