Interstate 895 (Rhode Island – Massachusetts)

Interstate 895 was a proposed Interstate Highway in Rhode Island and Massachusetts that would have supplemented Interstate 295 to create a full beltway around Providence.

History

Interstate 895 was officially added to the Interstate System in 1968 and officially deleted in 1982. Throughout the planning process, there were two different routes proposed, the second of which only being proposed after the first route met with considerable opposition from residents in Warwick and Barrington.

Original route

The original route for Interstate 895 was the shorter of the two routes and would have stayed completely within the Providence metro area.

Interstate 895's southern terminus would have been at the present-day Route 37/Interstate 295 interchange in Cranston. From that point, it would have used the current RI 37 freeway, which would have been extended past its current eastern terminus with U.S. Route 1, through Cranston and Warwick to Conimicut Point where it would have used a new bridge over Narragansett Bay to reach Barrington. The Highway would have proceeded east through Barrington along Nayatt Road then turned northeast in the vicinity of Rumstick Road along Route 114, Rhode Island Route 136 and Massachusetts Route 136 to interchange with Interstate 195 near Exit 2 in Swansea, Massachusetts. From there it would have proceeded north and west, roughly along Route 118 to end at the Interstate 295/Interstate 95 interchange in Attleboro, Massachusetts.

Alternate route

Interstate 895's alternate route was planned after the original route was cancelled due to community opposition. The alternate route would have been far longer than the original, but would have provided access to Newport.

The route would have started at the Route 138/Interstate 95 interchange in Richmond where it would have headed to U.S. Route 1 via a never-built freeway. At U.S. Route 1, that freeway would have connected to, and traveled along, the present-day Route 138 freeway over the Jamestown-Verrazano Bridge and the Newport Pell Bridge to Newport. From the Newport Pell Bridge, it would have traveled north through Aquidneck Island using one of two possible alignments. One alignment was directly along the west shore of the island and the second alignment was between Route 114 and Route 138. At the northern end of Aquidneck Island, the highway would have proceeded over the Mount Hope Bridge (a new span would have been built next to the existing span to accommodate southbound traffic), then along Route 136 through Bristol and Warren, and into Massachusetts along Route 136 to interchange with Interstate 195 near Exit 2 in Swansea, Massachusetts. From there it would have proceeded north and west, roughly along Route 118 to end at the Interstate 295/Interstate 95 interchange in Attleboro, Massachusetts.

This route was also met with much opposition from residents in the communities affected. This opposition, combined with the discovery of a Civil War-era cemetery along one of the proposed Aquidneck Island alignments, caused Rhode Island and Massachusetts to briefly consider putting Interstate 895 along Rhode Island Route 24 and Massachusetts Route 24, though nothing ever came of those plans and eventually all plans for Interstate 895 were abandoned.

Existing pieces

The Interstate 295/Interstate 95 interchange in Attleboro, Massachusetts is a half-cloverleaf with space left for connector ramps to Interstate 895. Current plans indicate an Attleboro connector in the near future.

The obvious stub ramps of the partially completed Newport Bridge Access Road in northern Newport (originally intended to terminate at Route 214 in Middletown) would have provided connections for the never-built part of Interstate 895 through Newport. One of these stubs now connects to a nearby Best Western hotel.

The interchange with U.S. Route 1 at end of the Route 138 freeway was a half-cloverleaf with space left for connector ramps to the never-built section of freeway between U.S. Route 1 and Interstate 95. In the summer of 2008, the rest of the cloverleaf was completed for u-turns on US-1.

External links

• I-895 on Kurumi.com
• Steve Anderson's BostonRoads.com: I-895 (Rhode Island, unbuilt)
• Steve Anderson's BostonRoads.com: I-895 (Massachusetts, unbuilt)