Rhode Island Route 1A

Route 1A is a numbered state highway in Rhode Island, running 34.4 miles (55.4 km) in five sections.

Route

Route 1A follows U.S. 1 closely through South County. It can be separated into five sections:

• The first section (8.8 miles in length) begins as US-1 crosses the Pawcatuck River into Westerly, Rhode Island. From US-1, it turns south along Main St, before bearing left onto Beach Street. It then turns south onto Watch Hill Road before turning south and east along Shore Road, until Shore Road meets Post Road not far from the Charlestown town line. Many maps incorrectly post the entire length of Watch Hill Road west of Shore Road as Route 1A. The road serves as a beach bypass, coming close to Misquamicut State Beach, East Beach, Atlantic Beach and Watch Hill.

• The second section (1.3 miles in length) follows the Old Post Road route in Charlestown past Ninigret State Park before merging back (briefly) with US-1.

• The third section (3.1 miles in length) begins less than seven hundred feet after RI-1A becomes concurrent with US-1. It again follows Old Post Road through Charlestown and into South Kingstown before re-merging with US-1. It serves again as a beach traffic bypass, granting access to the roads to East Beach State Beach, Charlestown Town Beach and Green Hill Beach.

• The fourth section (2.4 miles in length) follows Post Road again, north of US-1. The route, while bypassing the busier US-1, is little more than a residential road. It is also the only segment which is actually north of US-1.

After the fourth section, RI-1A is concurrent with US-1 for over five miles (8 km) through South Kingstown and a short portion of Narragansett. It unofficially leaves the route and re-emerges at the Narragansett rotary.

• The fifth section (12.7 miles in length) begins at the Narragansett roatary. It follows Kingstown Road to Beach Street at the Narragansett Town Beach, not far from the famous Coast Guard House. It then turns onto Boston Neck Road, crossing the Pettaquamscott River and heading into Narragansett's business district. It then crosses into the Saunderstown neighborhood of North Kingstown, before passing over Rhode Island Route 138 just west of the Jamestown-Verrazano Bridge. It heads north for another 3.3 miles (5.3 km) before crossing a branch of Wickford Harbor and turning right onto Brown Street, before turning left onto West Main Street and terminating, one half-mile west, at US-1.

History

At various points in time, every segment of Route 1A except the one in Westerly served as part of U.S. 1 (historically the Lower Boston Post Road). The Route 1A designation came after the U.S. 1 designation was moved to a different alignment.

Before that, Route 1A existed on an alignment that is now roughly Route 3.

The 19.0-mile (30.6 km) piece from old U.S. 1 in downtown Wakefield to current US 1 near Wickford, now most of section 5 above, was once Route 1B. It was renumbered to Route 1A by 1934.

Notes

Many of the signs on Route 1A replace the 'R.I.' in the shield with the word 'SCENIC', and use green for the 'SCENIC' and often the '1A'.

Route 1A should not be confused with US 1A. In Rhode Island, Route 1A exists in segments between Westerly and North Kingstown. The segment north of North Kingstown, which begins in Warwick, is designated as US 1A. Not helping matters is the presence of incorrect signs on both routes, marking Route 1A as US 1A and US 1A as Route 1A.

In southern Rhode Island, much of U.S. 1 consists of a divided highway with no direct access across; cross traffic must turn right and use a U-turn ramp in the median. Several of the sections of Route 1A end at US 1 in this manner; the northernmost one crosses US 1 like this. Both of these cases can be considered short concurrencies.