Massachusetts Route 146

Route 146 marker

Route 146

Map of Worcester County in central Massachusetts with Route 146 highlighted in red
Route information
Length: 20.9901 mi[1] (33.7803 km)
Major junctions
South end: Route 146 in North Smithfield, RI
  Route 146A / Route 16 in Uxbridge
Route 122A in Millbury / Worcester
I90 / Mass Pike / US 20 in Millbury
I290 in Worcester
North end: Quinsigamond Ave. / Cambridge St. / Millbury St. in Worcester
Location
Counties: Worcester
Highway system
Route 145Route 147

Route 146 is a high-speed road, mostly freeway, linking Rhode Island Route 146 (the North Smithfield Expressway towards Providence, Rhode Island) to I-290 in Worcester, Massachusetts. South of the interchange with Route 122A, Route 146 is known as the Worcester-Providence Turnpike.

History

During the late 1940s, the Massachusetts Department of Public Works (MassDPW) planned an extension of Route 146 from Rhode Island north toward Worcester. MA 146 was built between 1949 and 1952 as a four-lane divided roadway from US 20 in Millbury to Boston Road in Sutton and from Sutton south to the Massachusetts-Rhode Island border, Route 146 was built as a three-lane undivided roadway, providing one lane in each direction and a shared lane in the center.

In 1981 the MassDPW began work on rebuilding Route 146. During the next three years, the state rebuilt the 13.1-mile-long section from just south of Boston Road in Sutton to the Massachusetts-Rhode Island border, replacing the three-lane undivided section with a four-lane freeway and eliminating all at-grade intersections and curb cuts.

The project upgrading the section linking Exit 10A on the Massachusetts Turnpike north into downtown Worcester at Brosnihan Square to Interstate Highway standards was completed in November 2007 according to the State Highway Administration. The improvements to the road created an economic boon to the Blackstone Valley through which it passes. The improved transportation corridor has attracted several large employers since the road was upgraded.[2] As of 2015, there still remains a non-freeway section of 146 in the Sutton-Millbury area, though the road was widened and a major intersection was improved to fix traffic flow problems.[3]

Exit list

Exits traditionally were not numbered, but sequential numbers were assigned by MassHighway during the last sign replacement project. The entire route is in Worcester County.

All interchanges were to be renumbered to milepost-based numbers under a project scheduled to start in 2016.[4] However, this project has now been indefinitely postponed.[5]

LocationmikmExitDestinationsNotes
Millville0.00.0 Route 146 south ProvidenceContinuation into Rhode Island
Uxbridge1.11.81 Route 146A South Uxbridge, North Smithfield, RI
2.64.22Chocolog Road to Route 146A Uxbridge
5.38.53 Route 16 Uxbridge, Douglas
Douglas7.612.24Lackey Dam Road  Douglas, Northbridge
Northbridge8.513.75Main Street  Northbridge, Suttonthe southern half of the exit is in Sutton
Sutton10.316.66Purgatory Road  Northbridge
12.319.87Central Turnpike  Northbridge, Oxford
North end of freeway
13.822.2Boston Road  – Wilkinsonville, Sutton CenterAt-grade intersection with traffic signal
Millbury16.025.78West Main Street  Millbury
South end of freeway
16.927.29 Route 122A south Millbury CenterSouthern terminus of concurrency with Route 122A
17.928.810 US 20 / I90 / Mass Pike Boston, SpringfieldMass. Pike Exit 10A
Worcester18.830.311Millbury Street  – Quinsigamond VillageNorthbound exit and southbound entrance
19.531.412 Route 122A north (McKeon Road) to I290 west – Vernon HillNorthern terminus of concurrency with Route 122A
20.533.013 I290 east Shrewsbury, MarlboroNorthbound exit and southbound entrance
20.833.5Quinsigamond Avenue / Cambridge Street / Millbury StreetNorthern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

Suffixed routes

Route 146A

Route 146A
Location: Uxbridge
Length: 4.1 mi[6] (6.6 km)
Existed: 1984[7]–present

Route 146A in Massachusetts, United States, is a 4.1 mile north to south route which connects Route 122 in Uxbridge, and Rhode Island Route 146A in North Smithfield.[1] There are two connector entrances to Route 146, along Route 146A. These are Exit 1, which connects Route 146 directly to Route 146A, and Exit 2, the Chockalog Road exit in Uxbridge.[1] This highway was renamed by the General Court of Massachusetts in 2004 as the Lydia Taft Highway, after America's first woman voter, Lydia Chapin Taft, a colonial woman from Uxbridge. Lydia Chapin Taft's historic vote and her role in the history of Women's suffrage is recognized by the Massachusetts legislature since 2004, which named Route 146A from Uxbridge to the Rhode Island border in her honor.[8] Route 146A is completely within the town limits of Uxbridge.

In colonial times, this route had the name of "the Great Road", and later "the Quaker Highway", after Quakers from Smithfield, Rhode Island settled here. There are a number of historic sites along this road including the Friends Meetinghouse, which is on the National Historic Register. The "Moses Farnum House, and the Ironstone Mill Housing and Cellar Hole are two other sites along this road. Route 98 also connects with Route 146A, near its midpoint, and has significant historic sites of the original Quaker village known as Quaker City, and Aldrich Village, which are also on the National Historic Register. Just beyond the northern terminus of Route 146A and continuing north on Route 122 is a famous historical house known as Elmshade, a home and gathering place of the influential Taft family in America. Part of what is now Route 146A was the original Route 146 before a new limited access highway was constructed from the Rhode Island line to Worcester, between 1981 and 1984.[7] This project involved moving a former almshouse cemetery and led to archeological findings on mortuary practices following that excavation.[7] The Second Great Awakening changed local mortuary practices for the poor.[9]

Major intersections

The entire route is in Uxbridge, Worcester County.

mikmDestinationsNotes
0.00.0 Route 5 / Route 146A southContinuation into Rhode Island
0.91.4 Route 146Exit 1 on Route 146
2.33.7 Route 98 southNorthern terminus of Route 98
2.64.2Chockalog Road to Route 146Exit 2 on Route 146
4.16.6 Route 122Northern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

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