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[southshore720]

Driving down I-95 over the weekend, I noticed several new pieces of signage on I-95 SB in Providence between Exits 23-22.  The new signage is linked to the Providence River Viaduct replacement.  Most notable about the signage for Exits 22C-B-A was RI's first "new generation" arrow-per-lane BGS.  I wonder if there will be similar APL signage NB for Exit 23 where RI 146 branches off...

Also, all the new signage for SB Exits 23-22 is on right-hand supports.  All BGS' were removed from the bridges.

[lowerdeck]

They recently installed mile markers on 146

Interestingly, the numbers go up from both ends.  Northbound markers start at 0 in Providence and go up heading towards Mass., southbound markers start at 0 at the state line, and go up heading towards I-95.

[spooky]

They recently installed mile markers on 146

Interestingly, the numbers go up from both ends.  Northbound markers start at 0 in Providence and go up heading towards Mass., southbound markers start at 0 at the state line, and go up heading towards I-95.

What a RIDOTy thing to do.

[southshore720]

Interestingly, the numbers go up from both ends.  Northbound markers start at 0 in Providence and go up heading towards Mass., southbound markers start at 0 at the state line, and go up heading towards I-95.

Groan...only to remove them all and replace them, wasting more $$ RIDOT doesn't have.  There was talk of a MUCH NEEDED Rte 146 sign-replacement for 2016, but I'm unaware if any official bids went out.  They will likely number the exits (finally) during the replacement as they did during the RI 10 replacement.

[AMLNet49]

Mileage based numbers perhaps? (Assuming they fix the mile-markers)

[KEVIN_224]

I have a question about Route 146. It's on the Massachusetts section, but could still relate to RI: In the south end of Worcester, before the I-90 and US Route 20 exits, I see a sign for Mile Marker 20. Is that 20 miles to the RI state line or to the end of Route 146 in Providence?

[Alps]

I have a question about Route 146. It's on the Massachusetts section, but could still relate to RI: In the south end of Worcester, before the I-90 and US Route 20 exits, I see a sign for Mile Marker 20. Is that 20 miles to the RI state line or to the end of Route 146 in Providence?

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/42.2041807,-71.7760394/42.012644,-71.5782855/@41.906439,-71.4725421,9z
was that so hard?

[TravelingBethelite]

We drove through Rhode Island for the first time I can remember. I am speechless. The signage is SO bad. There's too many specific errors to report. I finally understand why so many people hate RIDOT/it is a laughingstock of DOT's.  Damn you RIDOT. There's not even a welcome sign on U.S. 6 headed east into the state. It's one of the 4 or 5 major routes into the state. I think it deserves at least a small marker. Connecticut has a welcome sign headed west, though. It makes me glad I'm from the Nutmeg State.

[bob7374]

We drove through Rhode Island for the first time I can remember. I am speechless. The signage is SO bad. There's too many specific errors to report. I finally understand why so many people hate RIDOT/it is a laughingstock of DOT's.  Damn you RIDOT. There's not even a welcome sign on U.S. 6 headed east into the state. It's one of the 4 or 5 major routes into the state. I think it deserves at least a small marker. Connecticut has a welcome sign headed west, though. It makes me glad I'm from the Nutmeg State.

Your post reminded me I hadn't posted observations about my last trip through RI a month ago. Agree with much above, what stood out to me as bad practices were mile markers. At the beginning of the US 6 freeway east of I-295 new mile 2/10 mile (reference) markers have been put up. They started under the I-295 overpass at 0.0 and went up from there. Fine if they were put up just to count the expressway mileage, but they had US 6 shields and East on them. If they were going to the bother of putting a route shield and direction on them, why not use the total US 6 mileage. When US 6 merges with RI 10 in Providence, the mile markers started over again at 0.0, this time the markers had both US 6 and RI 10 shields. If and when RIDOT converts to milepost exit numbering, if US 6 is to be included (the current exits don't have numbers) and the total state mileage is included they'll have to replace all the current markers unless they really want to confuse drivers.

[southshore720]

As an RI native, I've suffered through awful RIDOT signage most of my entire life.  It took from 2002-2009 to convert the major interstates to modern BGS'.  I-195 still has a few "one offs" around Exits 6-8 that were either never replaced or "doctored" with green-out on the "original canvas."

There are still state routes such as RI 4, RI 24, and RI 146 that have decrepit BGS' dating back to the early 90s.  I was just on RI 24 South yesterday and there was a HUGE chunk missing from an overhead BGS for RI 138 (looks like a truck strike).  I wouldn't bank on RIDOT replacing that one anytime soon. 

RI 4 & RI 24 have had some "spot replacements" only because of new construction projects. 

RI 78 in Westerly is the absolute worst one of them all...you're lucky if you even get a trailblazer for the exit.  There are only two severely-aging BGS' along that entire route from maybe the mid-1980s??  U.S. 1 in South County is not that great, either.

[Beeper1]

The BGSs on RI 78 are probably original from when the road was built in the early 70s.  Not was old as the Henderson Bridge BGSs but pretty close. 

The signs on the upper part of RI 146 in North Smithfield are from the mid 1980s and almost unreadable at night.

RI has the absolute worst signing practices in the country.

[Alps]

The BGSs on RI 78 are probably original from when the road was built in the early 70s.  Not was old as the Henderson Bridge BGSs but pretty close. 

The signs on the upper part of RI 146 in North Smithfield are from the mid 1980s and almost unreadable at night.

RI has the absolute worst signing practices in the country.

The signs on RI 78 aren't all that old. They cannot possibly be from the 1970s.

[Mergingtraffic]

RI-78 signs aren't button copy but the Henderson Bridge signage is. 



I'm guessing Henderson Bridge signage is 1960s and even though the RI-78 signs look beat up and non-reflective, Id' say late 1970s or 1980?

[dcbjms]

Recently a good portion of Mineral Spring Ave. (RI 15) FINALLY finished completion, after spending God-knows-how-long working on it.  The big holdup?  Pawtucket has been progressively and gradually replacing street signs with a new design, with white fancy text on a black background since it matches the new image campaign for the city, so they wanted to install them.  However, RIDOT wanted to install ginormous generic street signs because of ADA concerns.  RIDOT won the battle of the street signs, and AFAIK Pawtucket is still seething.

Meanwhile, they're still taking forever repairing a bridge.  A bridge that happens to be a main artery in the downtown core.
https://goo.gl/maps/66iq3pADR7n

[PHLBOS]

RI-78 signs aren't button copy but the Henderson Bridge signage is. 



I'm guessing Henderson Bridge signage is 1960s and even though the RI-78 signs look beat up and non-reflective, Id' say late 1970s or 1980?

RIDOT started using reflective BGS' (w/demountable non-button-copy lettering) around the early-to-mid-70s; some of the earliest examples of such were along the Pawtucket-Providence stretch of I-95 that featured full-width, non-bordered exit tabs with the text/numerals right or left-justified depending on exit ramp location (most if not all of these BGS' were replaced at least 2 decades ago).

That said, those old button-copy BGS' (believe it or not) are very likely from the 1960s (the shields may have been replaced once or twice).

[PHLBOS]

Saw this article posted on FB's BostonRoads group:

RI is proposing to toll truck traffic on its highways including Interstates (95, 195, 295).  10 of the 14 gantries will be erected along Interstates.

Locations of proposed truck toll gantries released as Assembly convenes; see article for proposed locations.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Minutes after the first General Assembly session of 2016 convened Tuesday, Governor Raimondo released the preliminary locations of 14 gantries that would collect tolls from large commercial trucks under her proposed statewide bridge repair plan.

If memory serves, Federal permission is required to place tolls on existing free interstates and the conditions for such that the toll revenue generated goes specifically for the roadway(s) being tolled and/or towards expansion(s) of said-highway(s) (i.e. Express-toll lanes).

Unless the Federal rules recently changed; I don't see how this proposal, in its current form, will fly.

[doogie1303]

Saw this article posted on FB's BostonRoads group:

RI is proposing to toll truck traffic on its highways including Interstates (95, 195, 295).  10 of the 14 gantries will be erected along Interstates.

Locations of proposed truck toll gantries released as Assembly convenes; see article for proposed locations.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Minutes after the first General Assembly session of 2016 convened Tuesday, Governor Raimondo released the preliminary locations of 14 gantries that would collect tolls from large commercial trucks under her proposed statewide bridge repair plan.

If memory serves, Federal permission is required to place tolls on existing free interstates and the conditions for such that the toll revenue generated goes specifically for the roadway(s) being tolled and/or towards expansion(s) of said-highway(s) (i.e. Express-toll lanes).

Unless the Federal rules recently changed; I don't see how this proposal, in its current form, will fly.

The whole idea of tolling trucks only was a poorly thought out idea, as far as I can tell, no other state exclusively tolls only one type of motor vehicle while letting other vehicles use the same road free of charge. The trucks are just going to go around RI and they will start tolling cars (even though they "promise" not to ... yeah right) because they will have invested in all the tolling equipment and will need to pay for it somehow.

As far as tolling interstates, if they do get permission, I think you're correct that the tolls collected can only be used on that particular piece of roadway, and I believe it will not be eligible for federal highway funds anymore, since that's what the collected tolls will be for (no double dipping).

[KEVIN_224]

This brings up a good question: Has Rhode Island ever had toll roads, outside of the Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge? 

[Beeper1]

The Mount Hope Bridge used to have a toll, but that was made toll free in the mid/late 90s.  The old Jamestown Bridge was tolled until sometime in the 60s.  I think it became toll-free when the Newport Bridge opened with it's toll.

Other than those bridges, I don't think it has had any toll roads.   There were plans in the 50s for a "Rhode Island Turnpike" that would have roughly followed the RI-138 corridor from Tiverton to the CT line near Richmond, but it was never built.

[PHLBOS]

The whole idea of tolling trucks only was a poorly thought out idea, as far as I can tell, no other state exclusively tolls only one type of motor vehicle while letting other vehicles use the same road free of charge.

The Spring Valley toll gantry along the northbound NY Thruway (I-87/287), just west of the Garden State Parkway interchange (Exit 14A) doesn't charge a toll for passenger cars (it originally did way back when).

Fixed Carrier Cash Toll Rates (see No. 14, 2L)

[NE2]

The whole idea of tolling trucks only was a poorly thought out idea, as far as I can tell, no other state exclusively tolls only one type of motor vehicle while letting other vehicles use the same road free of charge.

The Masspike west of Springfield (?) only charged truck tolls for a while.

[doogie1303]

The whole idea of tolling trucks only was a poorly thought out idea, as far as I can tell, no other state exclusively tolls only one type of motor vehicle while letting other vehicles use the same road free of charge.

The Masspike west of Springfield (?) only charged truck tolls for a while.

Yes, but the Mass Pike was originally built as a toll road. Most of the interstates in RI were built with a mix of federal and state highway funds, and never built to be tolled.

There is more information on this website about the construction of i-95 in RI:

http://www.bostonroads.com/roads/I-95_RI/

[jwolfer]

I have never been to RI but I have seen comments on the poor state of RI roads.

I would think RI would have some of best roads in the country since it is so small, has a large city and presumably a good amount of gas taxes.

Any thoughts on this?

For what it's worth NJ should have great roads too.. It's small, relatively low state highway milage and major corridors are self sustaining toll roads.

I know both states are older and densely populated.

[Alps]

I have never been to RI but I have seen comments on the poor state of RI roads.

I would think RI would have some of best roads in the country since it is so small, has a large city and presumably a good amount of gas taxes.

Any thoughts on this?

For what it's worth NJ should have great roads too.. It's small, relatively low state highway milage and major corridors are self sustaining toll roads.

I know both states are older and densely populated.

Large numbers of roads and high taxes of all other sorts, in both cases, limit the dollars per mile.

[PHLBOS]

I have never been to RI but I have seen comments on the poor state of RI roads.

I would think RI would have some of best roads in the country since it is so small, has a large city and presumably a good amount of gas taxes.

Any thoughts on this?

I'm not sure if such is still the case (it was during the 80s and earlier) but the revenue collected from RI's gas taxes goes to a general fund rather than a highway or even a transportation fund.  IMHO, there's a chunk of the problem right there.