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[vdeane]

^ I remember the old blue and white plates (Empire Blue) being embossed.  Not sure where you saw printed ones, unless they were personalized.

[Rothman]

I remember seeing printed ones somewhere along the line.

I'd love just a retro gold-on-blue embossed plate.

[storm2k]

^ I remember the old blue and white plates (Empire Blue) being embossed.  Not sure where you saw printed ones, unless they were personalized.

Maybe they were. I thought I remember them switching to digitally printed ones, not liking the outcome, and that's why they started being embossed again when they went to the gold empire plates (which all peel). I could be wrong.

[interstate73]

^ I remember the old blue and white plates (Empire Blue) being embossed.  Not sure where you saw printed ones, unless they were personalized.

Maybe they were. I thought I remember them switching to digitally printed ones, not liking the outcome, and that's why they started being embossed again when they went to the gold empire plates (which all peel). I could be wrong.

The Empire Blue plates were definitely embossed, at least for general issue! I do believe vanity and specialty ones were (and still are) screened however. You may be thinking of Nevada that went to screening only to return to embossing with their current issue. But this is veering far off the Rhode Island topic...

[Ted$8roadFan]

First Ocean plate in action:


http://www.plateshack.com/y2k/Rhode_Island2/ri2025.jpg

[southshore720]

Have there been any updates regarding the Providence-Lincoln resigning project on RI 146?  Funding seemed to have been an issue at last check, but I believe we are in a new fiscal year?

[1]

Have there been any updates regarding the Providence-Lincoln resigning project on RI 146?  Funding seemed to have been an issue at last check, but I believe we are in a new fiscal year?

A quick Google search says Rhode Island's fiscal year begins in July, but I don't know how long ago you checked.

[roadman65]

https://goo.gl/maps/vtcVNahDJmZ4cJ2C9
https://goo.gl/maps/DzPp3PLwuwuNsxtg7
We’re both of these freeway ends supposed to connect to each other in Newport?

[Ted$8roadFan]

https://goo.gl/maps/vtcVNahDJmZ4cJ2C9
https://goo.gl/maps/DzPp3PLwuwuNsxtg7
We’re both of these freeway ends supposed to connect to each other in Newport?

Not completely sure, but I would lean towards yes. The state is beginning the process of redesigning the Pell Bridge approaches that were designed in the 1960s with a future expressway in mind:

https://www.vhb.com/news/pell-bridge-in-newport-rhode-island-undergoes-update/

[The Ghostbuster]

I think they were both to have connected as part of one of the Interstate 895 proposals: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_895_(Rhode_Island%E2%80%93Massachusetts).

[shadyjay]

Did this grade-separated route into Newport ever see traffic?  Was Farewell Street supposed to be/was it ever one way northbound leaving Newport?  Then America's Cup Ave would have been one way parallel to it into Newport (with the cemetary in the middle)?
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5015521,-71.3178573,238a,35y,3.96t/data=!3m1!1e3

Seems it would have been better to get traffic into Newport during the busy season... from the Newport Bridge, it would have entered "America's Cup Ave" on the left, passed beneath
Van Zandt Ave, and merged into present day America's Cup Ave at the current bend.
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.4942513,-71.3171233,235a,35y,3.96t/data=!3m1!1e3

Or was this never opened, reserved for an expressway plan that never materialized? 

[Ted$8roadFan]

Did this grade-separated route into Newport ever see traffic?  Was Farewell Street supposed to be/was it ever one way northbound leaving Newport?  Then America's Cup Ave would have been one way parallel to it into Newport (with the cemetary in the middle)?
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5015521,-71.3178573,238a,35y,3.96t/data=!3m1!1e3

Seems it would have been better to get traffic into Newport during the busy season... from the Newport Bridge, it would have entered "America's Cup Ave" on the left, passed beneath
Van Zandt Ave, and merged into present day America's Cup Ave at the current bend.
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.4942513,-71.3171233,235a,35y,3.96t/data=!3m1!1e3

Or was this never opened, reserved for an expressway plan that never materialized?

Long before my time, but it appears that Farewell Street was two way heading from the center of town to the circle with Admiral Kalbfus Blvd. It was apparently cut off when the bridge was built between 1966-1969. My guess is that the unused ramps were part of the expressway that was never built. Having seen firsthand how traffic into Newport backs well onto the bridge due to the substandard ramp (and heavy summer traffic), it would be nice to have an alternate way in and out. But the state is working on improving the connection per below.

Also, per RIDOT, it appears the 138 Expressway stub was intended to connect with RI-24 in Portsmouth, but it never happened.

https://www.dot.ri.gov/projects/pellbridgeramps/

[roadman65]

It looks like the Trumpet interchange on the east end of the Newport Bridge is being removed for a connector road to Farewell Street as well as Farewell to be realigned to connect with JT Connell at the present Admiral Kalbfus Roundabout and the bridge approach is cutting through some businesses to end at Admiral Kalbfus Road.

What I don’t understand is why the freeway was never built due to congestion along Main Road. To me it’s a no brainer to build it.

Also why does RI 114 overlap with RI 138 instead of ending north of the city where those two meet? That seems like a useless concurrency.

[Ted$8roadFan]

It looks like the Trumpet interchange on the east end of the Newport Bridge is being removed for a connector road to Farewell Street as well as Farewell to be realigned to connect with JT Connell at the present Admiral Kalbfus Roundabout and the bridge approach is cutting through some businesses to end at Admiral Kalbfus Road.

What I don’t understand is why the freeway was never built due to congestion along Main Road. To me it’s a no brainer to build it.

Also why does RI 114 overlap with RI 138 instead of ending north of the city where those two meet? That seems like a useless concurrency.

Knowing Rhode Island I would bet it’s a combination of money (or lack thereof) and community opposition during the late 60s/early 70s. . As for why RI-114 ends at the Newport/Middletown border, only someone deep within RIDOT could make sense of it.

[southshore720]

I had to rub my eyes when I saw a new BGS on Route 146 NB for Exits 8A-C (I-295/RI-99).  Could it be that they are actually going to finish the signing project from Lincoln to Providence, or was this just remediation from the RI-116 bridge project?

[Ted$8roadFan]

I had to rub my eyes when I saw a new BGS on Route 146 NB for Exits 8A-C (I-295/RI-99).  Could it be that they are actually going to finish the signing project from Lincoln to Providence, or was this just remediation from the RI-116 bridge project?

Could be. In the long run, the state is planning massive improvements on the RI-146 corridor from the Lincoln Mall/I-295 to the state line, so I’m not sure if they’ll have to change the signs again.

[Ted$8roadFan]

New license plate option for Rhode Island:

https://www.atlanticsharkinstitute.org/licenseplate

[kernals12]

Does anyone know why I-95 takes that jagged route through Pawtucket? Apparently the original plans were indeed for a straighter route west of Downtown Pawtucket. The Rhode Island DPW said as much:

There are more large mills and manufacturing plants west of the business district than east of it, and an expressway in their vicinity could best serve them. Otherwise, their traffic would be forced to shuttle back and forth through the business district to the expressway.

And a westerly route would've had the additional advantage of following an existing railroad ROW.

Given that this is Rhode Island we're talking about, I can only assume there was corruption involved.

[Ted$8roadFan]

Does anyone know why I-95 takes that jagged route through Pawtucket? Apparently the original plans were indeed for a straighter route west of Downtown Pawtucket. The Rhode Island DPW said as much:

There are more large mills and manufacturing plants west of the business district than east of it, and an expressway in their vicinity could best serve them. Otherwise, their traffic would be forced to shuttle back and forth through the business district to the expressway.

And a westerly route would've had the additional advantage of following an existing railroad ROW.

Given that this is Rhode Island we're talking about, I can only assume there was corruption involved.

I have heard, but can’t confirm, that the Pawtucket S curves are because of Le Foyer, a banquet hall at 151 Fountain Street in Pawtucket. If you look at it on a map, it looks as though it would be taken as it is right in the path, but it still stands today. The story is that the owner at the time either had enough clout to see that 95 was shifted so that it wouldn’t be taken by eminent domain, or else demanded so much money from the state that the rerouting happened.  So it could have been corruption, or more likely “I know a guy” which could be the state motto.

[kernals12]

Does anyone know why I-95 takes that jagged route through Pawtucket? Apparently the original plans were indeed for a straighter route west of Downtown Pawtucket. The Rhode Island DPW said as much:

There are more large mills and manufacturing plants west of the business district than east of it, and an expressway in their vicinity could best serve them. Otherwise, their traffic would be forced to shuttle back and forth through the business district to the expressway.

And a westerly route would've had the additional advantage of following an existing railroad ROW.

Given that this is Rhode Island we're talking about, I can only assume there was corruption involved.

I have heard, but can’t confirm, that the Pawtucket S curves are because of Le Foyer, a banquet hall at 151 Fountain Street in Pawtucket. If you look at it on a map, it looks as though it would be taken as it is right in the path, but it still stands today. The story is that the owner at the time either had enough clout to see that 95 was shifted so that it wouldn’t be taken by eminent domain, or else demanded so much money from the state that the rerouting happened.  So it could have been corruption, or more likely “I know a guy” which could be the state motto.

That makes no sense. Le Foyer is right next to I-95. If they had gone with a westerly route, the banquet hall would've been *further* out of the way.

[The Ghostbuster]

According to Steve Anderson's Boston Roads website on Interstate 95 in Rhode Island (http://www.bostonroads.com/roads/I-95_RI/), the Interstate was constructed the way it was to limit right-of-way acquisitions.

[kernals12]

According to Steve Anderson's Boston Roads website on Interstate 95 in Rhode Island (http://www.bostonroads.com/roads/I-95_RI/), the Interstate was constructed the way it was to limit right-of-way acquisitions.

But by taking a more circuitous route, the interstate occupies more land requiring more ROW

[Ted$8roadFan]

Does anyone know why I-95 takes that jagged route through Pawtucket? Apparently the original plans were indeed for a straighter route west of Downtown Pawtucket. The Rhode Island DPW said as much:

There are more large mills and manufacturing plants west of the business district than east of it, and an expressway in their vicinity could best serve them. Otherwise, their traffic would be forced to shuttle back and forth through the business district to the expressway.

And a westerly route would've had the additional advantage of following an existing railroad ROW.

Given that this is Rhode Island we're talking about, I can only assume there was corruption involved.

I have heard, but can’t confirm, that the Pawtucket S curves are because of Le Foyer, a banquet hall at 151 Fountain Street in Pawtucket. If you look at it on a map, it looks as though it would be taken as it is right in the path, but it still stands today. The story is that the owner at the time either had enough clout to see that 95 was shifted so that it wouldn’t be taken by eminent domain, or else demanded so much money from the state that the rerouting happened.  So it could have been corruption, or more likely “I know a guy” which could be the state motto.

That makes no sense. Le Foyer is right next to I-95. If they had gone with a westerly route, the banquet hall would've been *further* out of the way.

We’re talking about Rhode Island, so things often don’t make sense. Building a highway through a densely populated industrial city inevitably meant that lots of property would have to be taken via eminent domain. And knowing Rhode Island, it isn't far-fetched to assume that politics and influence had a say on where the highway would go and which properties would be taken. I wasn’t around then, but it would be interesting to find out how it all happened.

[kernals12]

Traffic is transitioning onto the new bridge carrying traffic from I-95 NB to Rt 146 NB this weekend!

[kernals12]

I went on a day trip to Rhode Island. It looks like they're transitioning to the new sign font.