Starting on Friday night, June 9, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) will shift travel lanes at the Route 146/Sayles Hill Road intersection in North Smithfield, as part of the larger $196 million Route 146 Reconstruction Project.
Lanes will be narrowed and shifted to the left in both directions of Route 146 for several hundred feet before and after Sayles Hill Road. No lanes will be closed, but drivers making right turns onto Sayles Hill Road from Route 146 may experience delays.
The changes will create a work zone alongside Route 146 South so RIDOT can begin building a new section of roadway to accommodate traffic during construction at the intersection. By late summer/early fall, RIDOT will begin construction on the new bridge that will carry Route 146 traffic over Sayles Hill Road. This flyover bridge will eliminate the need for a traffic signal at Sayles Hill Road, the only traffic light on all of Route 146. More than 85 crashes occur each year at this intersection, and it is a source of significant congestion and travel delay.
The traffic shift on Route 146 North will accommodate utility work that also needs to be completed before construction begins on the flyover bridge.
The entire Route 146 Project includes greatly needed improvements to the Route 146 corridor, making it safer, improving transit connections, and reducing congestion and vehicle emissions. The project will replace or repair five bridges, repave 8 miles of roadway and build the Route 146 flyover bridge over Sayles Hill Road. Visit www.ridot.net/Route146 for more information.
The project was funded in part by a $65 million federal Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) grant – the largest the state ever received – which was secured by Rhode Island's Congressional delegation. It will be finished in summer 2026.
All construction projects are subject to changes in schedule and scope depending on needs, circumstances, findings and weather.
The Route 146 Project is made possible by RhodeWorks and the Bipartisan Infrastructure and Improvement Act. RIDOT is committed to bringing Rhode Island's infrastructure into a state of good repair while respecting the environment and striving to improve it. Learn more at www.ridot.net/RhodeWorks.