Route 146 begins in downtown Providence at I-95 northbound Exit 23. Locally it is known as Old Louisquisset Pike, and is a narrow 4-lane freeway with no shoulders and a simple Jersey barrier median separating oncoming traffic. The first two interchanges are partial access only, with Rhode Island Route 7 and Rhode Island Route 246 and provide access between Route 146 and I-95 via surface streets for where there is no direct access. The first complete interchange is a diamond interchange with Branch Avenue, followed by a partial interchange with Rhode Island Route 15. The next interchange, with Route 246 a second time, provides the access missing from the Route 15 interchange. At this point, now in North Providence the "Old Louisquisset Pike" designation leaves to follow Route 246, and the 146 freeway becomes the Eddie Dowling Highway. Near the southern boundary of Lincoln, there is a southbound-only offramp with Route 246, while the northbound side abuts Olney Pond in the Lincoln Woods State Park. Two partial cloverleaf interchanges follow with Twin River Road and Rhode Island Route 123/Breakneck Hill Road. The next interchange northbound is a right-in/right-out terminus of Sherman Avenue, while southbound has access to 246 here. A single onramp provides Wilbur Avenue an entrance to northbound 146 next, then a modified cloverleaf interchange with Rhode Island Route 116, followed shortly by a full cloverleaf interchange with I-295 and the southern terminus of Rhode Island Route 99, which is a short connector freeway to the city of Woonsocket Route 99 access is a northbound exit/southbound entrance only, the other directions need to use surface streets for access. North of this interchange, the road turns into a divided boulevard with at-grade crossings and driveway access through the southern part of the town of North Smithfield, Rhode Island. A stoplight marks the only major intersection, an at-grade crossing with Sayles Hill Road, which doubles back and has a right in/right out interchange with southbound 146. At the partial interchange with Rhode Island Route 146A the freeway resumes, now called the North Smithfield Expressway, which has three interchanges in the town: Rhode Island Route 104, Pound Hill Road, and a complex interchange with School Street and 146A that also provides access to Rhode Island Route 5 and Rhode Island Route 102. Approximately two miles north of this interchange, the freeway continues into Massachusetts as Massachusetts Route 146, the Worcester/Providence Pike.
History
Prior to the construction of the two freeway sections, Route 146 used present-day Route 246 and Route 146A. The only part of the original alignment still in use is the non-freeway section between Interstate 295/Route 99 and Route 146A in the southern part of North Smithfield. In May 2019, Route 146 received mile-based exit numbers. Previously, the exits were unnumbered.
Future
In May 2019, the Rhode Island Senate announced that the state would borrow $200 million to reconfigure I-95 through Downtown Providence, near the southern terminus of Route 146. The replacement of the Providence Viaduct with twin bridges is intended to alleviate the bottleneck created by traffic entering I-95 from the US 6 and RI 10, and exiting towards RI 146 and US 44. The project is expected to cost $250 million. RIDOT plans to build two toll gantries, one in Lincoln and one in North Smithfield, for truck-only electronic toll collection.
Exit list
Exits were unnumbered until Summer 2019, when RIDOT began adding mileage-based exit numbers to conform to federal highway standards. The project is expected to be completed by 2021.
Suffixed route
Route 146A is a numbered state highway running in Rhode Island. It was designated as Route 146 before the construction of the North Smithfield Expressway. The road follows a former stagecoach path through historic Union Village in North Smithfield. This road was known as "the Great Road". The northern end of the road crosses the state line near Buxton Street at Uxbridge, Massachusetts. This section was known as Ironstone, after good quality bog iron ore found near here. It takes the following route through the state:
North Smithfield: ; Route 146 to Massachusetts state line at Route 146A
