Night work starting Sunday on Interstate 295 in Cumberland to mill, repave highway
CUMBERLAND — Starting on Sunday night, road crews will start milling, and then repaving, Interstate 295 starting at the Massachusetts line in Cumberland.
The work to resurface the interstate will be done mostly at night, from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., six days a week, Sunday to Friday, Department of Transportation spokesman Charles St. Martin said.
The repaving project will consist of two phases moving north to south and not include on- or off-ramps. The first phase will resurface from the Massachusetts state line to the interchange with U.S. 44 at Exit 12.
The second phase will go from U.S. 44 to Interstate 95. In all, it will be 40 miles of paving.
Repaving the on- and off-ramps on I-295 will be done in the spring of 2023, St. Martin said.
The work will bring lane closures, ramp closures and minor delays, and some work will be done during the day.
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The repaving of I-295 should end by the summer of 2024 and will include improvements to storm water infrastructure, St. Martin said.
This $36-million repaving is part of a $492-million repaving effort over the next five years, partially funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law in November 2021. In total, the state will spend $92 million on repaving projects this year.
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Two "small" sections of I-95 will also be repaved in Pawtucket between Lonsdale Avenue and Walcott Street. The project will go about a mile in each direction, except for the length of bridge over the Seekonk River.
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Milling and repaving has begun on Route 146
Work to mill, and then repave, the badly deteriorated and sunken sections of Route 146 in North Smithfield and Lincoln started on Wednesday night. The repaving work will be done at night.
The first phase of work will focus on the section between Route 99 in Lincoln to Route 146A in North Smithfield and will be done by the end of August.
The second phase will go from Route 146 South at Central Street to Route 146A in North Smithfield and will be finished by the end of September.
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That work is part of a larger project to repave and reconfigure Route 146, which includes building an overpass above Sayles Hill Road for Route 146 in North Smithfield and eliminating the traffic light at that intersection. The light causes an estimated 85 crashes a year, DOT officials previously said.
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In all, eight miles of roadway will be repaved, the overpass will be added and the state will repair or replace five bridges along the Route 146 corridor. Plans are for Route 146 to be repaved from the I-295 interchange to the Massachusetts state line.
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Reach reporter Wheeler Cowperthwaite at wcowperthwaite@providencejournal.com or follow him on Twitter @WheelerReporter.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Repaving of I-295 in Cumberland to bring night lane, ramp closures
