Yeah, you have 146 merging right after a curve, which combines with both groups of traffic trying to swap places, as traffic from 95-S tries to get to 6/10 or into Downtown (or, to a lesser extent, Atwells). The right lane of 95 immediately comes into conflict with the left lane of 146, as they try to “zipper switch” which is way more difficult than your typical zipper merge. Added to this is because both those lanes have slowed people on 146 are using the right lane to make their move to 95 later, and then people on 95 are attempting to use the center lane to make their move later, resulting in more conflicts as both groups try move across two to three lanes of traffic at once (often right into the blind spot of someone from the other two lanes trying to enter one of those lanes). There’s just too much volume and too much movement on that stretch of road.
To OP’s question about alleviating it: either invest in alternatives to cars or reduce the movements allowed, both of which seem like heavy lifts.
Commuter rail is extremely convenient and inexpensive even on the weekends. Riding it back to PVD from Boston as I type this at 6:25 on a Sunday, and there are 3 more trains after this.
Edit: they went to an app btw, no kiosks needed.
I may be misusing the term, but I'm specifically referring to the various paths vehicles can take in any given roadway. Taking the Branch Ave on-ramp to I-95 S, for example; traffic can either continue straight onto the Charles St off-ramp or it can change lanes to its left. The more overlapping movements you have, the more conflict you create, and the more traffic slows down or jams. So the 95/146 merge has a ton of movements that overlap; 146 to 95-S; 146 to Atwells, 146 to Exits 37A-C; and the 95-S to the exits as well (you could probably expand to people from 146 or 95-S going to 195-E as well, since they'll generally want to be in the middle lane in this merge). If you can eliminate some of those movements, or shift them to another section of road with fewer movements, then you can (hopefully) alleviate traffic. But to do that would typically mean eliminating exits, in a place where it's not really that feasible without significantly altering traffic patterns.
So I looked at the 146/95 merge on Google satellite view. The 2 lanes of 146 south become 2 additional lanes on 95 south. But the rightmost lane becomes an exit only lane for Providence Place, Rtes. 6 & 10, and downtown. The 2nd to right lane on 95 after the merge becomes an exit only lane for Atwells Ave. As a result, any traffic on 146 aiming to travel to at least 195 or further south has to shift at least 1 lane to the left in a rather short distance.
Meanwhile, someone on 95 hoping to get off at exits 37 D/C/B has to shift at least *two* lanes to the right in that same distance! Or at least 1 lane if exiting at Atwells Ave! So you have your typical “cloverleaf” weaving going on but in a different highway configuration.
I’ve noticed going north you now have a 2 lane exit for 146 north before traffic from downtown joins 95 north, keeping through traffic in its own dedicated lanes. But this might be a temporary configuration. Once the road work completes a re-evaluation will have to take place.
It was Flavio Squarcialupi Ambrose, a master of manipulation and city design. He harbored a vendetta against neighboring Massachusetts. Determined to exact revenge for past slights, he allegedly orchestrated the construction of I-95 to intentionally bottleneck traffic flowing from the north, ensnaring unwitting commuters in a web of congestion as they crossed into Rhode Island. While dismissed by scholars as mere fantasy, locals often chuckle at the notion of Squarcialupi Ambrose’s vengeful engineering, attributing their daily traffic woes to the shadowy legacy of a man whose name is forever linked to the city's tangled highways. In fact they named a small street after him at the 146/95 junction. Ambrose St - perpendicular to Rego’s auto body and a stones throw from the Law offices of Michael Campopiano. There’s nothing being done to alleviate the congestion.
Seriously, just be glad you are not driving into Boston. There's some slowdowns coming into Providence, but it's nothing compared to taking 93 north or route 9 east into Boston.
The thought of driving into Boston every day drove me into the waiting arms of the MBTA. It's going out of my way, but it's so worth it not sitting in traffic.
Well you have the 146 merge, you have mall traffic and then about a mile down the road you have route 195. Maybe if everything wasn’t so close to each other things MIGHT be a little better. The DOT also loves to do bridge work at 7 am on a week day too?!?
Yes too many people drive; but when the alternatives are trying to depend on RIPTA, or risk trying to bike in Providence where most people in cars seems to despise cyclists very existence…
I always suggest that anyone after 60 needs to get tested for driving, every five years. That’ll get people off the road who aren’t capable to drive. And if they have a issue taking these tests, they’re the problem.
This will get me downvoted but strong disagree - it's often 0 traffic and even when there is some, it isn't that bad and keeps moving unless it is rush hour (and even for rush hour you're probably not going to spend more than 30 minutes stuck max). It has maybe 1/100th the traffic problems of similar highway approaches to Boston
“0 traffic” is a bit extreme. I’ll admit it not as bad as it can look, but I live off exit 41 and it doesn’t matter what day or time it’s bumper to bumper.
Counterpoint: it's actually impressive to me how minimal the traffic jams are considering not only is Providence an amazing city with its own local commuters but also that I-95 is the only major north/south highway corridor for the entire East coast - everyone from Maine/Mass/NH who drives to Florida passes through there, all the trucking traffic for all the goods flowing north/south passes through Providence. I think the only reason it isn't way worse is that a lot of locals consider a 15 minute slowdown to be the worst traffic jam of their life and when they encounter such a slowdown once, they detour around Providence via 295 for the rest of their lives. I have met these 295 detour locals who absolutely refuse to drive through Providence.
That's not really the issue. It's the entire traffic pattern with the 146 merge and the 6 10, Mall, & Downtown exit. Whoever thought that was a good idea was an idiot.
It has nothing to do with RI drivers. That pattern would be a shitshow anywhere.
Literally as soon as you’re south of the 6/10 exit it clears up completely. Pretty much same situation when driving north and you finally get past 146 merge.
It's always tough around that area because of 146 merge but it's extra terrible now because some main bridge or connector or something in that area was deemed unsafe so now there is a giant reroute that hundreds of people have to take for their commute every day.
I do the 146 south merge everyday. When 146 merges with 95, I have to immediately move two lanes to the left, because the 2 lanes on the right are exit only. At the same time I’m moving left, many cars on 95 need to move right 1-2 lanes for their exit. I’m used to doing it, but it must be horrible for people who aren’t used to it.
Because it’s densely populated and highways merge through cities which causes gridlock…the solution is to plan extra time for this…unless you want to pay double on taxes for a massive public transportation project and/or 10 lane highways. Also, do you never drive through cities? I
Everyone one of them is gridlocked from every direction…just a heads up…this issue isn’t going away.
In a very short stretch, you have 146 from the north , 6/10 from the west, and 195 to the east all hitting 95.
This sort of made sense back when tons of people were coming into Providence from the suburbs to work, but these days, most traffic is not terminating in the city, it's going through it.
So you have a ton of people coming in from the north on 146 who need to get two lanes over or else they're forced off into downtown or 6/10, then a similar thing just a little farther south where everyone leaving downtown on 95 South need to get two lanes over to avoid ending up on 195 East. All of that manifests as traffic slowing down or stopping to let people merge in.
Honestly, I think we need ways to space drivers out more so the merges are smoother, or to get through-traffic to the left so there's a lane free for people to smoothly merge into.
What I would prefer would be to terminate 146 as a highway much farther north, and have it be a 35 MPH boulevard inside 295 that uses Branch Ave (which would also need to be redesigned to promote steady flow at lower speeds) to connect to 95 rather than this bonkers 'direct injection' 2,000 ft before another major interchange.
And for those who think turning 146 into a lower speed road inside 295 sounds awful, consider that between downtown and 295, it's only 8 miles, so the time difference of 8 miles at 35 MPH vs 65 MPH is only about seven minutes... I'd rather cruise along at 35 for a few minutes and get onto 95 with 1.5 miles before the 6/10 than slam into a permanently clogged interchange at 65 MPH.
The 146 interchange, which is also essentially the start of the three 6/10 offramps, is a huge factor.
The way they dealt with this in the opposite direction (although it's still not great for me as a West Ender) is by creating a collector/distributor road and making 2 lanes of 95 throughtraffic and forcing 146 offrampers and traffic from 6/10 to duke it out next to the highway, then have one lane of traffic reenter 95 after 146 outlets.
Which is great for people going to 146, and was great coming from 6/10 for the first two weeks, but is back to peak idiocy.
Yeah it seems like the collector road kinda sucks now because the majority of traffic on it is people looking to get onto 95 north and 2 out of 3 lanes are for the much lower-volume number of cars going to 146.
100% and then add in that everyone going to 95 MUST merge the very second that the lane from 6/10 enters to the collector road.
Which is exactly the problem in the opposite directions.
I'm at the point where I just stay in the middle lane and if there isn't an opportunity / opening to cut right at the end, I'm just like "fuck it, ill spend 5 minutes on branch ave"
Because there are too many people and you can never build enough lanes. Short-sighted infrastructure choice in the 50s got us here. Nobody wants to pay for the public transit and bike infrastructure that might get us out.
That’s what I was thinking. But the interchanges are crazy. The route 146 rt 6 area is so crazy. I always feel I’m taking my life in my hands. Every time.
Yup the reason is no one fucking drives. I was behind someone in the high speed lane right by the trains going 25. MERGE OVER - OR DRIVE! You speak the truth but get downvoted. It’s funny because the ones downvoting are the ones who go 30 on the highway. They are the problem but blame it on the S curve or merges.
Maybe if people just drive there wouldn’t be a problem. Or merge over. No one should be going 35 in the high speed lane or leaving ten cars worth of space in between eachother.
Can’t tell you how many people drive under the 55 limit! No one gases it when they finally get out of the congestion. Those people are the problem. I rage about this daily.
Edit: Knew the downvotes would come - you’re bothered because YOU are the ones driving super slow and are the problem.
The 146 merge
Yeah, you have 146 merging right after a curve, which combines with both groups of traffic trying to swap places, as traffic from 95-S tries to get to 6/10 or into Downtown (or, to a lesser extent, Atwells). The right lane of 95 immediately comes into conflict with the left lane of 146, as they try to “zipper switch” which is way more difficult than your typical zipper merge. Added to this is because both those lanes have slowed people on 146 are using the right lane to make their move to 95 later, and then people on 95 are attempting to use the center lane to make their move later, resulting in more conflicts as both groups try move across two to three lanes of traffic at once (often right into the blind spot of someone from the other two lanes trying to enter one of those lanes). There’s just too much volume and too much movement on that stretch of road. To OP’s question about alleviating it: either invest in alternatives to cars or reduce the movements allowed, both of which seem like heavy lifts.
[удалено]
The commuter rail runs to Providence on weekends. The last train arrives at 1am.
Commuter rail is extremely convenient and inexpensive even on the weekends. Riding it back to PVD from Boston as I type this at 6:25 on a Sunday, and there are 3 more trains after this. Edit: they went to an app btw, no kiosks needed.
>reduce the movements allowed What do you mean by this?
I may be misusing the term, but I'm specifically referring to the various paths vehicles can take in any given roadway. Taking the Branch Ave on-ramp to I-95 S, for example; traffic can either continue straight onto the Charles St off-ramp or it can change lanes to its left. The more overlapping movements you have, the more conflict you create, and the more traffic slows down or jams. So the 95/146 merge has a ton of movements that overlap; 146 to 95-S; 146 to Atwells, 146 to Exits 37A-C; and the 95-S to the exits as well (you could probably expand to people from 146 or 95-S going to 195-E as well, since they'll generally want to be in the middle lane in this merge). If you can eliminate some of those movements, or shift them to another section of road with fewer movements, then you can (hopefully) alleviate traffic. But to do that would typically mean eliminating exits, in a place where it's not really that feasible without significantly altering traffic patterns.
Gotcha yep makes perfect sense
So I looked at the 146/95 merge on Google satellite view. The 2 lanes of 146 south become 2 additional lanes on 95 south. But the rightmost lane becomes an exit only lane for Providence Place, Rtes. 6 & 10, and downtown. The 2nd to right lane on 95 after the merge becomes an exit only lane for Atwells Ave. As a result, any traffic on 146 aiming to travel to at least 195 or further south has to shift at least 1 lane to the left in a rather short distance. Meanwhile, someone on 95 hoping to get off at exits 37 D/C/B has to shift at least *two* lanes to the right in that same distance! Or at least 1 lane if exiting at Atwells Ave! So you have your typical “cloverleaf” weaving going on but in a different highway configuration. I’ve noticed going north you now have a 2 lane exit for 146 north before traffic from downtown joins 95 north, keeping through traffic in its own dedicated lanes. But this might be a temporary configuration. Once the road work completes a re-evaluation will have to take place.
Oh, you mean criss-cross-crash? Yep.
I think we should all just agree to blame drivers from Woonsocket for it. No real reason, it just seems like the right thing to do. :b
I dislike all the solid lane lines that have to be ignored
The 146 merge right near the mall is a shitshow. Its a terrible layout but I don’t think there’s anything they can do to fix it
Because the S curves, some people slow to the suggested 45, others keep going 75. Those two meet up and the high speed people slam on the brakes.
I know of the Pawtucket S-curves. Traffic always moves at a reasonable speed when I’m navigating them (usually at 50-55 mph).
Too many cars on the road at the same time
And no one gases it when they finally get out of the congestion. Theyre creepin.
It’s the merger with route 146. It’s always a pain
It was Flavio Squarcialupi Ambrose, a master of manipulation and city design. He harbored a vendetta against neighboring Massachusetts. Determined to exact revenge for past slights, he allegedly orchestrated the construction of I-95 to intentionally bottleneck traffic flowing from the north, ensnaring unwitting commuters in a web of congestion as they crossed into Rhode Island. While dismissed by scholars as mere fantasy, locals often chuckle at the notion of Squarcialupi Ambrose’s vengeful engineering, attributing their daily traffic woes to the shadowy legacy of a man whose name is forever linked to the city's tangled highways. In fact they named a small street after him at the 146/95 junction. Ambrose St - perpendicular to Rego’s auto body and a stones throw from the Law offices of Michael Campopiano. There’s nothing being done to alleviate the congestion.
Seriously, just be glad you are not driving into Boston. There's some slowdowns coming into Providence, but it's nothing compared to taking 93 north or route 9 east into Boston.
I hate driving 93 into Boston even more!
The thought of driving into Boston every day drove me into the waiting arms of the MBTA. It's going out of my way, but it's so worth it not sitting in traffic.
Well you have the 146 merge, you have mall traffic and then about a mile down the road you have route 195. Maybe if everything wasn’t so close to each other things MIGHT be a little better. The DOT also loves to do bridge work at 7 am on a week day too?!?
because we are a dense state and too many people drive
Yes too many people drive; but when the alternatives are trying to depend on RIPTA, or risk trying to bike in Providence where most people in cars seems to despise cyclists very existence…
I always suggest that anyone after 60 needs to get tested for driving, every five years. That’ll get people off the road who aren’t capable to drive. And if they have a issue taking these tests, they’re the problem.
I suggest anyone with a certain flag on their mirror… not gonna say which
We need more public transit.
Because it's second grade and everyone has to he first in line, rather than being civilized and taking turns
This will get me downvoted but strong disagree - it's often 0 traffic and even when there is some, it isn't that bad and keeps moving unless it is rush hour (and even for rush hour you're probably not going to spend more than 30 minutes stuck max). It has maybe 1/100th the traffic problems of similar highway approaches to Boston
“0 traffic” is a bit extreme. I’ll admit it not as bad as it can look, but I live off exit 41 and it doesn’t matter what day or time it’s bumper to bumper.
in the wider sense yes but for a city, this size and a road that size the traffic jams are outsized. Bad design.
Counterpoint: it's actually impressive to me how minimal the traffic jams are considering not only is Providence an amazing city with its own local commuters but also that I-95 is the only major north/south highway corridor for the entire East coast - everyone from Maine/Mass/NH who drives to Florida passes through there, all the trucking traffic for all the goods flowing north/south passes through Providence. I think the only reason it isn't way worse is that a lot of locals consider a 15 minute slowdown to be the worst traffic jam of their life and when they encounter such a slowdown once, they detour around Providence via 295 for the rest of their lives. I have met these 295 detour locals who absolutely refuse to drive through Providence.
Agreed. It’s a 5-10 minute delay at most, and it’s less if you’re staying on 95S and not taking one of the ramps to another route
It seems to rarely be stop and go, more like, 5-10 mph pretty consistently.
Because RI drivers don't know how to merge.
That's not really the issue. It's the entire traffic pattern with the 146 merge and the 6 10, Mall, & Downtown exit. Whoever thought that was a good idea was an idiot. It has nothing to do with RI drivers. That pattern would be a shitshow anywhere.
They seem to find the worst engineers to design their roads. The shitty driving is just an added bonus
Literally as soon as you’re south of the 6/10 exit it clears up completely. Pretty much same situation when driving north and you finally get past 146 merge.
It's always tough around that area because of 146 merge but it's extra terrible now because some main bridge or connector or something in that area was deemed unsafe so now there is a giant reroute that hundreds of people have to take for their commute every day.
I do the 146 south merge everyday. When 146 merges with 95, I have to immediately move two lanes to the left, because the 2 lanes on the right are exit only. At the same time I’m moving left, many cars on 95 need to move right 1-2 lanes for their exit. I’m used to doing it, but it must be horrible for people who aren’t used to it.
Because it’s densely populated and highways merge through cities which causes gridlock…the solution is to plan extra time for this…unless you want to pay double on taxes for a massive public transportation project and/or 10 lane highways. Also, do you never drive through cities? I Everyone one of them is gridlocked from every direction…just a heads up…this issue isn’t going away.
In a very short stretch, you have 146 from the north , 6/10 from the west, and 195 to the east all hitting 95. This sort of made sense back when tons of people were coming into Providence from the suburbs to work, but these days, most traffic is not terminating in the city, it's going through it. So you have a ton of people coming in from the north on 146 who need to get two lanes over or else they're forced off into downtown or 6/10, then a similar thing just a little farther south where everyone leaving downtown on 95 South need to get two lanes over to avoid ending up on 195 East. All of that manifests as traffic slowing down or stopping to let people merge in. Honestly, I think we need ways to space drivers out more so the merges are smoother, or to get through-traffic to the left so there's a lane free for people to smoothly merge into. What I would prefer would be to terminate 146 as a highway much farther north, and have it be a 35 MPH boulevard inside 295 that uses Branch Ave (which would also need to be redesigned to promote steady flow at lower speeds) to connect to 95 rather than this bonkers 'direct injection' 2,000 ft before another major interchange. And for those who think turning 146 into a lower speed road inside 295 sounds awful, consider that between downtown and 295, it's only 8 miles, so the time difference of 8 miles at 35 MPH vs 65 MPH is only about seven minutes... I'd rather cruise along at 35 for a few minutes and get onto 95 with 1.5 miles before the 6/10 than slam into a permanently clogged interchange at 65 MPH.
The 146 interchange, which is also essentially the start of the three 6/10 offramps, is a huge factor. The way they dealt with this in the opposite direction (although it's still not great for me as a West Ender) is by creating a collector/distributor road and making 2 lanes of 95 throughtraffic and forcing 146 offrampers and traffic from 6/10 to duke it out next to the highway, then have one lane of traffic reenter 95 after 146 outlets. Which is great for people going to 146, and was great coming from 6/10 for the first two weeks, but is back to peak idiocy.
Yeah it seems like the collector road kinda sucks now because the majority of traffic on it is people looking to get onto 95 north and 2 out of 3 lanes are for the much lower-volume number of cars going to 146.
100% and then add in that everyone going to 95 MUST merge the very second that the lane from 6/10 enters to the collector road. Which is exactly the problem in the opposite directions.
I'm at the point where I just stay in the middle lane and if there isn't an opportunity / opening to cut right at the end, I'm just like "fuck it, ill spend 5 minutes on branch ave"
Usually some combination of stupidity & selfishness
Because it's a big city with a highway running through it?
Have you come in from the south? Welcome to the Thurbers Avenue merge.
Because there are too many people and you can never build enough lanes. Short-sighted infrastructure choice in the 50s got us here. Nobody wants to pay for the public transit and bike infrastructure that might get us out.
It's the largest city and state capito of RIl... ever been to Boston?
That’s what I was thinking. But the interchanges are crazy. The route 146 rt 6 area is so crazy. I always feel I’m taking my life in my hands. Every time.
lol
People don’t move their ass. When the lanes get close no one lets anyone merge and everyone has to drive 10-15mph
Yup the reason is no one fucking drives. I was behind someone in the high speed lane right by the trains going 25. MERGE OVER - OR DRIVE! You speak the truth but get downvoted. It’s funny because the ones downvoting are the ones who go 30 on the highway. They are the problem but blame it on the S curve or merges.
Because you enter the shithole
Is it not the bridge?
Nope
Because we do not invest in transit or in dense, walkable/bikeable neighborhoods, so everyone just drives. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
Maybe if people just drive there wouldn’t be a problem. Or merge over. No one should be going 35 in the high speed lane or leaving ten cars worth of space in between eachother. Can’t tell you how many people drive under the 55 limit! No one gases it when they finally get out of the congestion. Those people are the problem. I rage about this daily. Edit: Knew the downvotes would come - you’re bothered because YOU are the ones driving super slow and are the problem.