Meshanticut Interchange

The Meshanticut Interchange is a highway interchange complex in Cranston, Rhode Island, USA. It was one of the first interchange complexes in Rhode Island, opening around the same time as the Olneyville Bypass, the RI 2/RI 117 interchange and relocated RI 3 (now I-95) (and long after the Point Street Viaduct, opened in 1940 [http://www.providenceri.com/history/centuries2.html] ), and has not been changed since its opening in the early 1950s. The interchange is named after Meshanticut Brook, which flows through it.

RI 2 and RI 5 pass through the interchange, and RI 33 merges with RI 2 south of the crossing with RI 5. RI 3 was originally concurrent with RI 2 through it; RI 33 was originally RI 3A. RI 2 north of the interchange and RI 33 to the south is known as New London Avenue (part of the old Providence and Pawcatuck Turnpike); RI 2 is Bald Hill Road to the south, and RI 5 is Oaklawn Avenue.

The interchange has high-speed ramps connecting RI 2 on the south to RI 5 on the north; RI 5 was the western bypass of the Providence area before I-295 was built, and RI 2 was the main road south and southwest from Providence.

A section of the old Providence and Pawcatuck Turnpike connects RI 2 to the north with RI 5. Across RI 5, the road dead ends; before the interchange it continued onto RI 33. A section of old Bald Hill Road (RI 2) splits from RI 5 just south of this turnpike crossing, and connects to several shopping centers.

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