Portal:U.S. roads/Selected article/June 2013

Westbound Route 37 in Cranston

Route 37, also known as the Lincoln Avenue Freeway, is a numbered state highway running 3.47 miles (5.58 km) in Providence County and Kent County, Rhode Island, United States. The route is a nominally east–west freeway for its entire length. Route 37 serves the cities of Cranston and Warwick and is also a major east–west freeway in the Providence metropolitan area. The western terminus of Route 37 is an at-grade intersection with Natick Avenue in Cranston. The eastern terminus is a trumpet interchange with U.S. Route 1 in Warwick. Originally conceived as a freeway linking Scituate with suburban Warwick, the proposed alignment of Route 37 was later shortened to an alignment linking I-295 with I-95. Construction on the freeway began in 1963 and was completed by 1969. An eastward extension was proposed in 1966; it was to be designated I-895, but the extension was ultimately canceled. In the 1980s, Route 37 was included in proposals for an eastward extension of Interstate 84 from Hartford, Connecticut to Rhode Island, but this alignment was also canceled. RIDOT has long-range plans to extend Route 37 east to Route 117 in Downtown Warwick, but plans for a westward extension have been abandoned.

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