Providence, Rhode Island

Providence, Rhode Island

According to ehuacom, Providence is a city in the state of Rhode Island in the United States. The city has a population of 190,000 and an agglomeration of 1,676,000 inhabitants (2021) which extends into the state of Massachusetts.

Introduction

According to mcat-test-centers, Providence is located on the north side of the Rhode Island Sound on the Providence Estuary. The metropolitan area has more residents than the state of Rhode Island itself because parts of it are in Massachusetts. The city is 65 kilometers southwest of Boston, 100 kilometers east of Hartford and 245 kilometers northeast of New York. The urban area measures 35 kilometers from east to west to 55 kilometers from north to south. The city is quite densely populated because it had grown before the advent of the car and the accompanying suburbanization. Like many cities in the northeastern United States Providence has also lost population from the 1940s, when it peaked at 254,000, to 178,000 in 2010. The city was one of the United States’ first industrialized cities. In recent years, it has been one of the slowest-growing cities in the US and the urban area has stagnated in population. A contraction has been registered in some years. It is therefore one of the very few agglomerations that is shrinking altogether.

Road network

Rhode Island’s highway network.

Providence has a chaotic street network with more than a thousand streets, a lot for a population of 178,000. The city has a fairly extensive highway network, the most important of which is I-95, which runs north-south through the metropolitan area. I-295 forms a bypass west and north of the city while I-195 runs east toward Fall River. US 6 forms the western artery that should once have become I-84. SR-10 forms a bypass for downtown while SR-4 forms the southern approach road. SR-37 is a short tangential link south of the city while SR-146 forms a northbound arterial road to Worcester.

History

The first regional highway plan for the Providence region was drawn up in 1947, incorporating much of the current highways except for the I-295 bypass. The first highway was a short stretch of State Route 10, which opened in 1953. At the same time, part of US 6 also opened as a highway. In 1958, the first section of I-95 opened in Providence, between West Warwick and East Greenwich. Most highways in Providence opened during the 1960s. In 1960, I-195 through East Providence was completed. Construction of I-95 was particularly challenging because the route was largely built-up, and to avoid expensive property removals, a rather twisty and substandard alignment was made. applied. I-95 was completed through Providence in 1968, a year before the entire I-95 through Rhode Island was completed. Construction of I-295 took a little longer, opening in phases between 1967 and 1975, allowing through traffic to move around Providence. The suburbs were also better opened up. The most recent freeway opening was the last link of SR-10 in 1993, remarkably, it was also Providence’s first and last freeway to open. Between 2005 and 2009, I-195 was relocated south of downtown, which is part of the Iway project.

Congestion

Providence suffers from congestion because its highway network is outdated, as is the case with many cities in the northeastern United States. An outdated road design and capacity shortage in particular play a role in this. Compared to New York, for example, the congestion is not too bad.

Providence, Rhode Island