Route 10 is a numbered state highway connector in the U.S. state of Rhode Island, traveling along the Huntington Expressway, the first freeway in the state. It connects Route 12 (Park Avenue) on the Cranston–Providence city line with Interstate 95 (I-95), U.S. Route 6 (US 6), and Memorial Boulevard in downtown Providence, passing just east of the Olneyville area of Providence. It provides an alternate route to I-95 south of downtown, and connects it with the US 6 freeway west from Olneyville towards I-295 and Connecticut.

Route description

thumb|200px|left|Route 10 signs

Route 10 begins at an incomplete interchange with Route 12 (Park Avenue) on the Cranston-Providence border. The bridge that carries Route 12 over Route 10 has enough space for a four-lane freeway underneath, but only the ramp from Route 12 east to Route 10 north passes under it. Until around 2000, the ramp from Route 10 south to Route 12 east instead passed under the bridge; that movement is now made with a left turn onto Route 12. There were once plans to extend Route 10 south, in conjunction with an eastern extension of the Route 37 freeway.

Route 10 heads north through Providence, turning west before crossing U.S. Route 1 (Elmwood Avenue) at a partial interchange. There is no ramp to Route 10 south, and traffic exiting from Route 10 north must turn north on US 1. After crossing US 1, Route 10 crosses over Amtrak's Northeast Corridor and enters Cranston.

Route 10 crosses Interstate 95 at a full interchange, sometimes known as the "Friendly Interchange" for the community of Quakers it partially destroyed. It then heads northwest, crossing under Pontiac Avenue and then junctioning Route 2 (Reservoir Avenue) just after crossing back into Providence. After the Route 2 interchange, Route 10 again crosses back into Cranston, running west of the parallel Niantic Avenue, which is on the city line. The final crossing, back into Providence, is just after the Cranston Street interchange, where Niantic Avenue ends.

Upon crossing into Providence, Route 10 passes over and parallels the Northeast Corridor as well as interchanging with Huntington Avenue. From this interchange north to Olneyville, Huntington Avenue was upgraded to become the Huntington Expressway. Within this stretch of expressway, there is only one interchange (Union Avenue).

thumb|200px|right|An original (still standing) overhead sign on Harris Avenue at the east end of the Olneyville Bypass

The junction and merge with U.S. Route 6 at Olneyville is part of the Olneyville Bypass, the first freeway in Rhode Island. In the early 2020s, this current interchange was upgraded to conform to modern highway standards, most notably providing direct access from Route 10 North to US 6 West via a flyover ramp (Exit 3B). The flyover ramp officially opened on November 19, 2021. Exit 3B is a left-lane exit to US 6, while mainline traffic remains on the right heading into downtown Providence.

The combined Route 10 and US 6 — known as the Route 6-10 Connector — is the newest part of the Huntington Expressway. It heads northeast and east from Olneyville, interchanging with Dean Street (which provides access to Providence Place Mall). East of Dean Street, the freeway ends at a complicated interchange with Interstate 95. Route 10 ends there, while US 6 turns south with I-95 to reach Interstate 195. Access to downtown Providence is provided by ramps to the west end of Memorial Boulevard at Francis Street (U.S. Route 1).

History

thumb|400px|right|Map of the Olneyville Bypass at the time of its 1953 opening

Despite the first section opening in 1953, the Route 10 designation was not used until 1966, when the freeway south of Route 2 (Reservoir Avenue) opened. The 1953 section was the Olneyville Bypass (also known as the Dennis J. Roberts Expressway, now also applied to U.S. Route 6 west of the bypass). Construction began in 1950 on the bypass of the congested Olneyville neighborhood, which the east–west US 6 and Route 14 passed through (on Westminster Street, Hartford Avenue and Plainfield Street). The bypass ran from Hartford Avenue west of Olneyville around the south and east sides of Olneyville, junctioning with Plainfield Street, Huntington Avenue, Westminster Street and Broadway, and ending at Harris Avenue northeast of Olneyville.

Once the bypass opened in 1953, it carried US 6. Eastbound US 6 exited at Westminster Street to follow its old alignment towards downtown, but westbound US 6 was completely rerouted between downtown and Olneyville, following Kinsley Avenue, Eagle Street and Harris Avenue to reach the Olneyville Bypass.

The next section, from Olneyville south to Reservoir Avenue in Cranston, was built partially along the existing Huntington Avenue, and opened in 1960.

On November 19, 2021, as an early stage of reconstructing the Route 10/US 6 interchange, a new ramp was opened, allowing direct movement from northbound Route 10 to westbound US 6 for the first time. The following year, the ramp in the opposite direction (US 6 eastbound to RI 10 southbound) was temporarily removed, so for over 12 months, traffic was required to use a temporary ramp to Westminster Street and drive along the left side of the bridge, contrary to most of the United States. After the removed ramp to RI 10 southbound was reopened on May 10, 2024, the temporary ramp was absorbed into a new Westminster Street exit on RI 10 northbound, which opened on August 30, 2024.

Future

As part of their I-95 15 Bridges Project, taking place from 2025 to 2031, RIDOT will be reworking all of RI 10 from its southern terminus to the Reservoir Avenue bridge. The trumpet interchange at Park Avenue will be converted into an at-grade intersection, with eastbound traffic making a left turn to get onto RI 10 northbound, and westbound traffic making a right turn slightly west of its current position. The current RI 10 on-ramp from Park Avenue westbound will be converted into a shared use path that runs parallel to RI 10 for about 6/10ths of a mile, before taking the northbound Elmwood Avenue exit.

Both ramps for the Elmwood Avenue exit (Exit 1A) will be replaced with a signalized intersection. To access Elmwood Avenue, northbound traffic will turn right, while southbound traffic will turn left. The I-95 interchange at exits 1B-C will be replaced with a new design that removes the bridge that carries RI 10 over I-95, Wellington Avenue and the Northeast Corridor. Both directions of RI 10 will have a new left-hand exit that allows vehicles to enter I-95 going in the opposite direction (e.g. RI 10 northbound to I-95 southbound, and vice versa), but movements that enter I-95 going in the same direction will remain relatively unchanged, aside from minor ramp adjustments. In 2020, RIDOT renumbered the exits as part of a statewide project to convert to mileage-based numbering.