In the mid-1950s, highway officials in Rhode Island, and the
Rhode Island Department of Public Works (RIDPW; now the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, or RIDOT) proposed the
East Shore Expressway to "bypass the existing two-lane RI 114 in East Providence, Barrington, Warren, and Bristol". The first (and only) portion to be completed was done as part of the construction of
Interstate 195 in East Providence; this 1.8-mile piece of highway connected I-195 to RI 114 (Wampanoag Trail). In 1966, officials in Rhode Island and Massachusetts undertook additional planning for a southern bypass of Providence, which would connect to I-295 at both ends and make a full beltway around Providence and
Pawtucket. Interstate 895 was officially added to the
Interstate System in 1968 and officially deleted in 1982. Throughout the planning process, there were two different routes proposed, the second of which was proposed only after the first route met with considerable opposition from residents in
Warwick,
Barrington, and
Warren.
Original route The original route for Interstate 895 was the shorter of the two routes and would have stayed completely within the
Providence metro area. Interstate 895's southern terminus would have been at the present-day
Route 37/
Interstate 295 interchange in
Cranston. From that point, it would have used the current
RI 37 freeway, which was completed in 1965, and which would have been extended past its current eastern terminus with
U.S. Route 1, through
Cranston and
Warwick to Conimicut Point where it would have used a new bridge over
Narragansett Bay to reach
Barrington. The Highway would have proceeded east through
Barrington along Nayatt Road then turned northeast in the vicinity of Rumstick Road along
Route 114,
Rhode Island Route 136, and
Massachusetts Route 136 to interchange with
Interstate 195 near Exit 2 (now Exit 5) in
Swansea,
Massachusetts. From there it would have proceeded north and west, roughly along
Route 118 (including a cloverleaf interchange with
U.S. Route 44 in
Rehoboth) to end at the
Interstate 295/
Interstate 95 interchange in
Attleboro, Massachusetts, where the mainline would have continued as I-295. The original route was cancelled in 1971 due to community opposition, with Rhode Island officials designing an alternate route. At this time, Massachusetts cancelled the portion of the highway between I-195 in Swansea and the I-295/I-95 interchange in Attleboro because of community opposition in Swansea, Rehoboth, Attleboro, and nearby
Dighton.
Alternate route Interstate 895's alternate route was planned after the original route was cancelled in 1971 due to community opposition. The alternate route would have been far longer than the original, but would have provided access to
Newport. The route would have started at Route 138 in
Richmond where it would have headed to
U.S. Route 1 via a never-built freeway. At
U.S. Route 1, that freeway would have connected to the present-day
Route 138 freeway via a nearly-completed cloverleaf interchange with Route 1. It would then travel over the
Jamestown-Verrazano Bridge and the
Newport Pell Bridge to
Newport. From the
Newport Pell Bridge, it would have traveled north through
Aquidneck Island using one of two possible alignments. One alignment was directly along the west shore of the island and the second alignment was between
Route 114 and
Route 138. At the northern end of
Aquidneck Island, the highway would have proceeded over the
Mount Hope Bridge (a new span would have been built next to the existing span to accommodate southbound traffic), then along
Route 136 through
Bristol and
Warren, and into Massachusetts along
Route 136 to interchange with
Interstate 195 near Exit 5 (old exit 2) in
Swansea,
Massachusetts. From there it would have proceeded north and west, roughly along
Route 118 to end at the
Interstate 295/
Interstate 95 interchange in
Attleboro,
Massachusetts. This route was also met with much opposition from residents in the communities affected. This opposition, combined with the discovery of a
Civil War-era cemetery along one of the proposed
Aquidneck Island alignments, caused
Rhode Island and
Massachusetts to briefly consider putting Interstate 895 along
Rhode Island Route 24 and
Massachusetts Route 24, though nothing ever came of those plans and eventually all plans for Interstate 895 were abandoned.