As Work on ‘Missing Move’ Ramps Up, Reed to Join FHWA Administrator & RI Officials for Tour of I-95 Project
EAST GREENWICH, RI – What has been under discussion for decades picked up steam in 2020 when U.S. Senator Jack Reed led the successful effort to deliver a $4 million federal “planning grant” to address the I-95 ‘Missing Move,’ which has developed into a $144 million project that includes construction of two critical ramps that were never built when Route 4 was constructed in the 1960s. When it is completed, the project will allow drivers to travel directly from Route 4 to I-95 in all directions and to key sections of the 3,200-acre Quonset Business Park, home to over 225 businesses and counting. It will also help keep industry freight traffic off local roads, reducing congestion, noise, and pollution in residential neighborhoods, while creating more accessibility and opportunities for job growth at Quonset.
On Thursday, August 20, at 10 a.m., Senator Reed, a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD), who worked with his colleagues to include $7.25 billion for competitive INFRA grants over five years through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which was signed by President Joe Biden, will join U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Administrator Sean McMaster, Governor Dan McKee, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, and Congressman Seth Magaziner and Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) interim Director Robert Rocchio for a media tour. Following the tour, Administrator McMaster and members of the Congressional delegation will speak to the press about transportation priorities.
The project is being funded in part by an $81 million federal Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) grant that Senator Reed, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, and Congressmen Seth Magaziner and Gabe Amo secured back in January 2024 with the help of then-U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg during the Biden Administration. That federal funding enabled RIDOT to move forward with the ‘Missing Move’ project, which is divided into two main components:
The first portion to be constructed includes three ramps on Route 403 in North Kingstown to connect the Quonset Business Park’s West Davisville district – including a new roundabout south of Route 403 at Compass Circle.
The second component includes the “missing moves” at the I-95/Route 4 interchange in Warwick. RIDOT is building a new flyover bridge to link Route 4 North to I-95 South using an existing right-of-way for an at-grade link between I-95 North and Route 4 South. The “missing moves” are expected to be finished by the summer of 2027.
RIDOT estimates that when the project is completed it will eliminate an estimated 15 to 20 minutes of daily commuting time; stop industrial trucks from having to drive through neighborhoods in the project area of North Kingstown, Warwick, and East Greenwich; and collectively reduce approximately 500 metric tons of greenhouse gases per year.
