Though it is America’s smallest state, the Ocean State has the longest official name: Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Rhode Island is not an island at all; however, one tenth of its inland area is submerged beneath salt water, and no part of the state is more than a 30-minute drive from the sea. Rhode Island’s Providence Grays won the first Baseball World Championship in 1884 defeating the New York Metropolitans at the Polo Grounds in New York. In 1914, Babe Ruth played for the Grays, by then a minor league team, hitting his only minor league home run that year.
38 of 39 Rhode Island communities are serviced by the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority or RIPTA, which utilizes bus and trolley lines as transport. Rhode Island’s economy is driven by service industries including healthcare and education while manufacturing continues to contribute in this, the “Birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution” so named because of the state’s leading position in textile production in the 18th Century.
Roads
Interstate 95: I-95: I-95 is the main north-south Interstate Highway on America’s east coast. In Rhode Island, I-95 travels from the Connecticut border near Westerly through Warwick and Providence and then on to the Massachusetts border in Pawtucket. Routes I-195 and I-295 (discussed below) are spurs of I-95.
Interstate 195: I-195: Travelling a combined 40.1 miles in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, I-195 leaves its junction with I-95 in Providence then heads east to a junction with I-495 and Route 25 on Massachusetts’ Cape Cod. The section of I-195 in downtown Providence is being replaced. The new route will lie just south of the Fox Point Hurricane Barrier.
Interstate 295: I-295: At a length of just 26.58 miles in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, I-295 is short but vital. From its southern terminus in Warwick, it forms an essential western beltway around Providence before ending to the north in Attleboro, Massachusetts. Plans are underway to supplement I-295 with an eastern beltway around Providence.