At a press conference held Monday at Quonset, Gov. Dan McKee and the Rhode Island Department of Transportation announced that the state would receive $81 million in federal funds to help better connect Quonset Business Park to Route 95.

While the project is intended primarily to improve ease-of-access to the business park from other parts of the state, construction  will bring the project within Warwick’s city limits.

As part of the project, RIDOT will be building two ramps- one from Route 4 northbound onto Route 95 southbound, and from Route 95 northbound onto Route 4 southbound. The former will also result in the construction of an overpass over I-95.

In addition to better connecting communities in the southwestern part of the state with the business park, the new ramps are intended to “finish” the interchange between I-95 and Route 4.

“For decades, Rhode Island travelers have been unable to complete the links between Route 4 and Interstate 95 without navigating a series of signals and local roads,” McKee wrote in a letter to RIDOT director Peter Alviti in 2022 supporting the project. “This project would finally complete the link between these two highways and provide smoother connections to one of the state’s largest employers.”

The impact in Warwick may not be quite as large as the impact in North Kingstown, East Greenwich or West Greenwich, but Mayor Frank Picozzi said that he welcomed it all the same.

“I like the project overall,” Picozzi said. “It’s greatly needed and has been for a long time.”

Another major goal of the project, RIDOT said, is to keep freight trucks off local roads in North Kingstown and East Greenwich, something that Picozzi recently had a public tiff with the Rhode Island Airport Corporation (RIAC) about in Warwick.

According to RIDOT, the overall cost of the project will be $135 million, meaning that the state will have to cover $54 million not covered by federal funding.

State leaders on Monday celebrated the funding, with Senator Jack Reed saying that the funding would have a strong impact on those living and working in the area.

“This is a forward-looking investment in growing Rhode Island’s economy, improving traffic flow, and helping thousands of Rhode Islanders get to and from work quicker and more efficiently,” Reed stated. “I am hopeful these additional federal dollars will free up funding to help the state with other pressing transportation priorities, including the modernization of our bridges.”

Other construction as part of the project will include the addition of exit and entrance ramps on Route 403 in North Kingstown.

Construction is expected to begin in 2025.