Massachusetts Route 146

During the late 1940s, the then-Massachusetts Department of Public Works (MassDPW, now MassDOT) planned an extension of Route 146 from Rhode Island north toward Worcester. MA 146 was built between 1949 and 1952 as a four-lane divided roadway from US 20 in Millbury to Boston Road in Sutton, and from Sutton south to the Massachusetts-Rhode Island border, Route 146 was built as a three-lane undivided roadway, providing one lane in each direction and a shared lane in the center.

In 1981, the MassDPW began work on rebuilding Route 146. During the next three years, the state rebuilt the 13.1-mile-long (21.1 km) section from just south of Boston Road in Sutton to the Massachusetts-Rhode Island border, replacing the three-lane undivided section with a four-lane freeway and eliminating all at-grade intersections and curb cuts.

The project upgrading the section linking Exit 94 on the Massachusetts Turnpike north into downtown Worcester at Brosnihan Square to Interstate Highway standards was completed in November 2007 according to MassHighway. The improvements to the road created an economic boon to the Blackstone Valley through which it passes. The improved transportation corridor has attracted several large employers since the road was upgraded.[2] As of 2015, the road was widened and a major intersection was improved to fix traffic flow problems.[3]

Exits traditionally were not numbered, but sequential numbers were assigned by MassHighway during the last sign replacement project. All interchanges were to be renumbered to milepost-based numbers under a project scheduled to start in 2016.[4] However, this project was indefinitely postponed until November 18, 2019, the MassDOT confirmed that beginning in late summer 2020 the exit renumbering project will begin.[5] On March 12, 2021, MassDOT announced that the highway's exits will be renumbered starting on March 17.

The entire route is in Worcester County.

Location	mi	km	Old exit	New exit[6]	Destinations	Notes
Millville	0.0	0.0	—	—	Route 146 south – Providence	Continuation into Rhode Island
Uxbridge	1.1	1.8	1	1	Route 146A – Uxbridge, North Smithfield, RI
	2.6	4.2	2	3	Chocolog Road to Route 146A – Uxbridge	To Route 98
	5.3	8.5	3	6	Route 16 – Uxbridge, Douglas
Douglas	7.6	12.2	4	8	Lackey Dam Road – Douglas, Northbridge
Northbridge	8.5	13.7	5	9	Main Street – Northbridge, Sutton
Sutton	10.3	16.6	6	11	Purgatory Road – Northbridge
	12.3	19.8	7	13	Central Turnpike – Northbridge, Oxford
			North end of freeway
	13.8	22.2			Boston Road – Wilkinsonville, Sutton Center	At-grade intersection
Millbury	16.0	25.7	8	16	West Main Street – Millbury
			South end of freeway
	16.9	27.2	9	17	Route 122A south – Millbury Center	Southern terminus of Route 122A concurrency
	17.9	28.8	10	18	US 20 / I-90 / Mass Pike – Springfield, Boston, Auburn, Northboro	Exit 94 on I-90 / Massachusetts Turnpike
Worcester	18.8	30.3	11	19	Millbury Street – Quinsigamond Village	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	19.5	31.4	12	20	Route 122A north (McKeon Road) to I-290 west – Vernon Hill, College of the Holy Cross	Northern terminus of Route 122A concurrency; no I-290 signage southbound
	20.5	33.0	13	21	I-290 east – Shrewsbury, Marlboro	Northbound exit and southbound entrance; exit 16 on I-290 west
	20.8	33.5		—	Quinsigamond Avenue – Downtown Worcester	Northern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Electronic toll collection       Incomplete access

• Mass. Route 146 Current and Speculative Future Exit Numbers List