October 12, 2017: At the time, the exit on RI I-295 for US 6 was Exit 6; now it’s Exit 9. I was traveling south so I didn’t take many pictures on that interstate. This one has two state capitals on one BGS!
Straight from the Rhode Island DOT, and then discussed on AARoads, I-295 in that state just had its exit numbers reset to match mile markers instead of going sequentially.
New England states and New York have clung stubbornly to the sequential numbering despite the obvious superiority of mile-marker-based exits. I had first-hand experience with this this fall when I was trying to calculate how far it was from one point to another on interstates and finding it took much more time.
Maine converted in 2004 (PDF) when it flipped around I-95 and I-295 so the former stayed attached to the Maine Turnpike the whole way. That was long ago enough my GPS had it; these new changes will necessitate updates to all that software and any GPS that can’t update will be stuck with the old numbers.
I-295 in Rhode Island is 23 miles long and spills a bit into Massachusetts. It would make sense for Massachusetts to renumber its short piece by picking up the mileage at the state line.
Rhode Island will also renumber exits on I-95 and I-195, but the latter will be tricky. It has eight exits in three miles, so instead of 1-8 there will be lettered suffixes added.
On October 12, 2017, I traveled the entire lengths of I-195, I-295, and US 6 in “Little Rhody” — a combined 54 miles. US 6 spends as much time in the Ocean State as it does in Iowa County. The scenery is a little different though.