Interstate 195 construction progress photographs

Collection

Identifier: PC-002

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of 175 photoprints detailing the progress of the construction of Interstate 195’s bridges and interchanges in the Fall River area, with the majority being construction of the bridge between Fall River and Somerset, Massachusetts, over the Taunton River. There are four contracts documented, each group originally housed in a separate binder. Each photograph is labelled and numbered by either the photographer or the contractor, the sequence of which is not always clear (although some numbers in the sequence are missing, there does not appear to be no reason to believe that the photograph is missing from the collection).

Dates

1961-1966

Creator

Henderson Studio (Photographer, Organization)

Biographical / Historical

Interstate 195 (I-195) is an Interstate highway running a combined 44.23 miles in the U.S. states of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. It travels from a junction with Interstate 95 in Providence, Rhode Island, east to a junction with I-495 and Route 25 in Wareham, Massachusetts. It runs east–west and passes through the cities of Fall River and New Bedford, Massachusetts. Planned as a replacement for U.S. Route 6, I-195 provides a major direct highway route from New York to Cape Cod via I-95 through Providence as well as for travelers coming from Connecticut, western Massachusetts and other Rhode Island points. Construction commenced in January 1961 with groundbreaking ceremonies (see folder #1).