It runs from the border with Connecticut near Westerly, through Warwick and Providence, and to the Massachusetts state line in Pawtucket.

The right-of-way of New London Turnpike goes through the Big River Management Area (as a dirt road), crosses Division Road as a four-way intersection with the north side of the turnpike paved, has an interchange with I-95 (exit 7), and continues for 1.85 miles (2.98 km) before connecting with Route 3 in West Warwick for a quarter mile (0.40 km).

As much as possible, Route 3 was moved back to the old road; it only used the new freeway by necessity in the area near Kitts Corner and over the Big River.

[citation needed] I-95 in Connecticut was finished December 12, 1964, to the Rhode Island state line, where it connected to the older Route 95 divided highway.

The portion from the Connecticut state line to Route 3 north of Richmond was upgraded to a freeway with construction ending May 1968.

Among the areas affected was Cathedral Square, which had been a bustling center of civic life before World War II.

Editions of The Times and The Providence Journal in 1949 recall how neighbors in the Woodlawn section of Pawtucket feared the construction of the highway.

According to Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) blueprints, the highway was originally planned for the west side of Pawtucket, avoiding the Blackstone River.

In January 2024, the state of Rhode Island was rewarded an $81 million federal grant to construct the missing movements between I-95 and Route 4 in Warwick.

Federal judges ordered Rhode Island officials on September 21, 2022, to stop collecting truck-only tolls due to the long-hauling trucking industry's complaint that the highway charges were unconstitutional and unfair.