Starting Wednesday, motorists on Route 95 northbound seeking to travel eastbound will be required to take exit 19, which will take them over the new Providence River Bridge.

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The Providence Journal / Glenn Osmundson

PROVIDENCE

Getting into the city from the south is about to change.

The state Department of Transportation says that on Wednesday morning it will permanently close Exit 20 on Route 95 north, which has for decades carried traffic from the south to Route 195 east, toward Cape Cod.

For through-traffic and traffic headed for the city’s East Side, there is already an alternate: the new section of Route 195, reached from the new Exit 19 that the DOT opened in November. That takes traffic across the new Providence River Bridge, the steel arch bridge set in place last summer.

But the closing of Exit 20 will cut off access to two exits near downtown, forcing drivers who have been able to get much closer to their destinations before leaving the highway to detour onto city streets.

The closure is the latest of a series of ramp openings and closings that are re-arranging the way that much of the city’s traffic gets on and off its highways.

As part of the $610-million Iway project, the DOT is shuffling traffic around to move the interchange where Route 195 meets Route 95 — just south of downtown — about half-mile south. Roughly a mile of Route 195 is being moved along with it. The new arch bridge over the Providence River is the project’s most prominent landmark.

On Wednesday, before the morning commute, DOT crews will permanently close Exit 20 off Route 95 north, affecting traffic to and from downtown, the Jewelry District, large sections of the East Side including Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design, the area including Rhode Island Hospital and areas west of downtown.

Closing the exit will mean that traffic from the south on Route 95 will no longer be able to use the old Route 195 or its remaining exits — Exit 1, to downtown, and Exit 2, to Wickenden Street on the East Side.

That shouldn’t affect through-traffic, though, because the DOT opened Exit 19, carrying northbound traffic on Route 95 to the eastbound lanes of the new highway, in November.

It will affect traffic into the city, however.

The DOT is suggesting detours to reach the city’s downtown, the Garrahy Judicial Complex and the hospital, among other destinations. To get to downtown and the area near it from the south, the agency suggests either getting off Route 95 at the Thurbers Avenue exit and driving up Allens Avenue, or going farther north on Route 95 and taking Exits 21 and 22, Broadway and Memorial Boulevard.

The DOT is closing Exit 20 to allow demolition of the old portions of Route 195 and for continued construction of the Iway project.

For now, the closure will not affect drivers who take Route 195 east from Route 95 south. They will still have access to Exits 1 and 2. But that will change at the end of this year when all Route 195 east traffic will flow over the new span. The Iway project is expected to be complete in 2012.

Other recent changes include:

•The DOT has closed the Friendship Street overpass over Route 95 and the ramp from there to 195 east.

•It opened a new Exit 2 on Route 195 east, replacing Exit 3 (Gano Street), as the exit serving much of the city’s East Side. (The new Exit 2 — India Street — is accessible only from the new stretch of Route 195 east.)

•It opened another, temporary ramp onto Route 195 east from Hoppin Street, ordinarily an obscure corner of the Jewelry District, to make up for the loss of the Friendship Street ramp.

Soon, perhaps late this week, the DOT will also close the Pine Street overpass over Route 95, agency spokesman Charles St. Martin said. That traffic can shift one block north, taking the Broad Street overpass instead.

The DOT is optimistic that all this can happen without traffic jams.

“Sometimes it may take a day or two for people to get used to things,” said Frank Corrao III, the DOT’s deputy chief engineer in charge of construction management.

Meanwhile, the DOT has temporarily created two Exit 2s on Route 195 east, one on the old highway and the other just opened on the new section.

DOT Director Michael Lewis said that could be “a little confusing, but it won’t be seen by the same traffic.” Find a new route

The change: Friendship Street overpass and ramp to 195 east closed May 27.

Affected: Traffic from Rhode Island Hospital and Federal Hill areas headed for Route 195 east.

What to do: Take the Point Street overpass across Route 95 to Hoppin Street and turn left (or north) on Hoppin to reach a new, temporary ramp to 195 east.

The change: New Exit 2 from Route 195 east to the East Side opened May 22, replacing Exit 3 (Gano Street). There will be no Exit 1.

Affected: The exit is only accessible to traffic from Route 95 north.

What to do: Take the new Exit 2, which comes before the closed Gano Street exit, to reach the East Side. If you miss the new exit, you will find yourself on the Washington Bridge headed for East Providence.

The change: Exit 20 from Route 95 north will close permanently Wednesday to allow construction of part of the new interchange from Route 29 to Route 195.

Affected: Northbound Route 95 traffic headed for Route 195 east, and for Exits 1 (downtown) and 2 (Wickenden Street) on the old 195.

What to do: For College Hill/Fox Point/Lower East Side, take the new Exit 19 from Route 95 north to Route 195 east, then taking the new Exit 2 from Route 195.

For the Jewelry District and the J. Joseph Garrahy Judicial Complex, take Route 95 Exit 18 (Thurbers Avenue), then Allens Avenue north.

For downtown, continue north on Route 95 to Exit 22A (Downtown/Memorial Boulevard).

Where to get DOT information

The Web: Maps and other information will be at the agency’s Web site at www.dot.ri.gov.

Telephone: Call 511 for recorded travel information. The DOT Customer Service office is open weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at (401) 222-2450

Radio: The DOT’s Highway Advisory Radio System is at 1630 AM.

blandis@projo.com