Spent Saturday redriving many of freeways of metro Boston, Rhode Island, and eastern Massachusetts.

Started things off by heading northward into the Big Dig and then northeast across the Tobin Bridge to the U.S. 1 Northeast Expressway. A repainting job is underway along the Tobin Bridge at mid-span. U.S. 1 was once touted as part of the through-city routing of Interstate 95 through Boston. A section of the highway is a full fledged freeway between Interstate 93 and Lynn Street at the Suffolk/Middlesex County line. From there northward, U.S. 1 exists as an expressway devoid of cross-traffic or intersections, but lined on either side with an array of businesses and shopping plazas. This unsual configuration lasts the entire northward drive from Boston to junction Interstate 95/Massachusetts 128 and Peabody. Intersections along the routing are replaced with interchanges. Right-hand turns are permitted but there are no traffic lights. A jersey or guard rail median segregates the north-south movements and prohibits left-hand turns.

U.S. 1 transitions into an expressway (Frank P. Bennett Memorial Highway) at Malden, north of the Lynn Street. Interchanges exist along the northward drive to Peabody including those at Essex Street, Main Street, and Lynns Fells Parkway at Saugus.

We doubled back southward along Interstate 95 & Massachusetts 128 around the city of Boston. A busy six-lane freeway, Massachusetts 128 predates the Interstate system in construction and was grand fathered in as Interstate 95 when it was determined that I-95 would not be built through the city. Signs refer to both highways as Interstate 95 and Massachusetts 128 throughout their shared alignment. Massachusetts 128 east of Interstate 93’s southern terminus however was eliminated in 1997.

U.S. 1 joins Interstate 95 in a wrong-way overlap between Exit 15 and junction Interstate 93. This cosigning creates a situation where Interstate 95 south & U.S. 1 north sharing the same carriageway. A similar configuration occurs with U.S. 3 and Interstate 95’s brief overlap between Exits 32 and 33. U.S. 1 follows Interstate 95 south and Interstate 93 north between Dedham and the Tobin Bridge.

Construction is present at the Interstate 95, Interstate 93, and U.S. 1 junction at Canton, Massachusetts.Work began April of 2004 and should be completed in Fall of 2007. The project includes the addition of one general purpose lane per direction within the median of both Interstates 93 and 95 leading east and west of the interchange. Widening also includes the building of full left-hand shoulders and auxiliary lanes.

Additionally the Interstate 95 southbound ramp leading away from Massachusetts 128 will be widened to two lanes. Interstate 95 & Massachusetts 128 bridges over the Neponset River, Amtrak, and University Avenue were already replaced during this project.

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