How did Boston get 495?

[kernals12]

Boston is lucky to have 2 freeway loops; 95/128 and 495. It means that congestion in Boston's suburbs is merely annoying rather than unbearable.

It's especially amazing when you consider all the cities that clearly need outer loops but don't have them (Washington DC, Atlanta, Seattle) or do have them but users are required to pay tolls (Houston, Dallas, Chicago). So how did Boston luck out?

[hotdogPi]

Four of the six cities you mention had much lower populations when the Interstate system was first being built.

[The Ghostbuster]

Boston almost had a third loop, the Middle Circumferential Highway: http://www.bostonroads.com/roads/middle-belt/. However, the road proved to be unfeasible.

[webny99]

Boston almost had a third loop, the Middle Circumferential Highway: http://www.bostonroads.com/roads/middle-belt/. However, the road proved to be unfeasible.

Interesting. There is also an almost-complete third loop outside of I-495, following I-195, I-95, RI/MA 146, I-290, I-190, (gap), the Everett Turnpike, I-293, I-93, and NH 101. I don't think that's by design, but it could be used that way aside from the gap between Leominster, MA and Nashua, NH.

I-495 also serves as an important regional connector to Cape Cod in the south and NH/ME in the north; it's much more than just a loop around Boston.

[kernals12]

Boston almost had a third loop, the Middle Circumferential Highway: http://www.bostonroads.com/roads/middle-belt/. However, the road proved to be unfeasible.

"almost" is doing a lot of heavy lifting. As far as I can tell, it was never anything more than a line on a map. Bostonroads is the only place I can find any reference to it.

[mariethefoxy]

495 in Massachusetts isnt exactly a rural loop, it has quite a few bigger cities around it, Lowell, Lawrence, Taunton, Marlborough.

[MATraveler128]

I-495 in Massachusetts is a loop for Boston that serves as a major connector for the Merrimack Valley and a major route to Cape Cod. It almost doesn't seem like a loop of Boston at all. Besides, it is the way to get to Maine without going through the city of Boston. Having driven all 120 miles of it, I can confirm this to be true. Lowell is even large enough to have a spur (Lowell Connector) leading into the city.

[SectorZ]

Four of the six cities you mention had much lower populations when the Interstate system was first being built.

Expanding off of this, four of the six also have the ability to host full loops. Boston being along water made it so bypassing was only possible on one side.

(I know Houston you could argue about whether it can host multiple complete loops around the city due to Trinity Bay and Galveston Bay. Chicago is out completely in that capacity and Seattle I would rule out as well.)

[DJ Particle]

Boston almost had a third loop, the Middle Circumferential Highway: http://www.bostonroads.com/roads/middle-belt/. However, the road proved to be unfeasible.

"almost" is doing a lot of heavy lifting. As far as I can tell, it was never anything more than a line on a map. Bostonroads is the only place I can find any reference to it.

It's "almost" enough that there are still some ghost ramps present that it would have connected to, so I guess you can say a little tiny itty bit of it was built.  😁

[Ted$8roadFan]

It seems that the other places me to even a needing loops could have them (or could have had them) back in the day. However it seems unlikely that an outer loop could be built today, given significant costs, competition, and NIMBYism.

[Ted$8roadFan]

The 495 corridor may have been rural in 1950 or 1960, but of course its completion changed all of the places it passes through.

[hotdogPi]

The 495 corridor may have been rural in 1950 or 1960, but of course its completion changed all of the places it passes through.

Lowell, Lawrence, and Haverhill were definitely not rural then.

[kramie13]

Boston almost had a third loop, the Middle Circumferential Highway: http://www.bostonroads.com/roads/middle-belt/. However, the road proved to be unfeasible.

That 3rd loop exists in the form of MA 27 

[MATraveler128]

There was also the Inner Belt that never happened. That would have allowed for a bypass of the Central Artery, but it would have been Boston's third loop, even though it would have been entirely within Boston.

[Ted$8roadFan]

The 495 corridor may have been rural in 1950 or 1960, but of course its completion changed all of the places it passes through.

Lowell, Lawrence, and Haverhill were definitely not rural then.

But most other towns arguable were.

[roadman65]

If agentsteele was still active he would have tore the OP to shreds by saying something like "Because AASHTO gave it that number" or " Because that is what it is."

If I'm reading it correctly it has nothing to do with the number usage, but why is an outer beltway chosen for the city of Boston.

Well whatever, IMO, it was good that they built the freeway when they did cause if they waited later, it would have been more costly and more harder to get control of the land needed.

[Alps]

If agentsteele was still active he would have tore the OP to shreds by saying something like "Because AASHTO gave it that number" or " Because that is what it is."

If I'm reading it correctly it has nothing to do with the number usage, but why is an outer beltway chosen for the city of Boston.

Well whatever, IMO, it was good that they built the freeway when they did cause if they waited later, it would have been more costly and more harder to get control of the land needed.

it's just a glorified ramp from MA 24 to I-95

[pderocco]

The southern part was long delayed. I-495 was completed to I-95 in 1969, but not extended to MA-24 in 1983. I always wondered if that piece (and renumbering MA-25 as I-495) was an afterthought.

[froggie]

^ It was.  Pre~1975, what is now 495 east of 95 was planned and built as part of the Route 25 Expressway.  MassDPW got approval in 1975 to designate the 95-to-195 segment as 495.

[PHLBOS]

Boston almost had a third loop, the Middle Circumferential Highway: http://www.bostonroads.com/roads/middle-belt/. However, the road proved to be unfeasible.

"almost" is doing a lot of heavy lifting. As far as I can tell, it was never anything more than a line on a map. Bostonroads is the only place I can find any reference to it.

It's "almost" enough that there are still some ghost ramps present that it would have connected to, so I guess you can say a little tiny itty bit of it was built.  😁

Where are these ghost ramps that you're referring to?  Keep in mind that such is not in reference to the cancelled I-695/Inner Belt.

[hotdogPi]

Where are these ghost ramps that you're referring to?  Keep in mind that such is not in reference to the cancelled I-695/Inner Belt.

MA 125, maybe? (This isn't a ghost ramp but rather a 50 mph expressway with no development.)

[PHLBOS]

Where are these ghost ramps that you're referring to?  Keep in mind that such is not in reference to the cancelled I-695/Inner Belt.

MA 125, maybe? (This isn't a ghost ramp but rather a 50 mph expressway with no development.)

Such is a little too far north from the proposed highway corridor in question.  Such would've ended at I-95 in Boxford.

[Alps]

^ It was.  Pre~1975, what is now 495 east of 95 was planned and built as part of the Route 25 Expressway.  MassDPW got approval in 1975 to designate the 95-to-195 segment as 495.

* East of MA 24 was planned and built as part of Route 25. The part from I-95 to MA 24 was designated MA 25 as it was built but it was already planned to become part of I-495.

[SectorZ]

Boston almost had a third loop, the Middle Circumferential Highway: http://www.bostonroads.com/roads/middle-belt/. However, the road proved to be unfeasible.

"almost" is doing a lot of heavy lifting. As far as I can tell, it was never anything more than a line on a map. Bostonroads is the only place I can find any reference to it.

It's "almost" enough that there are still some ghost ramps present that it would have connected to, so I guess you can say a little tiny itty bit of it was built.  😁

Where are these ghost ramps that you're referring to?  Keep in mind that such is not in reference to the cancelled I-695/Inner Belt.

I don't believe I've ever found in my travels a single trace of what may have been the middle loop. I think that was just an idea and nothing more.

[roadman65]

If agentsteele was still active he would have tore the OP to shreds by saying something like "Because AASHTO gave it that number" or " Because that is what it is."

If I'm reading it correctly it has nothing to do with the number usage, but why is an outer beltway chosen for the city of Boston.

Well whatever, IMO, it was good that they built the freeway when they did cause if they waited later, it would have been more costly and more harder to get control of the land needed.

it's just a glorified ramp from MA 24 to I-95

Lol!