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Massachusetts

Started by hotdogPi, October 12, 2013, 04:50:12 PM

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roadman65

I was reading Wikipedia about MA Route 3A and found it interesting that MA considers both segments to be continuous even though the two are 20 miles apart.  In addition one is an alternate for US 3 while the other is for MA 3.

Apparently MA considers the two to be concurrent with both MA and US 3 in Boston, even though not signed.  So overall MA 3A is 97 miles long with 20 of them miles being silent.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe


hotdogPi

Quote from: roadman65 on November 27, 2015, 07:07:19 PM
I was reading Wikipedia about MA Route 3A and found it interesting that MA considers both segments to be continuous even though the two are 20 miles apart.  In addition one is an alternate for US 3 while the other is for MA 3.

Apparently MA considers the two to be concurrent with both MA and US 3 in Boston, even though not signed.  So overall MA 3A is 97 miles long with 20 of them miles being silent.

Mile markers confirm this.
Clinched, minus I-93 (I'm missing a few miles and my file is incorrect)

Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.

roadman65

Wiki does, anyway.  I do not know how accurate that is as we all know all it takes is one troll to go on there and change things at will.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

hotdogPi

Quote from: roadman65 on November 27, 2015, 07:25:35 PM
Wiki does, anyway.  I do not know how accurate that is as we all know all it takes is one troll to go on there and change things at will.

Mile markers for MA 3A in Burlington are in the 70s. Wikipedia is correct.

On the other hand, Google Maps once decided that the unsigned section of MA 3A should be signed. Then it got changed to MA 3 (replacing both US 3 and MA 3A), and it needs to be fixed back to US 3.
Clinched, minus I-93 (I'm missing a few miles and my file is incorrect)

Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.

AMLNet49

Quote from: roadman65 on November 27, 2015, 07:07:19 PM
I was reading Wikipedia about MA Route 3A and found it interesting that MA considers both segments to be continuous even though the two are 20 miles apart.  In addition one is an alternate for US 3 while the other is for MA 3.

Apparently MA considers the two to be concurrent with both MA and US 3 in Boston, even though not signed.  So overall MA 3A is 97 miles long with 20 of them miles being silent.

This is also true of other Alternate routes in Massachusetts including 1A and 6A. As for 3A being an alternate of both US 3 and MA 3, the state doesn't consider US 3 and MA 3 to be seperate routes. So for example, under the new mile-based exit numbers project, the exits on the freeway portion of US 3 near the New Hampshire border will have numbers corresponding with the distance to Plymouth.

roadman65

That will be interesting to see when they complete the numbering scheme. 

I wonder though if US 6 and US 44 will have exit numbers on their freeway segments being so short.  US 44, IMO, should as its not that hard to calculate being only 38 miles within the state.  US 6 could use them still using the two lane mileage west of MA 3, but are they willing to spend $$$?
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

bob7374

Quote from: roadman65 on November 27, 2015, 08:27:28 PM
I wonder though if US 6 and US 44 will have exit numbers on their freeway segments being so short.  US 44, IMO, should as its not that hard to calculate being only 38 miles within the state.  US 6 could use them still using the two lane mileage west of MA 3, but are they willing to spend $$$?
US 6 will have the new milepost based numbers, US 44 will not. MassDOT decided not to apply numbers to any route currently without them. The exceptions being the MA 28 expressway on the Cape and the short MA 57 expressway west of Springfield.
The future US 6 numbers are here:
http://www.gribblenation.net/mass21/us6exits.html

roadman65

Makes sense that short freeways without numbers should not get them from the financial standpoint.  In reality it would really help even for the shortest freeways, but that is a different story right now.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

AMLNet49

Quote from: roadman65 on November 28, 2015, 01:16:58 PM
Makes sense that short freeways without numbers should not get them from the financial standpoint.  In reality it would really help even for the shortest freeways, but that is a different story right now.
To give them some credit, they are applying them to a couple of highways that didn't have them previously, which is more than I expected to be sure. US-44 might be made completely limited access between I-495 and MA-3 at some point (they are already going to replace the rotary at the west end of the Super-2), so they might wait on that. But I also saw in one of the comments that US-6 has a "very short" freeway segment which isn't true, the segment is quite sizable and has 13 interchanges.

roadman65

I wonder why US 44 was not truncated to MA 3 at the freeway end?  Considering that, according to GSV, the signage east of MA 3 on its original alignment is not all that good.  Even from MA 3A you have only a small green sign on the SW corner of the intersection of US 44 and MA 3A, with a large "44" on it with its control cities beneath it, but no shields or even a "US" text.  So I am guessing the state does not maintain the two routes inside Plymouth.

However, city or state maintained the section east of the freeway might as well be removed from the state and US route list.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

Pete from Boston

Probably to aid the steady stream of visitors into the center of Plymouth.

roadman65

Quote from: Pete from Boston on November 29, 2015, 09:49:35 AM
Probably to aid the steady stream of visitors into the center of Plymouth.
I guess it would as Plymouth is a tourist destination being the Mayflower landed there to start this great new world for freedom from England several centuries ago.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

Pete from Boston


Quote from: roadman65 on November 29, 2015, 04:00:57 PM
Quote from: Pete from Boston on November 29, 2015, 09:49:35 AM
Probably to aid the steady stream of visitors into the center of Plymouth.
I guess it would as Plymouth is a tourist destination being the Mayflower landed there to start this great new world for freedom from England several centuries ago.

Yes.  People love to go look at the last remnant of the rock that it's unlikely anyone of significance ever set foot on.

roadman65

Then you have St. Augustine where some will dispute that its the first sign of the white man in the new world, then others  will say Jamestown.  History has many firsts, but all like to touch the ground its made on.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

froggie

There's no dispute.  St. Augustine predates Roanoke Island by 2 decades, Jamestown by 4 decades, and Plymouth by almost 6.

The Nature Boy

There's also the unsuccessful Popham Colony in Maine that was founded at the same time as Jamestown. They had A LOT fewer deaths than Jamestown but after surviving one New England winter, they ran back to England.

Makes you wonder though how different the world would be today if they had stuck it out.

PHLBOS

Quote from: bob7374 on November 27, 2015, 10:08:55 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on November 27, 2015, 08:27:28 PM
I wonder though if US 6 and US 44 will have exit numbers on their freeway segments being so short.  US 44, IMO, should as its not that hard to calculate being only 38 miles within the state.  US 6 could use them still using the two lane mileage west of MA 3, but are they willing to spend $$$?
US 6 will have the new milepost based numbers, US 44 will not. MassDOT decided not to apply numbers to any route currently without them. The exceptions being the MA 28 expressway on the Cape and the short MA 57 expressway west of Springfield.
The future US 6 numbers are here:
http://www.gribblenation.net/mass21/us6exits.html
Worth noting: the exit numbered intersections (Exits 9, 10 & 11) along MA 128 in Gloucester are slated to be eliminated once the mile-marker based exit tabs are erected.
GPS does NOT equal GOD

PHLBOS

#367
Similar was mentioned on Facebook but I do not believe that such has been yet mentioned here (at least not on this thread until now); some interchanges (approaching key ramps) now have route shields painted on pavement per MUTCD Figure 3B-25.

The westbound I-90 lanes approaching the I-84 interchange now has such markings.  It was commented on FB that a couple other interchanges elsewhere in the Bay State are now sporting such.
____________________________________________

A recent (likely temporary) replacement sign for this 1970s-vintage BGS along MA 128 has no been erected.  I say temporary because such is small LGS similar to what one sees along the southern end of NJ 55 or the small Exit 24 sign along I-84 westbound in Waterbury, CT; it's about the size of a D8 LGS.  It includes a small version of the exit tab (now right-justified, the old one was centered per older standards) but there's grey duct-tape with a 24 hand-written w/a black Sharpie marker next to the EXIT text.

One has to wonder whether the fabricator jumped the gun and placed the mile-marker based 40 (per contract documents discussed earlier) for the exit number instead of the current 24.

I'm guessing that the old BGS was damaged in a recent accident.  I believe that this BGS may have been one of if not the last remaining old 1970s-vintage BGS along this stretch of 128 through Peabody, Danvers & Beverly.  The others were either replaced as part of an overall construction project or match-in-kind replacement for damaged signs.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get a decent photo of the new small sign (the sun glare bleaches out the duct tape portion with the hand-drawn number).
_____________________________________________

No photo of such but apparently the old-school NH-MAINE destination listings is still appearing on new sign (D6 Paddle) installations.  Brand new replacement D6 LGS' at Bell Circle (MA 1A/16/60) in Revere still use the listing for its MA 60 westbound (To US 1) signage.  Even more interesting is that the one new sign directing 1A northbounders to 60 west (via the rotary cut-through) still uses Saugus (such predated the 1978 MA 60 reroute to Bell Circle).  All the other new 60 West signs use Malden along with NH-MAINE.  The old overhead gantry w/BGS', mainly directed towards those coming from MA 16 eastbound, still remain.

At locations where previous twin-D6 Paddles were mounted on one post; the replacements are now two separate D6 panels and posts erected next to each other (there's a few inches of spacing between the sign edges).
GPS does NOT equal GOD

KEVIN_224

I noticed this while passing through Newburyport, MA earlier: At least the northbound side of the new I-95/Merrimack River Whittier Bridge is in use. I don't know who John Greenleaf is though.


Pete from Boston

John Greenleaf Whittier, of the Whittier Bridge above.  Poet, abolitionist, Quaker.

kkt

Quote from: Pete from Boston on December 03, 2015, 10:01:42 PM
John Greenleaf Whittier, of the Whittier Bridge above.  Poet, abolitionist, Quaker.

Yeah, but why did they leave off his last name?  I like him fine and all, but I didn't think we were on a first name basis.

Alps

Quote from: KEVIN_224 on December 03, 2015, 09:50:17 PM
I noticed this while passing through Newburyport, MA earlier: At least the northbound side of the new I-95/Merrimack River Whittier Bridge is in use. I don't know who John Greenleaf is though.


That font though.

KEVIN_224

"WHITTIER BRIDGE" is on the other side of the state seal.

PHLBOS

I guess that the advance-notice BGS for MA 110 will be on a separate cantilevered structure; so it won't block the displayed bridge name.  On the old bridge, such was mounted on the camel hump truss itself.
GPS does NOT equal GOD

southshore720

I noticed today that MA DOT applied "green-out" to the graffiti-scar on the MA 3 diagrammatic for Exit 20.  They had applied green-out to the auxiliary signs on the Burgin Pkwy on-ramps that also received the graffiti treatment, so I don't know why they didn't do this for this particular BGS from the start.  The green-out doesn't look that great - but short of replacing the sign altogether, I don't know what more they could do to fix this eyesore.



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