Boston Traffic Reporter/Blogger Defends Use of '128' moniker

[PHLBOS]

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Apparently; even local, Boston area news reporters are now referring to the road as "I-95" in the report covering the recent (July 3, 2021) standoff along I-95 (MA 128) in Wakefield that resulted in the highway being shutdown & 11 people being arrested.

11 arrested as standoff involving group of armed men on I-95 in Massachusetts comes to end

Note @ 0:24-0:25 in the above-WCVB video-link; one of the perps mentions the interchange as "Exit 57.4".  I wasn't aware of any decimal interchange numbers either here or elsewhere. 

I guess the recent conversion to mile-marker-based interchange numbering finally broke the long-old habit of, at least among reporters & law enforcement, still referring to the highway as "Route 128". 

For those that may not know (many here do); Exit 57 is the North Ave. interchange.
Such was formerly Exit 39 (1987-2021), formerly Exit 35 (1962-1987), & formerly Exit 26 (up to 1962).

[hotdogPi]

My guess is because they were going to Maine. If they weren't continuing on I-95 north of where they split, it still would have been called 128.

[PurdueBill]

My guess is because they were going to Maine. If they weren't continuing on I-95 north of where they split, it still would have been called 128.

Indeed...when I lived in Peabody, I would take 128 to Burlington or Dedham.  I would take 95 to Providence.

[jp the roadgeek]

The Wakefield PD Twitter feed still referred to the road as "Route 128" , so old habits still die hard.

[machias]

I don't get why reports don't call the roadway what everyone calls the roadway. Why the obsession with getting rid of the 128 moniker? Just call it 128, dual post it 95/128 and be done with it.

[PHLBOS]

I don't get why reports don't call the roadway what everyone calls the roadway. Why the obsession with getting rid of the 128 moniker? Just call it 128, dual post it 95/128 and be done with it.

The answer to your question can be summed up in the previous pages of this thread that originally started nearly 9 years ago.

See Reply 45, mid-way down for my initial explanation for the whats & whys.

[Roadgeekteen]

I have a soft spot for 128 but I'm fine with either as long as they don't refer to the Braintree-Canton I-93 as 128.

[bob7374]

Unfortunately, as the story's gotten older, older habits are creeping back into the reporting. Channel 5 now has a graphic referring to the incident as the "Standoff on Route 128." and on another channel, I think 25, the reporter referred to the 'event that closed Route 128 for several hours." Well, it was good while it lasted.

[Roadgeekteen]

Unfortunately, as the story's gotten older, older habits are creeping back into the reporting. Channel 5 now has a graphic referring to the incident as the "Standoff on Route 128." and on another channel, I think 25, the reporter referred to the 'event that closed Route 128 for several hours." Well, it was good while it lasted.

The road is Route 128 so I don't see the problem.

[spooky]

Unfortunately, as the story's gotten older, older habits are creeping back into the reporting. Channel 5 now has a graphic referring to the incident as the "Standoff on Route 128." and on another channel, I think 25, the reporter referred to the 'event that closed Route 128 for several hours." Well, it was good while it lasted.

This morning, the Boston 25 traffic reporter was reporting on a crash on I-95 at Vernon Street in Wakefield. The graphic said Vernon Street, Exit 41. She said something like "a crash to tell you about on I-95 at Vernon Street, I should say Route 128, and let you know that's former Exit 41"

[SidS1045]

Apparently; even local, Boston area news reporters are now referring to the road as "I-95" in the report covering the recent (July 3, 2021) standoff along I-95 (MA 128) in Wakefield that resulted in the highway being shutdown & 11 people being arrested...
I guess the recent conversion to mile-marker-based interchange numbering finally broke the long-old habit of, at least among reporters & law enforcement, still referring to the highway as "Route 128". 

They ought to teach their counterparts at ABC News the correct designation.  ABC got the route number correct in the text of the stories posted online...and proceeded to caption the accompanying photos as "Interstate 97."

[The Ghostbuster]

Someone should inform them that Interstate 97 is in Maryland, not Massachusetts (although MA 3 could theory theoretically be Interstate 97, among other possible numbers). Has MA 128 ever accidently been referred to as Interstate 128? Now that would be a screw-up!

[paul02474]

I-95? Route 128? It depends.

As a regional descriptor, 128 has a role. Geographically, it makes sense to describe a collection of municipalities as "inside 128," just as you would describe a greater number of cities and towns as "Inside 495."

Giving directions? Take the Mass Pike to Exit 123, then get on I-95 north and get off at Exit 45.

MassDOT doesn't make descriptive geography very easy, and it's getting worse. The copywriters for the sign replacement on I-495 are using Marlboro and Taunton as control cities on their southbound signs around Lowell. Marlboro makes some sense. How many folks in Lowell have a solid mental image of Taunton? Does Taunton add any value? Some signs are removing the more descriptive Cape Cod in favor of Taunton.

Even worse, as you are cruising along Route 2 in Lexington, you encounter Attleboro as the control city for I-95 South. Again, using the mental geography standard, how many folks driving along Route 2 in Lexington have a solid mental image of Attleboro? Most signs in the region point to Providence RI, again a destination that presents a solid mental image of the destination. Want something closer? Dedham would work. Attleboro is solidly on my top five list of awful Massachusetts control cities.

[vdeane]

Unfortunately, as the story's gotten older, older habits are creeping back into the reporting. Channel 5 now has a graphic referring to the incident as the "Standoff on Route 128." and on another channel, I think 25, the reporter referred to the 'event that closed Route 128 for several hours." Well, it was good while it lasted.

The road is Route 128 so I don't see the problem.

It's I-95.  MA 128 only exists on vestigial ground-mount signs that feel like a footnote because people refuse to stop calling it that, and MA gave in to the pressure.  IMO it should be truncated to Peabody with the mileage and exit numbers starting at 0 with the I-95 junction.  When the state changed the exit numbers would have been a good time to finally pull the plug.  It's a pointless overlap, because MA 128 doesn't exist independently south of that point.  It doesn't even follow a different path from I-95, it just ends randomly at the I-93 junction.

It IS useful as a regional descriptor, as mentioned above, but I'm pretty sure that descriptor also includes I-93 from I-95 to MA 3, so MA 128's continued existence on I-95 is not a pre-requisite for that descriptor.

[hotdogPi]

Attleboro is solidly on my top five list of awful Massachusetts control cities.

To me, "Attleboro" basically means "Rhode Island state line".

[Roadgeekteen]

Unfortunately, as the story's gotten older, older habits are creeping back into the reporting. Channel 5 now has a graphic referring to the incident as the "Standoff on Route 128." and on another channel, I think 25, the reporter referred to the 'event that closed Route 128 for several hours." Well, it was good while it lasted.

The road is Route 128 so I don't see the problem.

It's I-95.  MA 128 only exists on vestigial ground-mount signs that feel like a footnote because people refuse to stop calling it that, and MA gave in to the pressure.  IMO it should be truncated to Peabody with the mileage and exit numbers starting at 0 with the I-95 junction.  When the state changed the exit numbers would have been a good time to finally pull the plug.  It's a pointless overlap, because MA 128 doesn't exist independently south of that point.  It doesn't even follow a different path from I-95, it just ends randomly at the I-93 junction.

It IS useful as a regional descriptor, as mentioned above, but I'm pretty sure that descriptor also includes I-93 from I-95 to MA 3, so MA 128's continued existence on I-95 is not a pre-requisite for that descriptor.

The road is still called MA 128 and I-95 and is still signed that way. It doesn't matter what you think, the road exists until it doesn't exist. Get over it.

[paul02474]

Attleboro is solidly on my top five list of awful Massachusetts control cities.

To me, "Attleboro" basically means "Rhode Island state line".

So, we should be parochial to the point of using the last town in Massachusetts as the control city? We should get rid of Albany NY on I-90 (Mass Pike) westbound and replace it with West Stockbridge? The control city on I-91 northbound should be Bernardston?

[Roadgeekteen]

Attleboro is solidly on my top five list of awful Massachusetts control cities.

To me, "Attleboro" basically means "Rhode Island state line".

So, we should be parochial to the point of using the last town in Massachusetts as the control city? We should get rid of Albany NY on I-90 (Mass Pike) westbound and replace it with West Stockbridge? The control city on I-91 northbound should be Bernardston?

Attleboro is a bit bigger than both West Stockbridge and Bernardston but it's still a trash control city.

[paul02474]

Is there a toll road where the numbered interstate takes precedence over the name? I haven't lived in Maine long enough to know if "Maine Turnpike" is used instead of I-95 but that might be a contender.

I find increasing use among people not originally from this region of "90," or worse, "the 90."  "Mass Pike" is still far and away the dominant name, but with the way those words are being relegated to small print in a corner of a guide sign, that may not always remain the case.

I've found that older Bostonians refer to it as "the Turnpike".

Seems like MassDOT has weighed in on the topic.

[Roadgeekteen]

Is there a toll road where the numbered interstate takes precedence over the name? I haven't lived in Maine long enough to know if "Maine Turnpike" is used instead of I-95 but that might be a contender.

I find increasing use among people not originally from this region of "90," or worse, "the 90."  "Mass Pike" is still far and away the dominant name, but with the way those words are being relegated to small print in a corner of a guide sign, that may not always remain the case.

I've found that older Bostonians refer to it as "the Turnpike".

Seems like MassDOT has weighed in on the topic.

Looks like they put both.

[roadman]

I don't get why reports don't call the roadway what everyone calls the roadway. Why the obsession with getting rid of the 128 moniker? Just call it 128, dual post it 95/128 and be done with it.

Why the obsession with KEEPING the 128 moniker?  It serves no useful purpose to retain it south of Peabody.

[Roadgeekteen]

I don't get why reports don't call the roadway what everyone calls the roadway. Why the obsession with getting rid of the 128 moniker? Just call it 128, dual post it 95/128 and be done with it.

Why the obsession with KEEPING the 128 moniker?  It serves no useful purpose to retain it south of Peabody.

Everyone calls it 128. It makes sense to sign the road what it's called.

[machias]

I don't get why reports don't call the roadway what everyone calls the roadway. Why the obsession with getting rid of the 128 moniker? Just call it 128, dual post it 95/128 and be done with it.

Why the obsession with KEEPING the 128 moniker?  It serves no useful purpose to retain it south of Peabody.

Everyone calls it 128. It makes sense to sign the road what it's called.

Yes! There's no harm in dual-posting the roadway I-95 and MA 128.  It isn't confusing, there's concurrently marked route numbers all over the place. They're two different color markers, and the cost is probably negligible in the grand scheme of things.  Serve the public. I could see dropping the 128 number decades ago before it was completely established into society.

[DrSmith]

Attleboro is solidly on my top five list of awful Massachusetts control cities.

To me, "Attleboro" basically means "Rhode Island state line".

So, we should be parochial to the point of using the last town in Massachusetts as the control city? We should get rid of Albany NY on I-90 (Mass Pike) westbound and replace it with West Stockbridge? The control city on I-91 northbound should be Bernardston?

Attleboro is a bit bigger than both West Stockbridge and Bernardston but it's still a trash control city.

https://goo.gl/maps/ZWMvCx9R7csZBM7QA
W Stockbridge is signed in places on the Pike (although along with Albany)

[shadyjay]

Attleboro would be okay, if it was signed more consistently... but its not.  Just that one location, on MA 2 approaching 128.  I like the use of dual control points along the 128 portion of I-95... it shows that you're in a land of I-95 where its not all about Boston (like both north and south of 128 sections of I-95, where one direction is Boston, the other is RI or NH/ME). 

West Stockbridge, in a perfect world, would be "The Berkshires".  I mean, really, is it any different than signing "Cape Cod"?  Which to me seems better than Taunton!  Though I've never been a fan of "Marlboro" on I-495, what else would you sign it?  There's Worcester, but that's not on I-495.  Perhaps Lowell?  Loop roads like I-495 are tough assigning a good control city to.