Massachusetts

[roadman]

How could that become part of I-93? Besides a ton of exit renumbering, what about the Current I-93 west of that exit? 

Extending I-93 down Route 24 to I-195 in Fall River has been discussed since the mid-1990s.  The biggest obstacle is not the need to re-number exits, but the fact that the roadway south of Raynham is not up to Interstate standards.  As for the short section of current I-93 between I-95 in Canton and Route 24 in Randolph, most likely it would not retain a number, but be signed as TO 95 westbound, and as TO 93 eastbound.

[hotdogPi]

most likely it would not retain a number, but be signed as TO 95 westbound, and as TO 93 eastbound.

It's still US 1.

[roadman]

most likely it would not retain a number, but be signed as TO 95 westbound, and as TO 93 eastbound.

It's still US 1.

Point taken.

[Beeper1]

There is also the plaza on MA-3 southbound in Plymouth at Exit 5, which is also accessible from the cross road.  This one doesn't have a gas station, just food and a tourist info center.    Did this one ever have a gas station?

The only other one I can think of in Mass is the one in Beverly on 128 northbound.

At least being commercialized keeps these areas open.  Many of the normal rest areas on Mass highways are either entirely closed (I-195 EB in Swansea), or the parking is open but the restroom buildings are closed.  (I-95 NB in Mansfield, I-495 NB in Chelmsford, MA-25 EB near the Bourne Bridge)    This list doesn't count the many no facilities "parking areas" on MA highways. 

[shadyjay]

And to think the one in Mansfield used to be a very nice welcome center.  We used to stop there on the way to concerts at Great Woods.  Last time I stopped there a year or so ago, it was a disgrace... a row of portable toilets, trash everywhere, unkept landscaping.  Hideous. 

Connecticut reduced hours at its non-commercial rest areas for a few years, and just recently (last month) restored them to 24/7 operation.  They even restaffed the welcome centers throughout the state.  Rhode Island a couple years ago reopened its I-95 NB welcome center in Hopkinton after a few years-closure (and I have yet to determine why they haven't rebuilt the one on I-295 SB near Woonsocket.

Massachusetts by my count has only one on-highway welcome center that's still open (with flush toilets) and that's the one at the NH state line.  I believe I-495 SB Chelmsford and I-495 SB Haverhill are also open, but they're little more than vending machines and restrooms.  Dedham on I-95 SB is listed as a functioning rest area on the state's map online but I drove by it and its just port-o-lets as well.  An old (1960s-1970s?) Mass highway map showed a "new" welcome center on I-86 (today's I-84) in Sturbridge.  Today that's just a large parking area, and I never remember ever seeing a building there, at least from the 1990s, onward.  That didn't last long.

Now that neighboring states are putting out the welcome mat again, one would think Mass would do the same.... or at least find the funding to reopen perfectly good buildings and mow the lawn every now and then.

[Beeper1]

The Welcome Center for I-86/84 was located off the highway, in the now-closed truck stop off Exit 1.   It's been gone for probably close to 20 years.  Sad considering this is a major entry point to the state.

The only other on-highway Info Center I can think of is on MA-2 westbound approaching Leominster.

There are two off-highway rest areas that are still open (on the mainland side of the Sagamore Bridge, and in Greenfield at the I-91/MA-2 roatary).  The Greenfield one is now mostly take over by the DMV as a branch office, though. 

All the Info Centers on the MassPike closed about 10 years ago.  The buildings are now EZ-Pass centers.

[abqtraveler]

Something I've been curious about: Would anyone know the history behind US-3 and MA-3? As I understand things, MassDOT route logs regard these routes as a single continuous route from the south shore to the New Hampshire border. However, it changes from a US route to a state route in Boston. Any reason why US-3 was never applied to what is now MA-3, since MA-3 is a logical continuation of US-3? Thanks for any insight.

[DJ Particle]

At least being commercialized keeps these areas open.  Many of the normal rest areas on Mass highways are either entirely closed (I-195 EB in Swansea), or the parking is open but the restroom buildings are closed.  (I-95 NB in Mansfield, I-495 NB in Chelmsford, MA-25 EB near the Bourne Bridge)    This list doesn't count the many no facilities "parking areas" on MA highways.

What's the status of the area on East US-6 around its near-junction with Independence Parkway?  Google Maps still shows a building there at the very least.

[deathtopumpkins]

I don't think there really needs to be one on 84 at the state line, considering the Charlton plaza is right after you merge onto the Pike, only 10 miles from the state line. This is especially true now that CT's Willington rest area is open 24/7 again.

[kramie13]

I've noticed some orange tags along I-495 between Exits 28 and 37, as well as I-95 from Exit 11 south to Exit 7.  This indicates new exit signs will soon be installed along these sections of highway, replacing the existing ones.

[roadman]

I've noticed some orange tags along I-495 between Exits 28 and 37, as well as I-95 from Exit 11 south to Exit 7.  This indicates new exit signs will soon be installed along these sections of highway, replacing the existing ones.

MassDOT Project # 607919, Guide and Traffic Sign Replacement along I-495 between Harvard and Lowell, and MassDOT Project # 608204, Guide and Traffic Sign Replacement along I-95 between Attleboro and Norwood.  Both projects are being constructed by Liddell Brothers.

[Alps]

Something I've been curious about: Would anyone know the history behind US-3 and MA-3? As I understand things, MassDOT route logs regard these routes as a single continuous route from the south shore to the New Hampshire border. However, it changes from a US route to a state route in Boston. Any reason why US-3 was never applied to what is now MA-3, since MA-3 is a logical continuation of US-3? Thanks for any insight.

The whole thing was New England Route 3. The application of US 3 north of Boston was a coincidence, but that was as far as the US highway was ever intended to go.

[kramie13]

The whole thing was New England Route 3. The application of US 3 north of Boston was a coincidence, but that was as far as the US highway was ever intended to go.

Actually, it was New England Route 6.  When US Routes were being assigned in the 1920s, US 3 was assigned to NE 6 from Cambridge north into New Hampshire.  Massachusetts should have assigned a number other than 3 to what is now MA 3 to keep the federal and state routes separate.  MA 6 would have been ideal, but then you'd have a conflict with US 6.  However, US 6 shouldn't have been assigned that number because it's south of US 20!

[sturmde]

How could that become part of I-93? Besides a ton of exit renumbering, what about the Current I-93 west of that exit? 

Well, another option involves extending I-89 south from Concord... duplexed with I-93 to I-293, replacing I-293 to the Everett/293 interchange, replacing the Everett and then duplexed with US 3 to I-95/MA 128, running counterclockwise it will cover the 95-93 gap... and then it can continue wrongway to MA 3, and run down MA 3 to Plymouth and the Cape.  Sure.  A long I-89, running Cape Cod to Montreal (using A-35 and A-10 for the last part of that.)

[jp the roadgeek]

How could that become part of I-93? Besides a ton of exit renumbering, what about the Current I-93 west of that exit? 

Well, another option involves extending I-89 south from Concord... duplexed with I-93 to I-293, replacing I-293 to the Everett/293 interchange, replacing the Everett and then duplexed with US 3 to I-95/MA 128, running counterclockwise it will cover the 95-93 gap... and then it can continue wrongway to MA 3, and run down MA 3 to Plymouth and the Cape.  Sure.  A long I-89, running Cape Cod to Montreal (using A-35 and A-10 for the last part of that.)

The simplest option if I-93 is extended down MA 24 would be to renumber I-93 to mileage based exits at that point, and to just re-extend MA 128 over the I-93 stub from Canton to MA 24 and/or have it be a silent I-595 a la US 50 in MD.  I've also always been for extending I-89 to Burlington (MA that is) and having it end at 95/128.   

[Alps]

The whole thing was New England Route 3. The application of US 3 north of Boston was a coincidence, but that was as far as the US highway was ever intended to go.

Actually, it was New England Route 6.  When US Routes were being assigned in the 1920s, US 3 was assigned to NE 6 from Cambridge north into New Hampshire.  Massachusetts should have assigned a number other than 3 to what is now MA 3 to keep the federal and state routes separate.  MA 6 would have been ideal, but then you'd have a conflict with US 6.  However, US 6 shouldn't have been assigned that number because it's south of US 20!

3 was 6 and 6 was 3 and you are me and we are all together.

[abqtraveler]

The whole thing was New England Route 3. The application of US 3 north of Boston was a coincidence, but that was as far as the US highway was ever intended to go.

Actually, it was New England Route 6.  When US Routes were being assigned in the 1920s, US 3 was assigned to NE 6 from Cambridge north into New Hampshire.  Massachusetts should have assigned a number other than 3 to what is now MA 3 to keep the federal and state routes separate.  MA 6 would have been ideal, but then you'd have a conflict with US 6.  However, US 6 shouldn't have been assigned that number because it's south of US 20!

3 was 6 and 6 was 3 and you are me and we are all together.

Add to the chaos that MassDOT doesn't distinguish between interstate, US, and state routes, so US-3 and MA-3 share the same route log, with US-3 being a continuation od MA-3's mileage.

[Pete from Boston]

And to think the one in Mansfield used to be a very nice welcome center.  We used to stop there on the way to concerts at Great Woods.  Last time I stopped there a year or so ago, it was a disgrace... a row of portable toilets, trash everywhere, unkept landscaping.  Hideous. 

It's an embarrassment and should be torn down if basic maintenance can't be done to the grounds. Not just because it looks horrendous, but because if the grounds have been this neglected for this long, the building envelope can't be holding its integrity indefinitely without upkeep.

For that matter, the state of the 95/128 rest area in Westwood was so bad the last time I used it that it wouldn't break my heart to see it closed as well if basic maintenance is untenable. These facilities look like Massachusetts is in a deep recession, not the surging ten-year economic boom we're in now.

[Pete from Boston]

How could that become part of I-93? Besides a ton of exit renumbering, what about the Current I-93 west of that exit? 

Well, another option involves extending I-89 south from Concord... duplexed with I-93 to I-293, replacing I-293 to the Everett/293 interchange, replacing the Everett and then duplexed with US 3 to I-95/MA 128, running counterclockwise it will cover the 95-93 gap... and then it can continue wrongway to MA 3, and run down MA 3 to Plymouth and the Cape.  Sure.  A long I-89, running Cape Cod to Montreal (using A-35 and A-10 for the last part of that.)

If only there were a route number to apply here, one people were familiar with that, I don't know, already existed at one end of this gap and could easily be extended three miles, one people already call this part anyway despite a decades-long cultural battle waged by MassDOT against public preference...

Oh, well, I guess extending I-89 signs another 80 miles is the only way to do it.

[vdeane]

If only there were a route number to apply here, one people were familiar with that, I don't know, already existed at one end of this gap and could easily be extended three miles, one people already call this part anyway despite a decades-long cultural battle waged by MassDOT against public preference...

But then you'd still be removing that section of road from the interstate highway system.

[jp the roadgeek]

If only there were a route number to apply here, one people were familiar with that, I don't know, already existed at one end of this gap and could easily be extended three miles, one people already call this part anyway despite a decades-long cultural battle waged by MassDOT against public preference...

But then you'd still be removing that section of road from the interstate highway system.

Which is why I suggested the silent designation of I-595, but keeping the MA 128 designation for simplicity/legacy. 

[5foot14]

What about keeping I-93 as is but, make MA 24 into a spur route of I-93, such as I-193? Then nothing else but MA 24 has to change...

SM-G900P

[hotdogPi]

What about keeping I-93 as is but, make MA 24 into a spur route of I-93, such as I-193? Then nothing else but MA 24 has to change...

SM-G900P

MA 193 already exists. I recommend I-593.

[The Ghostbuster]

Or maybe leave MA 24 as... MA 24. Proposals to make MA 24 an Interstate have gone nowhere over the last couple of decades, and I don't expect that to change in the future.

[Pete from Boston]

Or maybe leave MA 24 as... MA 24. Proposals to make MA 24 an Interstate have gone nowhere over the last couple of decades, and I don't expect that to change in the future.

Yet they still exist, for the same reason as always — there's always going to be a significant push in the South Coast region for economic boosts, and an Interstate connection to Boston would go a long way to satisfy that desire.

This makes me have to ask, aside from how it transitions to surface boulevards at either end, is there any significant reason why 140 between 24 and US 6 could not be an Interstate spur itself? Assuming 24 down there ever qualified as an Interstate, that is.