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User Content => Road Trips => Topic started by: JMoses24 on April 06, 2014, 05:25:44 PM

Title: Boston/Providence Questions
Post by: JMoses24 on April 06, 2014, 05:25:44 PM
I'm heading to Providence and Boston in about 6 weeks. Taking the Greyhound to Providence (where I'll be based), so routing both directions is already determined. I will also be taking two days to visit Boston.

To Providence: I-71 north (transfer in Columbus) to I-90 East(stopping in Buffalo, Syracuse, Albany and, ironically, Boston) to I-95 south.
Back home: I-95 south into NYC for a layover. From there, it appears we go west on I-78 to the Pennsylvania Turnpike to the Sideling Hill plaza for a rest stop, then continue I-76 to Pittsburgh, PA. Quick transfer there. Then I-79 south to I-70 west to Wheeling, Zanesville and Columbus for a layover then back down I-71 home.

Anything I need to see? I will obviously be taking photos and videos (where possible) on both the outbound and inbound legs of the trip.
Title: Re: Boston/Providence Questions
Post by: Alps on April 06, 2014, 09:02:58 PM
Holy crap, there's a lot to see in both places. Will you have a car in either place, hopefully?
Providence: RI 10 freeway (stub at southern end), US 6 freeway (ghost interchange at western end, you can walk to it from the dead end to the southwest), I-95/US 6/RI 10 interchange (can get a view from the top of the adjacent parking garage), the ancient black overhead sign (first RI 10/US 6 SB/WB onramp). To the south, the new RI 403 freeway. To the east, weird I-195 and US 6 shields (as I recall), the ghost of old I-195, US/RI 1A and the old Providence truss bridge, US 6 and 44 shields with directions and arrows inside. To the north, Woonsignage (more of those types of shields). The only traffic light on RI 146. Possibly still with ancient button copy. RI 146 is a neat freeway inside the city, too.

Boston: I seriously cannot. There's entirely too much to see here.
Title: Re: Boston/Providence Questions
Post by: froggie on April 08, 2014, 07:19:14 AM
To be honest, I'd be more interested in the NON-road stuff in Boston than the road stuff.
Title: Re: Boston/Providence Questions
Post by: JMoses24 on April 10, 2014, 10:59:44 PM
Quote from: froggie on April 08, 2014, 07:19:14 AM
To be honest, I'd be more interested in the NON-road stuff in Boston than the road stuff.

Oh, I would love thoughts on the non-road stuff, too. Boylston Street is on my list (so I can say I've stood at the Marathon finish line), as are Fenway, the Boston Harbor, and the North End.
Title: Re: Boston/Providence Questions
Post by: Pete from Boston on April 10, 2014, 11:53:45 PM
Those are all nice.  Walk out Mass Ave from the Mass Pike to Porter Square and take in all the stuff that you feel inclined to slow down for.  Make a day of it.  End your day at Toad in Porter Square, where the bar burgers are a bargain and the music is the best you can get for free (and then some).
Title: Re: Boston/Providence Questions
Post by: JMoses24 on April 11, 2014, 10:33:57 AM
Quote from: Pete from Boston on April 10, 2014, 11:53:45 PM
Those are all nice.  Walk out Mass Ave from the Mass Pike to Porter Square and take in all the stuff that you feel inclined to slow down for.  Make a day of it.  End your day at Toad in Porter Square, where the bar burgers are a bargain and the music is the best you can get for free (and then some).

Putting that on the list! Sounds awesome.
Title: Re: Boston/Providence Questions
Post by: Mergingtraffic on April 22, 2014, 09:06:00 PM
and also the Henderson Bridge and the RI-138 stub.  Crap, I forgot about RI-146 signage.
Title: Re: Boston/Providence Questions
Post by: Mergingtraffic on April 26, 2014, 01:18:54 PM
any non-reflective button copy around in Mass that I missed?
I got the MA-33 and the MA-49 signs.
Also got the MA-79/I-195 in Fall River.
Title: Re: Boston/Providence Questions
Post by: Alps on April 28, 2014, 05:42:03 PM
Quote from: doofy103 on April 26, 2014, 01:18:54 PM
any non-reflective button copy around in Mass that I missed?
I got the MA-33 and the MA-49 signs.
Also got the MA-79/I-195 in Fall River.
Still could be the signs on MA 2/US 3 in western Cambridge. Most others are gone now.
Title: Re: Boston/Providence Questions
Post by: JMoses24 on May 03, 2014, 11:59:20 PM
Quote from: doofy103 on April 26, 2014, 01:18:54 PM
any non-reflective button copy around in Mass that I missed?
I got the MA-33 and the MA-49 signs.
Also got the MA-79/I-195 in Fall River.

I'll see if I can find it. I'm 11 days from the trip, getting pumped!
Title: Re: Boston/Providence Questions
Post by: Mergingtraffic on July 04, 2014, 10:33:43 PM
I'll be in Boston this week:

On the agenda:
"RIGHT TURN AHEAD" Mass Ave
MA-9 @ MA-30 WB signage
"MASS Pike Points West" on Clarendon Street
the "Routes 2-3" signs on Mt. Auburn St.

Possible the MA-49 signage again.

Anything else?  Haven't been up there since my college dayz when the Central Artery was above ground before construction.  Sadly wasn't into taking pics then.
Title: Re: Boston/Providence Questions
Post by: Alps on July 07, 2014, 08:02:53 PM
Quote from: doofy103 on July 04, 2014, 10:33:43 PMHaven't been up there since my college dayz when the Central Artery was above ground before construction.  Sadly wasn't into taking pics then.
God, me too. What was wrong with us? If not for a class field trip I'd have nothing from the old Artery!
Title: Re: Boston/Providence Questions
Post by: formulanone on July 08, 2014, 06:30:59 PM
Quote from: JMoses24 on April 10, 2014, 10:59:44 PM
Quote from: froggie on April 08, 2014, 07:19:14 AM
To be honest, I'd be more interested in the NON-road stuff in Boston than the road stuff.

Oh, I would love thoughts on the non-road stuff, too. Boylston Street is on my list (so I can say I've stood at the Marathon finish line), as are Fenway, the Boston Harbor, and the North End.

Doing a similar thing in two weeks - flying to PVD and driving to Boston (the rental car is $100 cheaper), then out to the Cape for a week. A day in Boston, because they've never been, and I haven't done the tourist thing in Boston in about 25 years.

I'll have the kids and the missus with me, so the roadgeeky stuff will probably have to be skipped. Maybe I'll sneak one of those 300-year-old milestones into the tour...and collect a few counties in Rhode Island. However, my kids love tunnels, so I'm sure we'll be doing the Big Dig and Sumner Tunnel drives a few times, along with the USS Constitution and Bunker Hill Monument.

I got to see The USS Constellation when I was a kid, and we all love ancient stuff...so the USS Constitution is on my list. So is the tower worth the trouble of 240 steps? (It's free, and I like heights of the city.) But is it always crowded and/or takes too darn long?
Title: Re: Boston/Providence Questions
Post by: Alps on July 09, 2014, 08:38:01 PM
Quote from: formulanone on July 08, 2014, 06:30:59 PM
Quote from: JMoses24 on April 10, 2014, 10:59:44 PM
Quote from: froggie on April 08, 2014, 07:19:14 AM
To be honest, I'd be more interested in the NON-road stuff in Boston than the road stuff.

Oh, I would love thoughts on the non-road stuff, too. Boylston Street is on my list (so I can say I've stood at the Marathon finish line), as are Fenway, the Boston Harbor, and the North End.

Doing a similar thing in two weeks - flying to PVD and driving to Boston (the rental car is $100 cheaper), then out to the Cape for a week. A day in Boston, because they've never been, and I haven't done the tourist thing in Boston in about 25 years.

I'll have the kids and the missus with me, so the roadgeeky stuff will probably have to be skipped.
Not so!
* I'm sure you can swing taking both Cape bridges, MA 3 down and MA 28 back.
* Visiting Plimoth Plantation? Take the short Parkway to get there!
* US 6 is a Super-2 in the central Cape. It's roadgeeky to see the eastern end of US 6, but it's also cool to visit Provincetown and to say you're at the end of the Cape. I expect it from you.
* Visiting the Vineyard? It has unique white guide signs that you can snap from the tour bus or on foot downtown.
* I-195 has a 19th-century stone bridge and a 21st-century cable-stayed bridge heading into downtown Providence. Since the airport is south, you'll clearly have to take them both. If you choose instead to see Newport on the way to the airport, my goodness, the bridges!
Title: Re: Boston/Providence Questions
Post by: formulanone on July 09, 2014, 08:44:54 PM
I meant the "taking photos while I drive" or "hunting around for this-or-that obscure road thing that might be there" part. :)

But taking both bridges and different paths to and from is always part of the plan...the end of the Cape is a maybe, and I'm trying to arrange a Vineyard visit.
Title: Re: Boston/Providence Questions
Post by: Roadrunner75 on July 09, 2014, 10:52:50 PM
These are probably out of the way, since they are in southern RI, but:

-RI 78 super-2 with concrete divider which is a bypass around Westerly.  Was planned to extend to I-95 on the NW end.  Give me more lanes (can't stand Super 2's, especially when divided).

-Various segments of RI 1-A which were the old US-1 along the southern coast.  I like this old divided 4-lane segment just off 1:
https://www.google.com/maps?ll=41.371994,-71.669869&spn=0.000032,0.026157&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=41.372113,-71.669698&panoid=GBWQCQiXVh-FCCNRKaA0bA&cbp=12,39.28,,0,12.7 (https://www.google.com/maps?ll=41.371994,-71.669869&spn=0.000032,0.026157&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=41.372113,-71.669698&panoid=GBWQCQiXVh-FCCNRKaA0bA&cbp=12,39.28,,0,12.7)
Some newer jughandles at lights in this area along US1 too.

-The Mount Hope bridge is great.

-Alps already beat me to the new 403 freeway. 

We've done Newport/Providence a few times, and I always have to make the full loop around the state.
Non Roads Activity: Water Fire on the river in downtown Providence (www.waterfire.org (http://www.waterfire.org)).  Saw this twice I think - once from the big mall over the river.