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

Started by bob7374, September 14, 2012, 02:07:12 PM

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Beltway

Quote from: agentsteel53 on September 24, 2012, 09:30:34 PM
Quote from: KEVIN_224 on September 18, 2012, 10:41:36 AM
Schuylkill

here I thought it was pronounced "Sky-kill".  but that's because I'm analogizing it with senator Schuyler Colfax, who is definitely a "skyler".

They pronounce it "Skoo-kill"
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Baloney is a reserved word on the Internet
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Roadsguy

Quote from: Beltway on September 20, 2012, 05:47:34 PM
PennDOT would say it is 4 lanes each way!  True for the section between City Avenue and Montgomery Drive ... :-)

It's four lanes westbound from the Roosevelt Expressway to City Ave, and eastbound, it's only four lanes in a short stretch because of an understandably weird acceleration/deceleration lane setup.

It's only two in each direction through the Roosevelt Expy. interchange, though. It's eight down to Montgomery, and then six consistently down to 676.

Then it's six between University Ave. and 291, and then it's six from Penrose Ave. over to Broad St. (611) From there to 95 and the Whitman Bridge, it's inconsistent, and at the toll plaza, it gets to five lanes in each direction, westbound coming out of the toll plaza, and eastbound, the right two are just added on from the ramp from 95. Over the bridge it's normally four lanes at the most each direction.

Are we officially off-topic yet? :P
Mileage-based exit numbering implies the existence of mileage-cringe exit numbering.

Beltway

Quote from: Roadsguy on September 26, 2012, 08:09:09 AM
Quote from: Beltway on September 20, 2012, 05:47:34 PM
PennDOT would say it is 4 lanes each way!  True for the section between City Avenue and Montgomery Drive ... :-)

It's four lanes westbound from the Roosevelt Expressway to City Ave, and eastbound, it's only four lanes in a short stretch because of an understandably weird acceleration/deceleration lane setup.

It's only two in each direction through the Roosevelt Expy. interchange, though. It's eight down to Montgomery, and then six consistently down to 676.

Then it's six between University Ave. and 291, and then it's six from Penrose Ave. over to Broad St. (611) From there to 95 and the Whitman Bridge, it's inconsistent, and at the toll plaza, it gets to five lanes in each direction, westbound coming out of the toll plaza, and eastbound, the right two are just added on from the ramp from 95. Over the bridge it's normally four lanes at the most each direction.

The vast majority is 4 lanes (2 each way) -- between City Avenue and US-202, and several places south of I-676 (IOW, there are 2 thru lanes each way between I-676 and Broad Street).
http://www.roadstothefuture.com
http://www.capital-beltway.com

Baloney is a reserved word on the Internet
    (Robert Coté, 2002)

bob7374

I sent another question regarding '128' to the Globe blogger. She answered my new question in a new blog post dealing with the upcoming opening of the 4th lane on I-93 North between I-95 and MA 24:
http://www.boston.com/community/blogs/roads_and_rails/2012/11/extra_lane_enjoyment_on_128_and_saving_some_trees.html

KEVIN_224

Is the (857) mentioned in the article a phone area code overlay I haven't heard about? Also, the traffic reporter is referring to I-93 between Canton and Braintree, correct? (I thought the MA 128 overlay ended at the junction of I-93 and I-95 in Canton?)

deathtopumpkins

Quote from: KEVIN_224 on November 12, 2012, 05:52:00 PM
Is the (857) mentioned in the article a phone area code overlay I haven't heard about?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area_codes_617_and_857

The 857 area code was overlaid onto the 617 in 2001.

And the part of 128 she is referring to is, as she said, between Route 24 and Route 109: http://goo.gl/maps/uCvfh only part of which is actually 128, which technically ends at the I-93/95 interchange.




Nichole Davis appears to have made the typical number of errors though.  While not related to roads, the MBTA's new mobile ticketing debuted today on the North Station, not South Station, lines (Newburyport/Rockport, Haverhill, Lowell, and Fitchburg), and it is NOT yet available on commuter ferries (don't know why she threw that in there).
And as always I can't comment on the article. Stupid boston.com.
Disclaimer: All posts represent my personal opinions and not those of my employer.

Clinched Highways | Counties Visited

PurdueBill

Quote from: KEVIN_224 on November 12, 2012, 05:52:00 PM
Is the (857) mentioned in the article a phone area code overlay I haven't heard about? Also, the traffic reporter is referring to I-93 between Canton and Braintree, correct? (I thought the MA 128 overlay ended at the junction of I-93 and I-95 in Canton?)

857 was overlaid on 617 about 10 years ago but most state phone numbers would have been old 617s; the change in numbers they describe for MassDOT agencies probably was only possible to be accommodated in 857.

128 used to run from 95 over to Route 3, in a wrong-way duplex with 93.  That was eliminated in the late 80s iIrc but calling it 128 dies hard.  That is the part of  the road that people call "128" that really ought to quit that.  Calling the overlap with 95 by the 128 name is less trouble because it's not a wrong-way overlap at least.

(The famous Blizzard of 1978 photos of traffic snowed into place on the road that were taken on now-93 were on then-128; exit 64N on 128 SB is now exit 2B on 93 NB.)


TXtoNJ

Quote from: Beltway on September 25, 2012, 05:03:56 PM
Quote from: agentsteel53 on September 24, 2012, 09:30:34 PM
Quote from: KEVIN_224 on September 18, 2012, 10:41:36 AM
Schuylkill

here I thought it was pronounced "Sky-kill".  but that's because I'm analogizing it with senator Schuyler Colfax, who is definitely a "skyler".

They pronounce it "Skoo-kill"

The second syllable is unstressed, so it ends up sounding like "skookle"

PHLBOS

Quote from: PurdueBill on November 12, 2012, 08:21:33 PM128 used to run from 95 over to Route 3, in a wrong-way duplex with 93.  That was eliminated in the late 80s iIrc but calling it 128 dies hard.  That is the part of  the road that people call "128" that really ought to quit that.  Calling the overlap with 95 by the 128 name is less trouble because it's not a wrong-way overlap at least.

(The famous Blizzard of 1978 photos of traffic snowed into place on the road that were taken on now-93 were on then-128; exit 64N on 128 SB is now exit 2B on 93 NB.)


The 128 designation was pulled from the Canton to Braintree stretch at the same time that the US 1 designation was added (a mistake IMHO, but nonetheless) circa 1989.

I-93 signage started appearing along that strech of 128 around 1976-1977.  As a matter of fact, some of the Blizzard of '78 photos in that area show the backside of the long-since-replaced 95 NORTH Dedham NH-Maine pull-through BGS which was only about a year old at the time.
GPS does NOT equal GOD

PurdueBill

Quote from: PHLBOS on November 13, 2012, 08:30:58 AM
Quote from: PurdueBill on November 12, 2012, 08:21:33 PM128 used to run from 95 over to Route 3, in a wrong-way duplex with 93.  That was eliminated in the late 80s iIrc but calling it 128 dies hard.  That is the part of  the road that people call "128" that really ought to quit that.  Calling the overlap with 95 by the 128 name is less trouble because it's not a wrong-way overlap at least.

(The famous Blizzard of 1978 photos of traffic snowed into place on the road that were taken on now-93 were on then-128; exit 64N on 128 SB is now exit 2B on 93 NB.)

The 128 designation was pulled from the Canton to Braintree stretch at the same time that the US 1 designation was added (a mistake IMHO, but nonetheless) circa 1989.

I-93 signage started appearing along that strech of 128 around 1976-1977.  As a matter of fact, some of the Blizzard of '78 photos in that area show the backside of the long-since-replaced 95 NORTH Dedham NH-Maine pull-through BGS which was only about a year old at the time.

Yep, for a good while there was the wrong-way duplex of 93 and 128 (albeit on a mainly E-W stretch of roadway) that I even remember Dick Flavin poking fun at in a commentary on WBZ-TV.  (What ever happened to Dick Flavin?)

It's interesting that when they removed 128 east of 95 and routed US 1 over 128 and up the Southeast Expressway, the wrong-way duplex of 128 and 93 was eliminated but a wrong-way duplex of I-95 and US 1 was introduced on the other side of 95.  Oy......

KEVIN_224

@ DEATHTOPUMPKINS: Thank you for the clarification! I don't think I've been on I-95/MA 128 from north of Exit 12 in Canton up to Exit 22 in Newton. I may have been on it once, but I don't recall it too well. Usually, when Peter Pan comes back up from Providence, RI, they follow I-95 North to Canton and then I-93/US 1 (also later MA 3) North to the bus-only ramp towards South Station.

Henry

Quote from: ATLRedSoxFan on September 18, 2012, 05:03:54 PM




QuoteTo this day, few in the area refer to the roadway as I-95, unless they just moved in from Atlanta.  To the natives, it will always be 128.   And that's why traffic reporters call it that.  Because everyone knows what they mean. 

And, it still makes a lot more sense than the damn "blue route" near Philly - which is truly meaningless.

Having moved to MA from Atlanta a year and a half ago, I just call it 128...It just keeps the locals from looking at you like you have two heads, even though I'd rather just call it 95...The only time you hear an interstate called what it is, when referring to 93 North and 495..Either it's the Mass Pike or (93 South) "The expressway". Every thing in MA is Route this or that, not US 1, what have you.

In Atlanta, it was what it was: 20 E-W, 75 N-S, 85 the exception, North, sometimes the Northeast Expy., and South, "The Airport connector".

Don't get me started on 285..."Top End", "West wall", etc...

I guess you could say comparble to the Central artery in Boston would be the"Downtown connector" in Atlanta..
As a former LA resident, I have gotten used to calling the freeways there by their route numbers, such as "the 5" for I-5, "101 Freeway" for US 101, "110 Freeway" for the combined I-110/CA 110, etc. However, when referring to the expressways in my hometown, I call them by their names, like the Eisenhower, Dan Ryan, Stevenson and such. So for me, the pendulum swings both ways, as it were.
Go Cubs Go! Go Cubs Go! Hey Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win today!

Beltway

Quote from: TXtoNJ on November 12, 2012, 11:09:29 PM
Quote from: Beltway on September 25, 2012, 05:03:56 PM
Quote from: agentsteel53 on September 24, 2012, 09:30:34 PM
Quote from: KEVIN_224 on September 18, 2012, 10:41:36 AM
Schuylkill

here I thought it was pronounced "Sky-kill".  but that's because I'm analogizing it with senator Schuyler Colfax, who is definitely a "skyler".

They pronounce it "Skoo-kill"

The second syllable is unstressed, so it ends up sounding like "skookle"

I have heard it pronounced both of those ways.
http://www.roadstothefuture.com
http://www.capital-beltway.com

Baloney is a reserved word on the Internet
    (Robert Coté, 2002)

JMoses24

This reminds me of what happens with Ohio's State Route 562 here in the Cincinnati area...it's never called that by local traffic reporters.

No, it's called "The Norwood Lateral" or shortened, "The Lateral". Never SR 562. It isn't signed as the Norwood Lateral, nor does it appear on ODOT maps as such. But the name stuck, chiefly because it's a Lateral way across the city of Norwood (and for that matter, between the two major north/south arteries of I-75 and I-71).

As for 128, to bring this thread back on topic: I don't cringe at it as badly as some of you seem to. Do I wish it'd be called I-95 in the section where the two routes co-exist? Sure. But I realize it's probably never going to happen, so, seeing it from the outsider POV, I'm trying to adjust my thinking ahead of any potential visits.

SidS1045

QuoteSchuylkill...here I thought it was pronounced "Sky-kill".  but that's because I'm analogizing it with senator Schuyler Colfax, who is definitely a "skyler"...They pronounce it "Skoo-kill"...The second syllable is unstressed, so it ends up sounding like "skookle"
...I have heard it pronounced both of those ways.

Funny, all I've ever heard it called was the "Sure-kill."
"A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves." - Edward R. Murrow

bob7374

Thought those who had posted on this topic might be interested in the latest Roads & Rails blog entry. Of particular interest is the list of potential slowdowns due to construction on '128' toward the bottom. She apparently did not see any problem with listing the trouble spots by exit number. Does anyone else think the way the exit numbers are listed could be improved?   The blog entry--
http://www.boston.com/community/blogs/roads_and_rails/2013/01/prepping_for_pesky_storms_on_the_rails.html

southshore720

If she insists on using 128, she could have easily typed 95/128 for the concurrent section.  Also, I cringe when I-93 is referred to as 128...

bob7374

Quote from: southshore720 on January 13, 2013, 06:04:17 PM
If she insists on using 128, she could have easily typed 95/128 for the concurrent section.  Also, I cringe when I-93 is referred to as 128...
Yes, that is my pet peeve. Call it 128 if you want, but if you're going to use an I-95 exit number, doesn't it make sense, and isn't it simple enough, to add a '/I-95' to the sentence? Especially when you are listing a duplicate number later for a totally different exit?

PHLBOS

Quote from: bob7374 on January 14, 2013, 11:06:48 AM
Quote from: southshore720 on January 13, 2013, 06:04:17 PM
If she insists on using 128, she could have easily typed 95/128 for the concurrent section.  Also, I cringe when I-93 is referred to as 128...
Yes, that is my pet peeve. Call it 128 if you want, but if you're going to use an I-95 exit number, doesn't it make sense, and isn't it simple enough, to add a '/I-95' to the sentence? Especially when you are listing a duplicate number later for a totally different exit?
It sure will be interesting how MassDOT will treat the Peabody-to-Gloucester 128 stretch (Exits 9 through 29) when it comes time to convert to mile-marker based exit numbering.  The first MA 128 mile marker at I-95 (Exit 45/29) currently starts at Mile 37.2 (assuming that this is measured from I-95/93 in Canton).

Logically, MA 128 Mile 0 should start at the I-95 interchange in Peabody and increase eastwards/northbound even if the MA 128 shields along the I-95 stretch of the YDH (Yankee Division Highway) still remain.  Since I-93/95 in Canton is near/at I-95 Mile 26; there would be little or no overlap of exit numbers between I-95/YDH and MA 128/YDH.

At least the exit numbers along the I-93 stretch of the YDH currently don't overlap with any other 128 segments.  Assuming that the mile-marker based exit numbers don't really change along I-93 (Exits 1 through 7 will likely still be Exits 1 through 7), the above-recommended change for MA 128 would involve an overlap of numbers w/those along I-93 w/those from Peabody & Danvers.
GPS does NOT equal GOD

ATLRedSoxFan

#69
On the drive into work this AM, was listening to WBZ traffic and heard a reference: accident on 95 at route 109. No mention of 128 what-so-ever..Maybe times are changing..

PHLBOS

Quote from: ATLRedSoxFan on May 23, 2013, 08:50:14 AM
On drive into work this AM, was listening to WBZ traffic and heard a reference: accident on 95 at route 109. No mention of 128 what-so-ever..Maybe times are changing..
Must be a new reporter who's a recent transplant to the region... or, dare I say, one of us.  :)
*cue in Twilight Zone theme*
GPS does NOT equal GOD

ATLRedSoxFan


bob7374

Quote from: PHLBOS on May 23, 2013, 12:50:03 PM
Quote from: ATLRedSoxFan on May 23, 2013, 08:50:14 AM
On drive into work this AM, was listening to WBZ traffic and heard a reference: accident on 95 at route 109. No mention of 128 what-so-ever..Maybe times are changing..
Must be a new reporter who's a recent transplant to the region... or, dare I say, one of us.  :)
*cue in Twilight Zone theme*
Even the blogger I posted about has now included in her most recent posts references to 'Route 128/I-95'. So maybe times are changing, if slowly.

Roadsguy

Can't they just put 95 along 93 through downtown until it hits 128 again (making 93 end at 95/128) and be done with it?
Mileage-based exit numbering implies the existence of mileage-cringe exit numbering.

roadman

Quote from: Roadsguy on May 24, 2013, 08:36:01 AM
Can't they just put 95 along 93 through downtown until it hits 128 again (making 93 end at 95/128) and be done with it?

For one thing, FHWA would never approve the routing change due to the discontinuity at the Woburn interchange.  There's also the matter of changing the exit numbers, mile markers.  Also, if Canton to Woburn were to revert to MA 128 only, there's a question about continued Federal funding for the highway - and a chance that MassDOT might have to return the funding that was recently (and is currently) being spent for the "Add-A-Lane" projects between Randolph and Wellesley.

Personally, I've always considered the whole debate about the "sacred" MA 128 designation to be right up there with the "controversy" about low numbered license plates.  Both "issues" are among the biggest wastes of time and effort the people of Massachusetts have ever engaged themselves in.  It's been Interstate 95 for almost forty years now - get a life, get used to it, and let's get on with more important matters.
"And ninety-five is the route you were on.  It was not the speed limit sign."  - Jim Croce (from Speedball Tucker)

"My life has been a tapestry
Of years of roads and highway signs" (with apologies to Carole King and Tom Rush)



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