INTERSTATE 93

(Redirected from Interstate 93 (Massachusetts))

'Interstate 93' (abbreviated 'I-93') is an interstate highway in the New England section of the United States. Its southern terminus is in Canton, Massachusetts, in the Boston metropolitan area, at Interstate 95 (map); its northern terminus is near St. Johnsbury, Vermont, at Interstate 91.

Contents

Route description

History

Construction

Southeast Expressway

Fitzgerald Expressway

Northeast Expressway

New Hampshire

Vermont

Route changes

Big Dig

Exit list

Auxiliary routes

Miscellanea

See also

References

External links

Route description

|-
|MA
|46.19
|74.33
|-
|NH
|131.39
|211.45
|-
|VT
|11.10
|17.86
|-
|Total
|188.68
|303.65
|}

Major cities 'Bolded cities' are officially-designated control cities for signs
★ 'Quincy, Massachusetts' ★ 'Boston, Massachusetts' ★ Lawrence, Massachusetts ★ 'Salem, New Hampshire' ★ 'Manchester, New Hampshire' ★ 'Concord, New Hampshire' ★ 'Plymouth, New Hampshire' ★ 'Littleton, New Hampshire' ★ 'St. Johnsbury, Vermont'

History

Construction

Southeast Expressway

Fitzgerald Expressway

Northeast Expressway

I-93's original southern terminus was in Cambridge (just north of Boston) where it was to meet Interstate 695. However, when that route was canceled, and the I-95 section into Boston was canceled and rerouted along Route 128 in the mid-1970s, I-93's route was extended an additional 18 miles down the Central Artery (which had been signed as a concurrency of I-95/MA-3 before I-95 was rerouted) and the Southeast Expressway (what was then just Route 3) from Boston to Braintree and then west along former Route 128 to its intersection with I-95 in Canton.

New Hampshire

Originally planned to follow the alignment of US 3 through Nashua along the Everett Turnpike, this was changed before construction to the current route through Salem largely due to the intervention of the owners of Rockingham Park. Exit 1 in Salem was originally designed and built with ramps allowing northbound traffic to exit to the race track and return drivers to southbound 93 only. The complementary ramps were added much later, with the southbound off ramp being a particularly tight and dangerous turn squeezed within the curve of the southbound on ramp.

Vermont

Route changes

I-93's route from Boston to Canton has also carried the U.S. Route 1 designation since 1989. The US route's path was changed to assist truck traffic which was banned along much of the route's original path between Boston and I-95/Route 128 in Dedham.
An 8 mile (13 km) section of I-93 through Franconia Notch State Park, called the 'Franconia Notch Parkway' in New Hampshire, was constructed as a two-lane freeway with a median divider. This was built as a compromise between the state's park department and highway officials. The speed limit on the Parkway is 45 mph (70 km/h). Originally, this section's signage read "U.S. 3 TO I-93" in this area complete with its own exit number sequence, but this has since been replaced by I-93 and US-3 signage along the entire length of the Parkway. The exits were renumbered to Exit 34A, 34B, and 34C.

Big Dig

Main articles: Big Dig (Boston, Massachusetts)


Interstate 93 is famous for being reconstructed by the Central Artery/Tunnel Project, more commonly known as the Big Dig. The Big Dig is the most massive urban construction project in American history^[1]. The project replaced the elevated central artery highway that ran through downtown Boston, cutting the city in two. As of October, 2006, the underground construction of the tunnel system is complete; however, repairs continue to many parts of the tunnel due to water leakage because of improper construction of the slurry walls. With construction of the tunnels and demolition of the old elevated highway complete, surface restoration is continuing with the construction of parks and rebuilding of local streets in the former right-of-way.

Exit list

County	Location	Mile	#	Destinations	Notes
Norfolk	Canton	0.00		, Portsmouth	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		0.33	1	- Providence	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		1.39	2		Signed as exits 2A (south) and 2B (north)
	Milton	2.86	3	Ponkapoag Trail - Houghton's Pond
	Randolph	3.50	4
		4.26	5		Signed as exits 5A (south) and 5B (north)
	Braintree	6.71	6
		7.16	7		South end of Route 3 overlap
	Quincy	8.51	8	Furnace Brook Parkway - Quincy
	Milton	9.33	9	Bryant Avenue - West Quincy	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		9.33	9	Adams Street - Milton, North Quincy	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		9.91	10	Squantum Street - Milton	Southbound exit only
		10.86	11A	Granite Avenue - East Milton	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		10.86	11B		Signed as exit 11 northbound; no northbound entrance
Suffolk	Boston		12		Southbound exit and northbound entrance
			13	Freeport Street - Dorchester	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
			14	Morrissey Boulevard - JFK Library	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
			15	Columbia Road - Edward Everett Square, JFK Library
			16	Southampton Street - Andrew Square	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
			18	Frontage Road, Massachusetts Avenue - Roxbury, Andrew Square
			20		Northbound exit and southbound entrance
			20B		Southbound exit and northbound entrance; also a ramp from I-90 west to I-93 north
			20A	South Station	Northbound exit is part of exit 20
			23	Purchase Street	No northbound exit
			24A	Government Center	Signed as exit 23 northbound
			24B		Southbound exit and northbound entrance
			26	, North Station	North end of Route 3 overlap
			27		North end of US 1 overlap; northbound exit and southbound entrance
Middlesex	Somerville		28
			29		Signed as exit 30 southbound
	Medford
			31
			32
			33
	Stoneham		34		Northbound exit and southbound entrance
			35	Winchester Highlands, Melrose	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	Woburn		36	Montvale Avenue - Stoneham, Woburn
	Reading		37		Signed as exits 37A (north) and 37B (south)
	Woburn		37C	Commerce Way, Atlantic Avenue
	Wilmington		38
			39	Concord Street
			40
			41
Essex	Andover		42	Dascomb Road - Tewksbury
			43		Signed as exits 43A (east) and 43B (west) southbound
			44		Signed as exits 44A (north) and 44B (south)
			45	River Road - South Lawrence
	Methuen		46
		47.07	47	Pelham Street
			48
	'MA-NH state line'
	Rockingham County
	Salem	1	1.76	Rockingham Park Boulevard TO NH Route 28, NH Route 38 - Salem
		2	3.00	Pelham Road TO NH Route 38, NH Route 97 - Salem, Pelham
	Windham	3	5.78	NH Route 111 - Windham, North Salem
	Londonderry	4	11.66	NH Route 102 - Derry, Londonderry
		5	15.24	NH Route 28 - North Londonderry
	Hillsborough County
	Manchester	joins
			19.43	NH Route 101 WEST/I-293 - Manchester Airport, Bedford, Manchester	Route 101 joins northbound and leaves southbound.
		6	20.60	Candia Road, Hanover Street
		7	21.31	NH Route 101 EAST - Portsmouth, Seacoast	Route 101 leaves northbound and joins southbound.
		leaves
		8	22.01	Wellington Road/Bridge Street TO
	Merrimack County
	Hooksett	9	23.86	US 3/NH Route 28 - Hooksett, Manchester
		10	25.65	NH Route 3A - Hooksett
		joins
			26.31	I-293 - Manchester, Nashua	Everett Turnpike continues south on I-293.
		11	28.66	Hackett Hill Road TO NH Route 3A - Hooksett
	Bow		35.37	I-89 - Lebanon, White River Junction VT
	Concord	12	36.04	NH Route 3A (South Main Street) - Bow Junction	TO
		13	37.21	US 3 (Manchester Street) - Downtown Concord
		14	38.34	NH Route 9 (Loudon Road) - State Offices
		designation ends
		joins
		15A	38.87	I-393/US 4/US 202 EAST - Loudon, Portsmouth	US 4 joins northbound and leaves southbound.
		15B	38.87	US 202 WEST TO US 3 (North Main Street)
		16	40.29	NH Route 132 - East Concord
		17	44.45	US 4 WEST TO US 3, NH Route 132 - Boscawen, Penacook	US 4 joins southbound and leaves northbound
		leaves
	Canterbury	18	47.72	West Road TO NH Route 132 - Canterbury
	Northfield	19	54.80	NH Route 132 - Northfield, Franklin	Northbound exit, southbound entrance.
	Belknap County
	Tilton	20	56.72	US 3/NH Route 11/NH Route 132/NH Route 140 - Laconia, Tilton
	Sanbornton	22	60.97	NH Route 127 - Sanbornton, West Franklin
	New Hampton	23	69.01	NH Route 104/NH Route 132 - New Hampton, Meredith
	Grafton County
	Ashland	24	75.06	- US 3/NH Route 25 - Ashland, Holderness
	Holderness	25	79.75	NH Route 175A TO Holderness Road - Plymouth
	Plymouth	26	80.64	US 3/NH Route 25/NH Route 3A - Plymouth, Rumney
	Campton	27	83.50	Blair Bridge TO US 3 - West Campton
		28		NH Route 49 TO NH Route 175 - Campton, Waterville Valley
	Thornton, New Hampshire	29	88.29	US 3 - Thornton
	Woodstock	30	94.78	US 3 - Woodstock, Thornton
		31	97.05	Tripoli Road TO NH Route 175
		32	100.20	NH Route 112 - Lincoln, North Woodstock
	Lincoln	33	102.23	US 3 - North Woodstock, North Lincoln
		Begin Franconia Notch Parkway
		joins
		34A	104.16 105.23	US 3 South - Flume Gorge Park Information Center	No southbound entrance.
	Franconia	34B	110.02	Cannon Mountain Tramway - Old Man Historic Site
		34C	110.82	NH Route 18 - Echo Lake Beach, Peabody Slopes, Cannon Mountain
		End Franconia Notch Parkway
		35	112.36	US 3 North - Twin Mountain, Lancaster	Northbound exit, southbound entrance.
		leaves
		36	112.91	NH Route 141 TO - South Franconia, Twin Mountain
		37	115.61	NH Route 18, NH Route 142 - Franconia, Bethlehem	Northbound exit, southbound entrance.
		38	116.39	NH Route 18/NH Route 116, NH Route 117 - Franconia, Sugar Hill	Also signed southbound as To
	Bethlehem	39	118.95	NH Route 18/NH Route 116 - North Franconia, Sugar Hill	Southbound exit, northbound entrance.
		40	120.72	US 302, NH Route 18 - Bethlehem, Twin Mountain
	Littleton	41	122.28	Cottage Street TO US 302/NH Route 18/NH Route 116 - Littleton, Whitefield
		42	124.26	US 302 TO NH Route 10 - Littleton, Woodsville
43		125.88	NH Route 135 TO NH Route 18 - Littleton, Dalton
44		130.07	NH Route 18/NH Route 135 - Monroe, Waterford VT
'NH-VT state line'
Caledonia County
Waterford	1	7.51	VT Route 18 TO US 2 - St. Johnsbury
		11.10	I-91 - St. Johnsbury, White River Junction	Northbound junction only.

Auxiliary routes

★ Manchester, New Hampshire - I-293 - The southernmost portion of this highway, between I-93 and the Everett Turnpike, was once known as Interstate 193.

★ Concord, New Hampshire - I-393

Miscellanea

★ In New Hampshire, between the northern end of I-293 in Hooksett and the beginning of I-89 in Bow, I-93 also carries the northern end of the Everett Turnpike. There is one toll booth along this section, at Exit 11 in Hooksett; toll for passenger cars is 75 cents (50 cents at the ramp toll booth).

★ A section of the highway south of Boston, beginning south of the Savin Hill overpass and ending just before the junction with Route 3, utilizes a "zipper lane", in which a movable barrier carves out a high occupancy vehicle lane in the non-peak side of the highway during rush hour.

★ Hazardous cargoes are now prohibited from I-93 tunnels in Boston.

★ There are two major park and ride facilities off I-93, the Anderson Regional Transportation Center in Woburn, Massachusetts, at Exit 37C, and the Quincy Adams Red Line (MBTA) subway station, at Exit 7 in Quincy.

★ The Big Dig tunnel through Boston has been officially named the Thomas "Tip" O'Neill Tunnel in honor of late Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill who helped pass the legislation that funded the Big Dig.

★ In an attempt to alleviate rush-hour traffic jams, travel in the breakdown lane of I-93 is permitted on a small stretch between Exit 38 and Exit 47/48. This extra travel is permitted on the southbound side on weekdays between 6AM and 10AM, and on the northbound side between 3PM and 7PM. However, on most busy days this fails to prevent traffic delays. The Massachusetts State Police is displeased with this arrangement, citing that traffic in the breakdown lanes interferes with the ability of emergency vehicles to respond to accidents.

See also

★ Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge

References

1. Review Begins After Big Dig Tunnel Collapse

External links

★ I-93 Northern Expressway on Bostonroads.com