Massachusetts Route 2

Route 2 marker

Route 2
Route information
Length: 142.29 mi[1] (228.99 km)
Existed: 1927, 1971 (current alignment) – present
Major junctions
West end: NY 2 in Petersburgh, NY
 
East end: Beacon Street in Boston
Location
Counties: Berkshire, Franklin, Worcester, Middlesex, Suffolk
Highway system
Route C1Route 2A
Route 6BN.E.Route 8

Route 2 is a major eastwest state highway in Massachusetts. Along with Route 9 and U.S. Route 20 to the south, these highways are the main alternatives to the Massachusetts Turnpike/I-90 toll highway. Route 2 runs the entire length of the northern tier of Massachusetts, beginning at the New York border, where it connects with New York State Route 2, and ending near Boston Common in Boston.

Route description

Route 2 proceeds east from the New York state line on a winding, scenic path in Berkshire County through Williamstown, where it serves the Williams College area and through North Adams, where it serves the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. East of North Adams, Route 2 ascends via a hairpin turn into the Hoosac Range along what is known as the Mohawk Trail.

Route 2 then enters Franklin County, meeting Interstate 91 at an interchange in Greenfield and briefly runs concurrently with I-91. While the old Route 2 becomes Route 2A and goes through downtown Greenfield, Route 2 exits off I-91 as a short expressway before becoming a two-lane freeway. Outside of Greenfield, Route 2A temporarily ends and merges with Route 2. Route 2 remains a regular two-lane surface road in Gill and through Erving though it has some grade-separated interchanges in Millers Falls at its intersection with Route 63. There is another gap in the two-lane expressway in the Erving area. Recently, the road in Erving was routed to the north and straightened to avoid the paper mill next to the river. This rerouting led to the road being shortened by less than a tenth of a mile.

Once the road enters the Town of Orange, Route 2A resumes and diverges from Route 2. At this point Route 2 again becomes a two-lane expressway. In Orange, Route 2 runs concurrently with U.S. Route 202. The road at this point enters the town of Athol in Worcester County, Massachusetts. After its eastern interchange in Phillipston when US 202 departs to the north, Route 2 becomes a full four-lane expressway, though not to Interstate standards at most points. It continues through Gardner and Leominster, where Interstate 190 heads south to Worcester. Continuing east into Fitchburg, Route 2 has several at-grade intersections with Oak Hill Road, Palmer Road, Mt. Elam Road, and Abbott Avenue. At the intersection with Mt. Elam Road, a traffic light remains in use on the eastbound side.

Route 2 continues east to Middlesex County, Massachusetts and enters Boston's outer loop at the interchange with Interstate 495 in Littleton. It continues as an expressway into Acton, where the expressway ends at the traffic-light intersection with Piper Road and Taylor Road, and Route 2 becomes a regular divided highway at most points and just a four-lane highway at other points. At the Concord Rotary, a major traffic choke point, Route 2 intersects with Route 2A and the eastern terminus of Route 119 (which is concurrent with Route 2A). After the rotary the road loses its dividing wall as it passes by the State Police (who have an emergency-only traffic light) and over the Assabet River. Route 2A used to then break away from Route 2 at the next traffic light to go left into Concord but is now overlaid with Route 2. At Crosby's Corner, the sixth intersection after the rotary, Route 2A goes straight while Route 2 veers right (but still heads east). The highway loses its dividing wall until the Bedford St. intersection in Lincoln where it becomes divided again. MassHighway currently expects to rebuild the Crosby Corner intersection and create a dividing wall from there to Bedford St.[2]

Convergence of Routes 2, 3, and 16 at Alewife.

At this point Route 2 enters Lexington and still is a divided 4-lane road with surface intersections. It then heads to Boston's inner belt, crossing Interstate 95/Route 128. In Arlington, Route 2 is a six-lane and then eight-lane limited-access highway until east of Exit 60 (Lake Street), where it narrows with little warning to six lanes and then to four lanes. This section of expressway actually meets the standards of an interstate highway. The final off-ramp leads toward the large parking garage at the MBTA Alewife Station. At this point the road heads into Cambridge.

The shield for Massachusetts Route 2, located across from the Boston Common

The limited access highway portion ends at a signalized intersection, where it merges with U.S. Route 3 south and Route 16 west in Cambridge and continues as a four-lane surface road to the Boston Public Garden. Route 2 follows Alewife Brook Parkway, Concord Avenue, Fresh Pond Parkway, Gerry's Landing Road, and Memorial Drive (all parkways maintained by the Department of Conservation and Recreation) through Cambridge. It crosses into Boston on the Boston University Bridge. The Brookline/Norfolk County line also lies upon intersecting Commonwealth Avenue. After crossing Commonwealth Avenue (U.S. Route 20), it follows Mountfort Street and Beacon Street through the northernmost tip of Brookline before crossing into Kenmore Square which is the eastern terminus of U.S. Route 20. From Kenmore Square, Route 2 follows Commonwealth Avenue to Arlington Street. It circles the Public Garden in Boston, using Arlington Street to Boylston Street to Charles Street. Route 2 goes along northbound Route 28 at the intersection of Charles Street and Beacon Street between Boston Common and the Boston Public Garden. Shortly after, Route 2 ends on U.S. Route 3 or Route 3 while Route 28 north goes with the southbound of Route 3.

History

The route amalgamates and supersedes various named highways in some cases going back to the pre-automobile era. For example, parts of Route 2 are sometimes known as the Cambridge and Concord Turnpike and the Mohawk Trail.

In the early 1920s, Route 2 was known as New England Interstate Route 7 (NE-7), a major road connecting Boston with Troy, New York. NE-7 ran roughly where Route 2A (the original surface alignment of Route 2) does now except near the New York state line. NE-7 used current Massachusetts Route 43, New York State Route 43 and New York State Route 66 to reach Troy. Current Route 2 from Williamstown to Petersburgh was previously numbered as Route 96.

Route 2 connected as a highway in its current right-of-way at Alewife Brook Parkway at some point before 1937.[3]

An upgraded Route 2 was originally planned to continue as Boston's Northwest Expressway (merging with a re-routed U.S. Route 3 at the Arlington-Lexington or Arlington-Cambridge border) to a junction with Interstate 695, the Inner Beltway, but this, along with the Inner Beltway itself, was cancelled in 1970, accounting for the abrupt narrowing at Alewife.[4][5] In place of the highway project, the MBTA Red Line was extended from Harvard to Alewife in the 1980s.

Crosby's Corner improvement project

This major project has been planned since 1999. The intersection has an average of 90 accidents a year. The project is intended to solve the traffic and safety problems that have occurred at Crosby's Corner intersection (junction of Route 2 and 2A) in Concord. The project, expected to cost $71.9 million, will widen Route 2 from Bedford Road in Lincoln to 300 feet west of Sandy Pond Road in Concord. The project will eliminate the at grade intersection and realign it and construct new entrance and exit ramps along with constructing new service roads next to Route 2. The project was expected to begin in 2011. The state has recently spent $25–35 million for property takings in the path of the new alignment of Route 2. In January 2010 a speeding tanker truck carrying liquid asphalt flipped over on Route 2 and crushed three cars. The truck driver was med-flighted to a Boston hospital with serious injuries. The highway was shut down for five hours causing traffic delays for the 46,000 commuters daily. The accident put the spotlight back on the Crosby's Corner project.

The full project includes building a new overpass bridge over Route 2 and building multiple service roads next to Route 2. Fourteen retaining walls will be built to accommodate the new interchange ramp construction. Work also consists of a new signalized intersection. The project was put out to bid for contractors on September 19, 2011. A contractor was expected to be chosen over the winter and construction was expected to begin in Spring 2012 on the estimated $55 million project.

The Army Corps of Engineers published a notice[6] for this project, because of its impact on wetlands at Crosby's Corner. During the summer of 2012, activity on this portion of Route 2 included surveying and the installation of orange-painted stakes. Signs were added in January 2013 indicating that construction would start on January 14. As of April 2014 the project is underway and predicted completion is Spring 2016.[7]

Concord Rotary Improvement Project

A project to improve the Concord Rotary, at the convergence of Route 2, Route 2A/119, Barrett's Mill Road and Commonwealth Avenue, has been in planning since 2003 or even earlier. More than 61,000 cars use this rotary on a typical day, and the backed up traffic can be significant. The improved intersection would include overpasses for local streets, while Route 2 traffic would continue unimpeded at grade. However, the project was removed from the funded portion of the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization's (MPO) Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) in August 2009 and is currently on hold.[8]

Major intersections

All interchanges along the freeway portions of Route 2 will be renumbered under a state-wide project to change the exits to mileage-based numbers scheduled to start in 2016.[9]

CountyLocation[10]mi[10]kmExit[11][12]Destinations[11][12]Notes
BerkshireWilliamstown0.0000.000 NY 2 west Taconic Trail, Troy NYContinuation from New York
3.8246.154 US 7 south PittsfieldWestern end of concurrency with US 7
6.22110.012 US 7 north Pownal VT, Montreal QueEastern end of concurrency with US 7, the beginning of the Mohawk Trail
6.74610.857 Route 43 south Hancock, Stephentown NYNorthern terminus of Route 43
North Adams11.57118.622 Route 8 south Adams[13]Western end of concurrency with Route 8
11.74018.894 Route 8A southNorthern terminus of Route 8A "U" segment
12.40519.964 Route 8 north Clarksburg, Stamford VTEastern end of concurrency with Route 8
FranklinCharlemont29.80747.970 Route 8A south Hawley, WindsorWestern end of concurrency with Route 8A
30.448.9 Route 8A north Heath, Wilmington VT, Jacksonville VTEastern end of concurrency with Route 8A
Buckland37.39060.173 Route 2A east Shelburne FallsWestern terminus of Route 2A
37.80660.843 Route 112 south Buckland, AshfieldWestern end of concurrency with Route 112
Shelburne38.06261.255 Route 112 north Shelburne Falls, ColrainEastern end of concurrency with Route 112
38.94262.671 Route 2A west Shelburne Falls, BucklandWestern end of concurrency with Route 2A
Greenfield47.39876.280 I91 south / Route 2A east Springfield, Greenfield CenterWestern end of concurrency with I-91 and Route 2A; Exit 26 on I-91
50.13980.691 I91 north Brattleboro VTEastern end of concurrency with I-91; Exit 27 on I-91
50.78981.737 US 5 / Route 10 Greenfield, BernardstonInterchange
51.48082.849East end of freeway
52.24284.075 Route 2A west Greenfield CenterWestern end of concurrency with Route 2A
ErvingSemb Drive to Route 63 Northfield, Millers Falls
57.40492.383Forest Street to Route 63 Northfield, Hinsdale NH
57.792.9Prospect Street to Route 63 Millers Falls
64.865104.390 Route 2A east to Route 78 Orange, Warwick, Wendell[14]Western end of concurrency with Route 2A
65.060104.704West end of Super-2 freeway
Orange66.571107.13614West River Street  Orange Center
69.788112.31315 Route 122 Orange, Worcester, Amherst
70.676113.74216 US 202 south Athol, BelchertownWestern end of concurrency with US 202
WorcesterAthol75.155120.95017 Route 32 Athol, Petersham
Phillipston76.474123.07318 Route 2A Athol, Phillipston
79.009127.15319 US 202 north / Route 2A Phillipston, WinchendonEastern end of concurrency with US 202; western end of divided freeway
Templeton81.915131.82920Baldwinville Road  Templeton, Baldwinville
83.459134.31421 Route 2A / Route 101 Templeton, Ashburnham, East Templeton
Gardner86.500139.20822 Route 68 Gardner, Hubbardston
87.253140.42023Pearson Blvd  South Gardner
Westminster89.738144.41924 Route 140 north / West Main Street south Winchendon, WestminsterWestern end of concurrency with Route 140; signed as Exits 24A (West Main Street south) and 24B (Route 140 north) westbound
91.764147.68025 Route 2A / Route 140 south WestminsterEastern end of concurrency with Route 140
92.568148.97426Willard Road / Village Inn RoadEastbound exit only
93.479150.44027Narrows Road / Depot Road
Fitchburg94.495152.07528 Route 31 Fitchburg, Princeton
96.279154.946Mount Elam RoadPartially at-grade intersection with barrier in the middle of the road
Leominster98.007157.72730Merriam Avenue / South Street
99.269159.75831A Route 12 south Leominster
99.278159.77231B Route 12 north Fitchburg
100.355161.50632 Route 13 Leominster, Lunenburg
101.125162.74533 I190 south WorcesterNorthern terminus of I-190
Lancaster102.429164.84334Mechanic Street / Harvard Street
103.497166.56235 Route 70 south Lancaster, LunenburgNorthern terminus of Route 70
104.917168.84836Shirley Road  Lancaster, Shirley
106.419171.26537Jackson Road  Devens, Reserve Forces Training AreaSigned as Exits 37A (no public access) and 37B westbound
Harvard109.348175.97938A Route 110 west / Route 111 south Harvard
109.357175.99338B Route 110 east / Route 111 north Ayer
MiddlesexLittleton113.050181.93639Taylor Street  Littleton
113.285182.31540A I495 south Marlboro
113.317182.36640B I495 north Lowell
Boxborough115.505185.88741Newtown Road  West Acton, Littleton
Acton117.612189.27842 Route 27 Maynard, Acton
118.013189.92443 Route 111 north West ActonWestbound left exit and eastbound entrance; western terminus of concurrency with Route 111
118.013189.924East end of freeway
Concord120.465193.870 Route 2A west / Route 119 west / Route 111 north LittletonRotary; western end of concurrency with Route 2A; eastern terminus of Routes 111 and 119
121.691195.843 Route 62 (Main Street) West Concord, Maynard, Bedford
123.901199.399 Route 126 south (Walden Street) to Route 117 Walden Pond, WalthamNorthern terminus of Route 126
124.824200.88550 Route 2A eastPartial interchange; eastern end of concurrency with Route 2A
Lincoln126.256203.189Bedford Road to Route 2A
Lexington128.135206.213West end of freeway
128.504206.80752A I95 / Route 128 south AttleboroExits 29A-B on I-95 / Route 128
128.527206.84452B I95 / Route 128 north Peabody
129.010207.62153Spring Street  LexingtonNo westbound exit
130.002209.21854Waltham Street  Lexington, WalthamSigned as Exits 54A (Waltham) and 54B (Lexington); westbound exits and eastbound entrances
130.894210.65355Pleasant Street  LexingtonEastbound exit and westbound entrance
131.435211.52456Winter Street  BelmontEastbound signage
Route 4 north / Route 225 west / Winter Street Lexington, BedfordWestbound signage; southern terminus of Route 4; eastern terminus of Route 225
Arlington / Belmont border131.990212.41757Dow Avenue  Arlington, Belmont
Belmont132.711213.57858Park Avenue  Arlington
Belmont / Arlington border133.690215.15359 Route 60 Belmont, Arlington
Arlington134.130215.86160Lake Street  East Arlington
134.649216.697 Alewife StationEastbound exit only
Arlington / Cambridge border134.915217.125East end of freeway
Cambridge135.005217.269 US 3 north / Route 16 east (Alewife Brook Parkway) Medford, WoburnWestern end of concurrency with US 3 and Route 16
136.354219.440 Route 16 west (Huron Avenue) Watertown, West NewtonEastern end of concurrency with Route 16
139.280224.149 US 3 south (Memorial Drive)Eastern end of concurrency with US 3
Charles River139.349224.260Boston University Bridge
SuffolkBoston139.531224.553 US 20 (Commonwealth Avenue) Brighton, Kenmore Square
140.446226.026 US 20 west (Commonwealth Avenue)Kenmore Square; eastern terminus of US 20
140.881226.726 Route 2A west (Massachusetts Avenue)Eastern terminus of Route 2A
141.556227.812 Route 28 south (Clarendon Street)One-way southbound
142.35229.09Beacon StreetEastern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

See also

References

Route map: Bing / Google

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Massachusetts Route 2.

External links

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