Central Artery
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Central Artery, officially the John F. Fitzgerald Expressway, is a section of freeway in downtown Boston, Massachusetts, designated as Interstate 93, U.S. Route 1 and Route 3. It began its life in the 1950s as a partly-elevated and partly-tunneled divided highway, but is now mostly made up of tunnels that were built during a ten-year period from the mid 1990s to the early 2000s as part of the Big Dig (Central Artery/Tunnel) project. The former route of the above ground Artery, known locally as "the other Green Monster" was replaced mostly by open space known formally as the Rose Kennedy Greenway.
According to MassGIS data, the Fitzgerald Expressway runs from the Massachusetts Avenue Connector in South Boston to the split with U.S. Route 1 in Charlestown.
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[edit] History
The above-ground Artery was built in two sections. First was the part north of High Street and Broad Street, to the Tobin Bridge built around 1956. Immediately residents began to hate the new highway and the way it towered over and separated neighborhoods. They managed to get the southern end through the South Station area built underground, through what became known as the Dewey Square Tunnel, a move that was eventually done for the whole highway as part of the Big Dig Project (ironically the Dewey Square Tunnel was the one part of the original Artery not torn down, it now serves Southbound traffic). The idea of building the entire Artery underground was first floated in the 1970s emanating from the central artery depression concept developed by the Boston Transportation Planning Review. The final section through the Dewey Square Tunnel and on to the Southeast Expressway at Massachusetts Avenue opened in 1959.
The highway gradually became more and more congested as other highway projects meant to complement the Artery were canceled. These included the Inner Belt project, which would have taken through traffic off the Artery and the Massachusetts Turnpike Extension coming in from the west. The Southwest Expressway which would have tied into the Inner Belt and served as the route of Interstate 95 from Boston to Canton.
Modifications of the above-ground Artery until the time it was demolished included an additional interchange for the Massachusetts Turnpike (Mass Pike) extension which was completed in 1965), the removal of several on and off-ramps and the reworking in the late 1980s of the Tobin Bridge interchange. The Central Artery North Area (CANA) project placed the above ground ramps from the Artery underground into the City Square Tunnel in Charlestown and resulted in a reworking of the interchange at the north end, placing the northbound offramp from the east side to the west side, and eliminating dangerous weaving across the lanes of the Charlestown High Bridge which required traffic coming from Storrow Drive and wanting to go to Charlestown to cross three lanes of traffic in only a tenth of a mile.
[edit] Exit list
This is a list of ramps from before the Big Dig.
| Exit | Northbound | Southbound | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | Massachusetts Avenue/Roxbury/Andrew Square/South Bay Center | Northbound left entrance | |
| 19 | East Berkeley Street/Broadway | Albany Street/East Berkeley Street | Northbound and southbound entrances East Berkeley Street was Dover Street |
| 20 | Interstate 90 west/Mass Pike/Downtown/Chinatown/South Station | Interstate 90 west/Mass Pike/Albany Street | Northbound and southbound entrances Before I-90 was built, the northbound exit was for Kneeland Street only, and southbound was for Albany Street/Broadway |
| 21 | Kneeland Street/Chinatown | Northbound entrance Former northbound exit for Lincoln Street/South Station |
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| 22 | South Station | Northbound and southbound entrances | |
| 23 | Atlantic Avenue/Northern Avenue/High Street/State Street | High Street/Congress Street | Northbound and southbound entrances |
| -- | Former northbound exit for Dock Square/Clinton Street Former northbound entrance from State Street |
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| 24 | Route 1A north/Callahan Tunnel/Logan Airport | Route 1A north/Callahan Tunnel/Logan Airport/Government Center | Northbound and southbound entrances |
| 25 | Causeway Street/North Station | Haymarket Square/Government Center | Southbound entrance |
| 26 | Route 3 north/Storrow Drive/Cambridge | Storrow Drive/North Station | Northbound left entrance, southbound right entrance |
| Crossed the Charles River on the Charlestown High Bridge | |||
| 27 | U.S. Route 1 north/Tobin Bridge | Northbound left exit, formerly a right exit until around 1990 Southbound entrance was on the left until around 1990 |
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The original Central Artery did not have any exit numbers. These were added after I-93 was placed onto the roadway in 1974. Many of these exits either do not exist or no longer resemble their original forms. Exits 19, 21, and 25 were completely eliminated. 20 and 26 were separated northbound and southbound; 20 northbound uses the old exit 19 location in South Bay, while southbound begins at the portal to the renovated Dewey Square Tunnel (now completely enclosed by Big Dig construction; 26 northbound begins just shy of the tunnel exit onto the Zakim Bridge, while 26 southbound is located in Charlestown between exits 28 and 27 and feeds onto the Leverett Circle Connector bridge. 22 continued to exist as an offramp to Chinatown from the southbound (former northbound) Dewey Square tunnel until the ramp was closed off in 2004. 23 exists both northbound and southbound and leads to the Scollay Square area. 24 now exits to Haymarket Square and MA-1A (the Callahan Tunnel). Much of the reconfiguration of on and offramps (particularly the wide separations of the ramps for exits 20 and 26) was done to move exiting traffic off the mainline of the road, reducing stress on the mainline.
[edit] Numbering
Currently, the Artery is numbered I-93 and US 1 on the whole route, and Route 3 on all but the northernmost section, it leaves at Exit 26.
The Artery has had many different route numbers through its history. When first built, the section between the Sumner Tunnel and Storrow Drive received the numbers C1 and C9 (city routes of US 1 and Route 9), which were rerouted off local streets. The rest of the highway was unnumbered, despite being closely paralleled by C37 south from the Sumner Tunnel.
By 1969, I-95 was assigned to the whole Artery as part of its never-built route through Boston. The C routes were removed in 1971, With Route C1 becoming part of a realigned US 1, using the Artery between Storrow Drive and the Sumner Tunnel. Additionally in 1971, Route 3 was moved from a bypass around downtown to use the Artery south of Storrow Drive and the Southeast Expressway.
In 1974, I-95 was cancelled through Boston and rerouted around the city using part of Route 128. US 1 was realigned to use the Tobin Bridge and Northeast Expressway, which had been signed as part of I-95; thus US 1 used the Artery north of Storrow Drive. The former alignment of US 1 from Storrow Drive south along the Artery to the Sumner Tunnel became an extended 1A, and I-93 was extended south from Charlestown along the Artery, Southeast Expressway and Route 128 from Braintree to Canton. In 1989, US 1 was moved off the MDC Parkways onto its current alignment along the full Artery. Route 1A was then truncated to the Sumner Tunnel interchange.
Signs put up for the new underground Artery only mention I-93, since it is the best-known designation. Older signs may mention only I-93 and US 1 or I-93 and Route 3. A Winter 2008/2009 project to update this signage may help clear up this potentially confusing situation.
