Massachusetts Route 3

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For the U.S. Route that continues (State) Route 3 north into New Hampshire, see U.S. Route 3 (Massachusetts). For the Route 3 that existed in the early 1920s, see U.S. Route 6 (Massachusetts).
Route 3
Length: 55.71[1] mi (89.65 km)
Formed: 1926
South end: US 6 in Bourne
Major
junctions:		 US 44 in Plymouth
I-93/US 1 in Braintree
North end: US 3/Route 2A in Cambridge[1]
Massachusetts State Highway Routes
< US 3 Route 3A >

Route 3 is a southward continuation of U.S. Route 3, connecting Cambridge, Massachusetts with Cape Cod. All of it, except for the northernmost end in downtown Boston and Cambridge, is a freeway.

The section from Boston to Braintree is also marked as Interstate 93 and U.S. Route 1 and is known in downtown Boston as the Central Artery, and south of downtown as the Southeast Expressway. In Braintree, I-93 and US 1 split to follow the Yankee Division Highway to Interstate 95, and Route 3 continues south on its own, as the Pilgrims Highway. This section extends to a junction with U.S. Route 6 in Sagamore, just before the Sagamore Bridge over the Cape Cod Canal where Route 3 originally ended at rotary. Replacement of this rotary with a grade-separated interchange was completed in November 2006.

Because Route 3 and U.S Route 3 are treated as the same route by the Massachusetts Highway Department (MassHighway), mileposts increase continuously from Bourne to the New Hampshire border.

Contents

[edit] Route description

 Please help improve this section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

Route 3 can be said to have three segments; the Pilgrims Highway, its concurrency with Interstate 93, and its route after leaving I-93 in Boston and Cambridge.

[edit] Pilgrims Highway

The Pilgrims Highway freeway is the part of Route 3 that stretches from the intersection with U.S. 6 in Bourne to the junction with Interstate 93 in Braintree.

[edit] Interstate 93

Route 3 runs concurrently with Interstate 93 and U.S. Route 1 from Exit 7 in Braintree to Exit 26 in Boston. See Interstate 93.

[edit] Downtown Boston and Cambridge

Route 3 exits I-93 at Exit 26 and runs for a short way along the Charles River to the Longfellow Bridge where it crosses over to Cambridge and joins Memorial Drive. It is on Memorial Drive that the designation changes to US-3 which continues northward toward New Hampshire.

[edit] Towns along the route

From the Cape Cod Canal to Cambridge, Route 3 passes through the following towns and cities:

[edit] Exit list

Town Location # Destinations Notes
Bourne Sagamore Beach US 6 east to Route 6A – Hyannis Continuation beyond US 6 west
1A Scusset Beach Road
1B US 6 west – Falmouth, Buzzards Bay Signed as exit 1A southbound
Plymouth Cedarville 2 Route 3A (Herring Pond Road) – Scusset Beach, Cedarville, Manomet
Pine Hills 3 Clark Road – Long Pond, Myles Standish State Forest
4 Plimoth Plantation Highway – Manomet Southbound exit/northbound entrance only.
Plymouth Center 5 Long Pond Rd, South St – Plymouth Center, College Pond
6 US 44 east (Samoset Street) – Plymouth Center, Carver South end of US 44 overlap; signed as exits 6A (east) and 6B (west) southbound
7 US 44 west – Taunton, Providence North end of US 44 overlap
Kingston 8 Smith Lane – Rocky Nook
9 Route 3A – North Plymouth, Kingston
Duxbury 10 Route 3A to Route 53 – South Duxbury, Kingston
11 Route 14 – Duxbury, Pembroke
Pembroke 12 Route 139 – Hanover, Marshfield, Pembroke
Hanover 13 Route 53 to Route 123 – Norwell, Hanover
Rockland 14 Route 228 – Rockland, Nantasket
Hingham 15 Derby Street, South Hingham, South Weymouth
Weymouth 16 Route 18 – Weymouth, Abington Signed as exits 16A (north) Weymouth and 16B (south) Abington, southbound
Braintree 17 Union Street – South Braintree, Braintree
18 Washington Street – Braintree Southbound exit and northbound entrance
19 Burgin Parkway, Quincy Center Quincy Adams T Station Signed as exits 18/19 southbound, former exit 18 ramp serves both Burgin Pkwy and Washington St
20A I-93 south / US 1 south to I-95 – Dedham, Providence*
20B I-93 north / US 1 north – Boston* South end of I-93/US 1 overlap
*Initial signs will not include US 1, however, plans are to add this route to the signs later on
See I-93 (exits 7-26)
Boston I-93 north / US 1 north (Tobin Bridge) – Concord North end of I-93/US 1 overlap
North end of freeway
Route 28 north (Leverett Circle) – Somerville, North Station South end of Route 28 overlap; interchange northbound and at-grade intersection southbound
Storrow Drive west (Route 28 south) North end of Route 28 overlap; interchange
Cambridge Street – Government Center
Longfellow Bridge over the Charles River
Cambridge
Main Street – Kendall Square Interchange; southbound exit is via a left turn at Wadsworth Street
Land Boulevard to Expressways – Charlestown Interchange
Route 2A (Massachusetts Avenue) – Boston Interchange
US 3 north (Memorial Drive west) Continuation beyond Route 2A

[edit] History

Route 3 began as a new designation for New England Highway 6 in 1927 when the U.S. Highway system was created and New England highway Route 3 was chosen to be U.S. 6. The former NE 6 then took the route 3 number with U.S. Route 3 designated north of its intersection with U.S. Route 1 and Massachusetts Route 3 to the south. The route was basically a connected system of two-lane roadways up until the 1950s with the exception of Route 3's original path through Boston which paired it with U.S. 1 on Park Drive, the Riverway and the Jamaicaway and then along its own path in Mattapan and Dorchester along the Arborway, Morton Street and Gallivan Boulevard.

The first section of the Pilgrims Highway was built as a bypass of Plymouth in the early 1950s. The mid-1950s saw an extension of this bypass route south to the Sagamore Bridge and north to Kingston. The northern section of the highway was built next with a connection from Derby Street in Hingham to the Southeast Expressway opening in 1959. (Portions of this road run alongside the Old Colony Railroad's mainline, now used by the MBTA Old Colony Lines Commuter Rail, and the MBTA Red Line rapid transit.) Finally the last sections between Hingham and Duxbury were completed by 1963 when the Route 3 designation was moved onto the completed freeway. The former Route 3 highways became Route 3A in Quincy and from Kingston south, the remainder became Route 53. Route 3 was connected to the Southeast Expressway in Milton by using Granite Avenue as a link from Gallivan Boulevard. Until around 1965, the northern portion of the Pilgrims Highway, from current Exit 15 (Derby Street) in Hingham, was also signed as Route 128, which continued past the exit on surface streets to Hull. However, by 1966 the 128 designation was removed past its intersection with Route 3 in Braintree (and thus from the Pilgrims Highway entirely) and the surface portion became Massachusetts Route 228. Route 3 was then taken off its remaining pathway along surface streets in Boston and extended up the Southeast Expressway and Central Artery in 1971 to the Storrow Drive exit. The routing of Route 3 has changed little since that time.

Starting in 2006, a re-signing project is taking place along the Pilgrims Highway that is expected to be completed by June 2008. Exit gore signs put up at the I-93 interchange that previously listed only Exit 20 for the ramp to I-93 south now show exits 20A for the former Exit 20 ramp and 20B for the ramp to I-93 north that also carries Route 3. The signs at the on-ramp for the previous interchange (Washington Street) for Route 3 North only indicate I-93, not Route 3. This will also be true for the new exit 20 signs on Route 3 itself. Some thought this meant MassHighway planned to end the route at I-93. This will not be the case however, the split ramp numbers were devised as a travelers aide to better inform emergency personnel of the location of an accident or breakdown. While Route 3 will not be truncated, it will be deemphasized along its section with I-93. New diagrammatic signs to be put up at Exit 20 that will only feature I-93, with the possible addition of US 1 in the near future. Signs for Route 3 will be put on trailblazer assemblies mounted on the overhead signs right side poles. When an I-93 sign replacement project (Project #604757) is begun in the fall of 2008, similar diagrammatic signs on I-93 north at the Route 3 interchange (Exit 7) will only feature I-93 and US 1, again with attached trailblazers for Route 3. [2] It is unknown whether Route 3 signs will be removed entirely from all I-93 interchange on-ramp signage from Exit 7 to 16 at this time.

[edit] Miscellanea

Route 3 was one of the freeways whose exits were once numbered with the "25 is 128" system, in which the Braintree split was numbered "Exit 25" (due to it being the exit for Route 128), with numbers increasing away from Boston and decreasing toward Boston. Under the old system, the Sagamore Rotary was (on paper) "Exit 43". When the first 22 miles of the highway were resurfaced in 1975-76, the new numbers were instituted in that section. When the Braintree section was resurfaced in 1978, the rest of the new numbers were posted, leaving a 2-year gap when half the highway was on the new system while the other half was on the old system. During that time, the exit to Route 14 was "Exit 11" northbound and "Exit 33" southbound.

The Plimoth Plantation Highway, a Super-2 freeway that connects Route 3 with Route 3A, was once signed as Route 3 before the southernmost portion of the freeway to Cape Cod was finished.

[edit] References

  • Pilgrims Highway (MA 3) on Bostonroads.com
  • 1952 Shell Oil Sectional Map No. 1, New England States
  • 1960 AAA Map of Southern New England
  • 1966 ESSO New England Map
  • 1971 ESSO Southern New England Map
  • Responses to post by Bob Malme on newsgroup ne.transportation titled "MA Roadtrip Observations" posted 6/28/07.
  1. ^ a b Executive Office of Transportation, Office of Transportation Planning - 2005 Road Inventory. AASHTO however lists the end of US 3 at US 20 after it crosses the BU Bridge from Memorial Drive. If US 3 now ends at MA 2A, this has not been officially approved by that organization and MassHighway has yet to apply for this change.
  2. ^ Personal e-mail from Stephen Timmins, Mass. Highway Department Route 3 sign replacement project engineer, April 10, 2008

[edit] External links