Central Artery
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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 was built in the 1950s as a partly-elevated and partly-tunneled highway, but most of the elevated section was put underground in the early 2000s as part of the Big Dig, tearing down "the other Green Monster" and replacing part of it with Rose Kennedy Greenway.
According to MassGIS data, the Fitzgerald Expressway runs from the Massachusetts Avenue Connector in South Boston to the split with US 1 in Charlestown.
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[edit] History
The Artery was built in two sections. First was the part north of High Street and Broad Street, built around 1956. Immediately residents began to hate the new highway and the way it separated neighborhoods. They managed to get the other half through downtown built underground, a move that was eventually done for the whole highway in the early 2000s as part of the Big Dig, 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 opened in 1959. Congestion began instantly, due in part to the cancelling of the Inner Belt, which would have taken some traffic around the Artery.
In addition to the changes brought by the Massachusetts Turnpike (Mass Pike) extension (completed 1965), several other ramps have been modified or removed over the years. Most notably, the City Square Tunnel in Charlestown resulted in a reworking of the interchange at the north end, changing the split from the east side to the west side, and eliminating dangerous weaving across the lanes of the Charlestown High Bridge.
[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 | I-90 west/Mass Pike/Downtown/Chinatown/South Station | I-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 | US 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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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. Formerly it has had many different numbers.
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 the 1970s, and C1 became part of a realigned US 1, using the Artery between Storrow Drive and the Sumner Tunnel. Additionally, 3 was moved from a bypass around downtown to use the Artery south of Storrow Drive. C9 was not replaced with a numbered route downtown, as it ended at the Sumner Tunnel interchange.
Soon after, I-95 was cancelled through Boston, and US 1 was realigned to use the Northeast Expressway, which had been 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. In 1989, US 1 was moved off the MDC Parkways onto its current alignment along the full Artery. 1A was truncated to the Sumner Tunnel interchange.
Many signs for the Artery only mention I-93, since it is the best-known designation. Others mention only I-93 and US 1 or I-93 and Route 3.
