Interstate 93

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Interstate 93 Main route of the Interstate Highway System
Length:	188.68 mi (303.65 km)
Formed:	1957
South end:	I-95/US 1/MA 128 in Canton, MA
Major junctions:	I-90 in Boston, MA I-95/MA 128 in Reading, MA I-495 in Andover, MA I-89 in Bow, NH
North end:	I-91 in St. Johnsbury, VT
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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.

For most of its length, Interstate 93 indirectly parallels U.S. Route 3. Particularly in New Hampshire, the two highways have several interchanges with each other, as well as a concurrency through Franconia Notch State Park.

Contents 1 Route description 1.1 Massachusetts 1.2 New Hampshire 1.3 Vermont 2 History 2.1 Southeast Expressway 2.2 Boston 2.3 Northern Expressway 2.4 New Hampshire 2.5 Vermont 3 Future 3.1 Massachusetts 3.2 New Hampshire 4 Exit list 5 Auxiliary routes 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Route description

Lengths
	mi[1][2][3]	km
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

[edit] Massachusetts

Interstate 93 begins in the south at exit 12 of I-95 in Canton, Massachusetts. I-93 begins co-signed with U.S. Route 1 North. At this junction, I-95 North heads to the northwest (co-signed with U.S. Route 1 South, as well as Route 128, which begins at the interchange). to serve as the beltway around Boston, while I-95 South runs by itself southwest through Boston's southeastern suburbs towards Rhode Island.

The first few miles of I-93 run almost due east through Boston's southern suburbs, passing through Canton and Randolph. In Randolph, I-93 meets the northern end of Route 24 (Fall River Expressway/AMVETS Memorial Highway) at Exit 4. I-93 continues east into Braintree, interchanging with Route 3, the major freeway linking Boston to Cape Cod, at Exit 7. Route 3 North joins I-93 and US-1, and the highway turns north towards Boston.

Upon turning northward, the highway is known as the Southeast Expressway before reaching the city itself. Upon entering the city, the highway is known as the Central Artery, and passes beneath downtown Boston. A major intersection with the Massachusetts Turnpike/Interstate 90 (Exit 20) takes place just south of downtown Boston. After the massive interchange, motorists use the Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Tunnel to travel underneath the city and then use Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge to cross the Charles River. Two exits are located in the tunnel, where the speed limit is a mere 45 miles (72 km) an hour. Route 3 leaves the Artery just before the Zakim bridge via Exit 26, and U.S. Route 1 leaves the Artery just after the bridge, via Exit 27 (no southbound access). From Boston through the rest of Massachusetts, Concord appears as the control city on northbound overhead signs. The Artery ends as I-93 continues north out of the city.

I-93 continues through the northern suburbs of Boston, coming to a second intersection with Interstate 95. Bostonians traveling north can either change over to I-95 north to eventually reach Maine, or remain on I-93 towards New Hampshire. Farther north, in Andover, I-93 meets I-495, providing access to Worcester to the southwest and New Hampshire's seacoast region to the northeast. Just south of the state line, I-93 crosses the Merrimack River into Methuen, where it interchanges with Route 213, a connector between I-93 and I-495. I-93 then crosses into New Hampshire.

In all, I-93 has 48 numbered exits in Massachusetts, although several numbers are skipped in and near Boston. Exit 48 in Methuen, just before the New Hampshire state line, is the highest-numbered exit along the entire route. Due to the highway being one of the two major Interstates that enter Boston directly (Interstate 90 is the other), nearly the entire length of the highway in Massachusetts carries four lanes in each direction and is almost always very busy.

[edit] New Hampshire

Interstate 93 travels just over 131 miles (211 km) in the Granite State; around 2/3 of the highway's total distance. Serving as the main interstate route in New Hampshire, it connects nearly every major city and town in the state, including both the state capital, Concord, and its largest city, Manchester. Beyond Concord are the towns of Tilton, Plymouth, and Littleton.

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 currently $1 (75¢ at the ramp toll booth). This is the only toll collected along the entire length of Interstate 93. I-93 in New Hampshire is also notable for having state liquor stores serve as rest areas, which are passed just after the toll plaza, traveling north. There are separate stores on both sides of the Interstate for travelers in each direction.

I-93 enters New Hampshire at Salem, where the current reconstruction of the Exit 1 ramps (leading to the Mall at Rockingham Park) along with the reduction of the freeway from 4 northbound lanes to only 2 tends to cause traffic backups. A rest area/welcome center is available on the northbound side of the freeway, directly before Exit 1. I-93 remains only 2 lanes wide in each direction for its first 18 miles (29 km), until the split with Interstate 293 and the junction with New Hampshire Route 101 add a third lane back to the freeway. I-93 and New Hampshire Route 101 run concurrently for about a mile before New Hampshire Route 101 heads directly east as its own freeway, serving Portsmouth and the Seacoast region. I-93 keeps three lanes of traffic until the junction with Interstate 89, when it reduces back to two, and remains a two-lane freeway through the rest of its journey northward.

It crosses the Merrimack River again before going through the state capital of Concord. In Concord, Interstate 393 heads directly east (co-signed with eastbound U.S. Route 4 and U.S. Route 202), providing another route to the Seacoast region. Westbound U.S. Route 4 joins I-93 and runs concurrently with it until Exit 17 for Penacook, about 5 miles (8.0 km) further north, before exiting westward. Continuing north, I-93 traverses the Lake Winnipesaukee tourist region and makes its way north through the heart of the White Mountains Region. I-93 passes through Franconia Notch State Park as a Super-2 parkway, the only instance of a two-lane Interstate highway in the United States. This stretch carries a 45 mile per hour speed limit. For the trip through Franconia Notch, I-93 and U.S. Route 3 run concurrently.

Beyond Franconia Notch State Park, U.S. Route 3 heads northeastward through the Great North Woods region, while I-93 runs to the northwest. The final town along I-93 in New Hampshire is Littleton, served by three exits. Many motorist services are available at Exit 42. After passing through town, it crosses the Connecticut River into Vermont. The last exit along I-93 is exit 44 for Monroe, through which a rest area/welcome center is accessible to travelers on both sides of the highway.

[edit] Vermont

Interstate 93 runs for only 11 miles (18 km) in Vermont, with only one numbered exit in the state before ending at the interchange with Interstate 91 in St. Johnsbury. A rest area/welcome center is located along the northbound side of the highway for travelers entering from New Hampshire. The final few miles of the Interstate, just before its terminus, actually veer to the southwest. This is viewable on most maps. Vehicles bound for Canada can use northbound I-91 to reach the Quebec border crossing at that Interstate's end. The portion of I-93 in Vermont parallels both U.S. Route 2 and Vermont Route 18.

[edit] History

[edit] Southeast Expressway

The Southeast Expressway was constructed between 1954 and 1959, at the same time the Fitzgerald Expressway (Central Artery) was built. Its northern terminus is at Exit 18 (Massachusetts Avenue) in South Boston, a former Y-interchange where the cancelled Inner Belt (I-695) was to meet with the expressway and the Central Artery. The southern terminus is at the Y-interchange at Exit 7 in Braintree (where Route 128 "unofficially" begins).

A section of the Expressway, 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.

[edit] Boston

For more details on this topic, see Central Artery.

The Central Artery, officially the John F. Fitzgerald Expressway, was a section of highway in downtown Boston constructed in the 1950s and was originally designed as a fully elevated highway. This new highway was greatly reviled by the citizens of the city because it cut the heart city in half, cast long, dreary shadows and was an eyesore to the community. Because of the public outcry, Gov John Volpe ordered the southern half of the highway redesigned so that it was underground; this section became known as the Dewey Square Tunnel. With the cancellation of the highway projects leading into the city in 1972 by Gov. Francis W. Sargent, the Central Artery gained the designation of Interstate 93 in 1974. It has also carried the local highway designations of U.S. Route 1 (since 1989) and Route 3.

By the mid-1970s, I-93 had outgrown its capacity and had begun to deteriorate due a lack of maintenance. State Transportation Secretary Frederick P. Salvucci, aware of the issues surrounding the elevated roadway, proposed a plan conceived in the early 1970s by the Boston Transportation Planning Review to replace the rusting elevated six-lane Central Artery with new, more efficient underground roadway. This plan was merged with a long-standing proposal to build a third harbor tunnel to alleviate congestion in the Sumner and Callahan tunnels to East Boston; the new plan became known as the Central Artery/Tunnel Project (the Big Dig).

For more details on this topic, see Big Dig (Boston, Massachusetts).

These new roadways were built during a twelve-year period from 1994 to early 2006. The massive project became the largest urban construction project ever undertaken in American history^[4]. Construction on the new I-93 segment was not without serious issues: a lengthly Federal environmental review pushed the start of construction back form approximately 1990, causing many inflationary increases; funding for the project was the subject of several political battles between Pres. Ronald Reagan and Rep. Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr. Major construction on the new roadway was done while maintaining the old roadway, a step that also greatly increased the cost of the project. The original Charles River crossing, named Scheme Z, was the object to great public outcry similar to that of the building of the original highway. The outcry eventually led to the replacement of Scheme Z with a newer, more sleek cable-stayed bridge and complementing exit for Cambridge, increasing the cost even more.

In Downtown Boston, I-93 is now made up of the Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Tunnel and the Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge, which spans the Charles River. The underground construction of the tunnel system was completed as of October, 2006; however, repairs continue to many parts of the tunnel due to water leakage because of improper construction of the slurry walls supporting the O'Neill tunnel. The former route of the above ground Artery, so named "the other Green Monster" by Mayor Thomas Menino, was replaced mostly by open space known formally as the Rose Kennedy Greenway.

Additional improvements were done in the South Bay section of the highway: The I-90/I-93 interchange was completely redesigned, a new HOV lane extending from the zipper lane in Quincy was added and the South Boston Haul road that was constructed to bypass truck traffic around residential streets in the South End is now open to general traffic.

Hazardous cargoes are now prohibited from I-93 in Boston due to safety issues in the tunnels; these cargoes must now exit at either the Leverett Circle connector in Cambridge when traveling southbound or at the Massachusetts Ave. exit when traveling northbound.

See also: Massachusetts Turnpike, John F. Fitzgerald, Rose Kennedy, Leonard P. Zakim, and Bunker Hill Monument

[edit] Northern Expressway

I-93's original southern terminus was in Cambridge (just north of Boston) where it was to meet the Inner Belt (I-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 (29 km) 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.

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 41 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.

[edit] 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.

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.

[edit] Vermont

[edit] Future

[edit] Massachusetts

Since 1996, MassHighway has studied rebuilding the intersection of I-93 and I-95 in Woburn along the border with Stoneham and Reading.^[5]

Currently MassHighway has planned on widening I-93 to a uniform four travel lanes in both directions from the current lane drop near Exit 41 in Wilmington to the New Hampshire border.^[6]

[edit] New Hampshire

Current plans to widen I-93 to a uniform four travel lanes in both directions from Salem to Manchester beginning in 2008 have been put on hold. Under orders from US District Judge Paul Barbadoro, the NH Department of Transportation and US Department of Transportation must provide an updated environmental review. The Conservation Law Foundation filed a lawsuit in February 2006, hoping to force any expansion plans in the area to include the restoration of commuter rail service between Manchester and Boston.^[7] Currently, the Exit 1 interchange is undergoing upgrading and expansion, seemingly independent of the greater widening process.

[edit] Exit list

	County	Location	Mile [citation needed]	#	Destinations	Notes
Norfolk	Canton
		begins concurrent with
		0.00		I-95 north / US 1 south (Route 128 north) – Dedham, Portsmouth	The mainline of I-93 South defaults onto I-95 North.
		0.33	1	I-95 south - Providence	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		1.39	2A-B	Route 138 – Stoughton, Milton
	Milton	2.86	3	Ponkapoag Trail - Houghton's Pond
	Randolph	3.50	4	Route 24 SOUTH – Brockton, Fall River	Fall River Expressway/Amvets Highway
		4.26	5A-B	Route 28 – Randolph, Milton
	Braintree	6.71	6	Route 37 – West Quincy, Braintree, Holbrook
		7.16	7	Route 3 south – Braintree, Cape Cod	Route 3 enters northbound and exits southbound.
	joins
	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	To Route 203 / Granite Avenue – Ashmont	Signed as exit 11 northbound; no northbound entrance
Suffolk	Boston		12	Route 3A south – Neponset, Quincy	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	I-90 – Logan Airport, Worcester	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
			20B	I-90 west (Mass Pike) / Albany Street	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	Route 1A north – Logan Airport	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
			26	Route 3 north (Storrow Drive) / Route 28 – Cambridge, North Station	North end of Route 3 overlap
			27	US 1 north (Tobin Bridge) – Revere	North end of US 1 overlap; northbound exit and southbound entrance
Middlesex	Somerville		28	To Route 99 – Sullivan Square, Somerville, Charlestown
			29	Route 28 / Route 38 (Mystic Avenue) – Somerville, Everett	Signed as exit 30 southbound
	Medford
			31	Route 16 (Mystic Valley Parkway) – Arlington, Revere
			32	Route 60 – Medford Square, Malden
			33	Route 28 (Fellsway West) – Winchester
	Stoneham		34	Route 28 north – Stoneham, Melrose	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
			35	Winchester Highlands, Melrose	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	Woburn		36	Montvale Avenue - Stoneham, Woburn
	Reading		37	I-95 (Route 128) – Peabody, Waltham	Signed as exits 37A (north) and 37B (south)
	Woburn		37C	Commerce Way, Atlantic Avenue
	Wilmington		38	Route 129 – Reading, Wilmington
			39	Concord Street
			40	Route 62 – North Reading, Wilmington
			41	Route 125 – Andover, North Andover
Essex	Andover		42	Dascomb Road - Tewksbury
			43	Route 133 – Andover, North Tewksbury	Signed as exits 43A (east) and 43B (west) southbound
			44	I-495 – Lawrence, Lowell	Signed as exits 44A (north) and 44B (south)
			45	River Road - South Lawrence
	Methuen		46	Route 110 / Route 113 – Lawrence, Dracut
		47.07	47	Pelham Street
			48	Route 213 east – Methuen, Haverhill
MA-NH state line
Rockingham	Salem	1.76	1	Rockingham Park Boulevard TO NH Route 28, NH Route 38 - Salem
		3.00	2	Pelham Road TO NH Route 38, NH Route 97 - Salem, Pelham
	Windham	5.78	3	NH Route 111 - Windham, North Salem
	Londonderry	11.66	4	NH Route 102 - Derry, Londonderry
		15.24	5	NH Route 28 - North Londonderry
Hillsborough	Manchester	joins
		19.43		NH Route 101 WEST/I-293 - Manchester Airport, Bedford, Manchester	Route 101 joins northbound and leaves southbound.
		20.60	6	Candia Road, Hanover Street
		21.31	7	NH Route 101 EAST - Portsmouth, Seacoast	Route 101 leaves northbound and joins southbound.
		leaves
		22.01	8	Wellington Road/Bridge Street TO
Merrimack	Hooksett	23.86	9	US 3/NH Route 28 - Hooksett, Manchester
		25.65	10	NH Route 3A - Hooksett
		joins
		26.31		I-293 - Manchester, Nashua	Everett Turnpike continues south on I-293.
		28.66	11	Hackett Hill Road TO NH Route 3A - Hooksett
	Bow	35.37		I-89 - Lebanon, White River Junction VT
	Concord	36.04	12	NH Route 3A (South Main Street) - Bow Junction	TO
		37.21	13	US 3 (Manchester Street) - Downtown Concord
		38.34	14	NH Route 9 (Loudon Road) - State Offices
		designation ends
		joins
		38.87	15A	I-393/US 4/US 202 EAST - Loudon, Portsmouth	US 4 joins northbound and leaves southbound.
		38.87	15B	US 202 WEST TO US 3 (North Main Street)
		40.29	16	NH Route 132 - East Concord
		44.45	17	US 4 WEST TO US 3, NH Route 132 - Boscawen, Penacook	US 4 joins southbound and leaves northbound
		leaves
	Canterbury	47.72	18	West Road TO NH Route 132 - Canterbury
	Northfield	54.80	19	NH Route 132 - Northfield, Franklin	Northbound exit, southbound entrance.
Belknap	Tilton	56.72	20	US 3/NH Route 11/NH Route 132/NH Route 140 - Laconia, Tilton
	Sanbornton	60.97	22	NH Route 127 - Sanbornton, West Franklin
	New Hampton	69.01	23	NH Route 104/NH Route 132 - New Hampton, Meredith
Grafton	Ashland	75.06	24	- US 3/NH Route 25 - Ashland, Holderness
	Holderness	79.75	25	NH Route 175A TO Holderness Road - Plymouth
	Plymouth	80.64	26	US 3/NH Route 25/NH Route 3A - Plymouth, Rumney
	Campton	83.50	27	Blair Bridge TO US 3 - West Campton
			28	NH Route 49 TO NH Route 175 - Campton, Waterville Valley
	Thornton	88.29	29	US 3 - Thornton
	Woodstock	94.78	30	US 3 - Woodstock, Thornton
		97.05	31	Tripoli Road TO NH Route 175
		100.20	32	NH Route 112 - Lincoln, North Woodstock
	Lincoln	102.23	33	US 3 - North Woodstock, North Lincoln
		Begin Franconia Notch Parkway
		joins
		104.16 105.23	34A	US 3 South - Flume Gorge Park Information Center	No southbound entrance.
	Franconia	110.02	34B	Cannon Mountain Tramway - Old Man Historic Site
		110.82	34C	NH Route 18 - Echo Lake Beach, Peabody Slopes, Cannon Mountain
		End Franconia Notch Parkway
		112.36	35	US 3 North - Twin Mountain, Lancaster	Northbound exit, southbound entrance.
		leaves
		112.91	36	NH Route 141 TO - South Franconia, Twin Mountain
		115.61	37	NH Route 18, NH Route 142 - Franconia, Bethlehem	Northbound exit, southbound entrance.
		116.39	38	NH Route 18/NH Route 116, NH Route 117 - Franconia, Sugar Hill	Also signed southbound as To
	Bethlehem	118.95	39	NH Route 18/NH Route 116 - North Franconia, Sugar Hill	Southbound exit, northbound entrance.
		120.72	40	US 302, NH Route 18 - Bethlehem, Twin Mountain
	Littleton	122.28	41	Cottage Street TO US 302/NH Route 18/NH Route 116 - Littleton, Whitefield
		124.26	42	US 302 TO NH Route 10 - Littleton, Woodsville
		125.88	43	NH Route 135 TO NH Route 18 - Littleton, Dalton
		130.07	44	NH Route 18/NH Route 135 - Monroe, Waterford VT
NH-VT state line
Caledonia	Waterford	7.51	1	VT Route 18 TO US 2 - St. Johnsbury
		11.10		I-91 - St. Johnsbury, White River Junction	Northbound junction only.

[edit] 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

v • d • e Auxiliary routes of Interstate 93 New Hampshire: 293 • 393

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• I-93 Northern Expressway on Bostonroads.com

edit Main Interstate Highways (multiples of 5 in pink)
4	5	8	10	12	15	16	17	19	20	22	24	25	26	27	29	30
35	37	39	40	43	44	45	49	55	57	59	64	65	66	68	69
70	71	72	73	74	75	76 (W)		76 (E)		77	78	79	80	81	82
83	84 (W)		84 (E)		85	86 (W)		86 (E)		87	88 (W)		88 (E)		89	90
91	93	94	95	96	97	99	(238)		H-1		H-2		H-3
Unsigned			A-1		A-2		A-3		A-4		PRI-1		PRI-2		PRI-3
Lists		Primary			Main - Intrastate - Suffixed - Future - Gaps
		Auxiliary			Main - Future - Unsigned
		Other			Standards - Business - Bypassed

Browse numbered routes
< I-91	MA		I-95 >
< I-89	NH		I-95 >
< I-91	VT		VT 100 >