Massachusetts Route 2

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
	US 7 in Williamstown I‑91 / US 5 in Greenfield US 202 from Orange to Phillipston I‑190 in Leominster I‑495 in Littleton I‑95 / Route 128 in Lexington US 3 / Route 16 in Cambridge US 20 in Boston
East end:	Beacon Street in Boston
Location
Counties:	Berkshire, Franklin, Worcester, Middlesex, Suffolk
Highway system
Massachusetts State Highway System Interstate US State ← Route C1 Route 2A → ← Route 6B N.E. Route 8 →

Route 2 is a major east–west 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]

County	Location[10]	mi[10]	km	Exit[11][12]	Destinations[11][12]	Notes
Berkshire	Williamstown	0.000	0.000		NY 2 west – Taconic Trail, Troy NY	Continuation from New York
		3.824	6.154		US 7 south – Pittsfield	Western end of concurrency with US 7
		6.221	10.012		US 7 north – Pownal VT, Montreal Que	Eastern end of concurrency with US 7, the beginning of the Mohawk Trail
		6.746	10.857		Route 43 south – Hancock, Stephentown NY	Northern terminus of Route 43
	North Adams	11.571	18.622		Route 8 south – Adams[13]	Western end of concurrency with Route 8
		11.740	18.894		Route 8A south	Northern terminus of Route 8A "U" segment
		12.405	19.964		Route 8 north – Clarksburg, Stamford VT	Eastern end of concurrency with Route 8
Franklin	Charlemont	29.807	47.970		Route 8A south – Hawley, Windsor	Western end of concurrency with Route 8A
		30.4	48.9		Route 8A north – Heath, Wilmington VT, Jacksonville VT	Eastern end of concurrency with Route 8A
	Buckland	37.390	60.173		Route 2A east – Shelburne Falls	Western terminus of Route 2A
		37.806	60.843		Route 112 south – Buckland, Ashfield	Western end of concurrency with Route 112
	Shelburne	38.062	61.255		Route 112 north – Shelburne Falls, Colrain	Eastern end of concurrency with Route 112
		38.942	62.671		Route 2A west – Shelburne Falls, Buckland	Western end of concurrency with Route 2A
	Greenfield	47.398	76.280		I‑91 south / Route 2A east – Springfield, Greenfield Center	Western end of concurrency with I-91 and Route 2A; Exit 26 on I-91
		50.139	80.691		I‑91 north – Brattleboro VT	Eastern end of concurrency with I-91; Exit 27 on I-91
		50.789	81.737		US 5 / Route 10 – Greenfield, Bernardston	Interchange
		51.480	82.849	East end of freeway
		52.242	84.075		Route 2A west – Greenfield Center	Western end of concurrency with Route 2A
	Erving				Semb Drive to Route 63 – Northfield, Millers Falls
		57.404	92.383		Forest Street to Route 63 – Northfield, Hinsdale NH
		57.7	92.9		Prospect Street to Route 63 – Millers Falls
		64.865	104.390		Route 2A east to Route 78 – Orange, Warwick, Wendell[14]	Western end of concurrency with Route 2A
		65.060	104.704	West end of Super-2 freeway
	Orange	66.571	107.136	14	West River Street – Orange Center
		69.788	112.313	15	Route 122 – Orange, Worcester, Amherst
		70.676	113.742	16	US 202 south – Athol, Belchertown	Western end of concurrency with US 202
Worcester	Athol	75.155	120.950	17	Route 32 – Athol, Petersham
	Phillipston	76.474	123.073	18	Route 2A – Athol, Phillipston
		79.009	127.153	19	US 202 north / Route 2A – Phillipston, Winchendon	Eastern end of concurrency with US 202; western end of divided freeway
	Templeton	81.915	131.829	20	Baldwinville Road – Templeton, Baldwinville
		83.459	134.314	21	Route 2A / Route 101 – Templeton, Ashburnham, East Templeton
	Gardner	86.500	139.208	22	Route 68 – Gardner, Hubbardston
		87.253	140.420	23	Pearson Blvd – South Gardner
	Westminster	89.738	144.419	24	Route 140 north / West Main Street south – Winchendon, Westminster	Western end of concurrency with Route 140; signed as Exits 24A (West Main Street south) and 24B (Route 140 north) westbound
		91.764	147.680	25	Route 2A / Route 140 south – Westminster	Eastern end of concurrency with Route 140
		92.568	148.974	26	Willard Road / Village Inn Road	Eastbound exit only
		93.479	150.440	27	Narrows Road / Depot Road
	Fitchburg	94.495	152.075	28	Route 31 – Fitchburg, Princeton
		96.279	154.946		Mount Elam Road	Partially at-grade intersection with barrier in the middle of the road
	Leominster	98.007	157.727	30	Merriam Avenue / South Street
		99.269	159.758	31A	Route 12 south – Leominster
		99.278	159.772	31B	Route 12 north – Fitchburg
		100.355	161.506	32	Route 13 – Leominster, Lunenburg
		101.125	162.745	33	I‑190 south – Worcester	Northern terminus of I-190
	Lancaster	102.429	164.843	34	Mechanic Street / Harvard Street
		103.497	166.562	35	Route 70 south – Lancaster, Lunenburg	Northern terminus of Route 70
		104.917	168.848	36	Shirley Road – Lancaster, Shirley
		106.419	171.265	37	Jackson Road – Devens, Reserve Forces Training Area	Signed as Exits 37A (no public access) and 37B westbound
	Harvard	109.348	175.979	38A	Route 110 west / Route 111 south – Harvard
		109.357	175.993	38B	Route 110 east / Route 111 north – Ayer
Middlesex	Littleton	113.050	181.936	39	Taylor Street – Littleton
		113.285	182.315	40A	I‑495 south – Marlboro
		113.317	182.366	40B	I‑495 north – Lowell
	Boxborough	115.505	185.887	41	Newtown Road – West Acton, Littleton
	Acton	117.612	189.278	42	Route 27 – Maynard, Acton
		118.013	189.924	43	Route 111 north – West Acton	Westbound left exit and eastbound entrance; western terminus of concurrency with Route 111
		118.013	189.924	East end of freeway
	Concord	120.465	193.870		Route 2A west / Route 119 west / Route 111 north – Littleton	Rotary; western end of concurrency with Route 2A; eastern terminus of Routes 111 and 119
		121.691	195.843		Route 62 (Main Street) – West Concord, Maynard, Bedford
		123.901	199.399		Route 126 south (Walden Street) to Route 117 – Walden Pond, Waltham	Northern terminus of Route 126
		124.824	200.885	50	Route 2A east	Partial interchange; eastern end of concurrency with Route 2A
	Lincoln	126.256	203.189		Bedford Road to Route 2A
	Lexington	128.135	206.213	West end of freeway
		128.504	206.807	52A	I‑95 / Route 128 south – Attleboro	Exits 29A-B on I-95 / Route 128
		128.527	206.844	52B	I‑95 / Route 128 north – Peabody
		129.010	207.621	53	Spring Street – Lexington	No westbound exit
		130.002	209.218	54	Waltham Street – Lexington, Waltham	Signed as Exits 54A (Waltham) and 54B (Lexington); westbound exits and eastbound entrances
		130.894	210.653	55	Pleasant Street – Lexington	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		131.435	211.524	56	Winter Street – Belmont	Eastbound signage
					Route 4 north / Route 225 west / Winter Street – Lexington, Bedford	Westbound signage; southern terminus of Route 4; eastern terminus of Route 225
	Arlington / Belmont border	131.990	212.417	57	Dow Avenue – Arlington, Belmont
	Belmont	132.711	213.578	58	Park Avenue – Arlington
	Belmont / Arlington border	133.690	215.153	59	Route 60 – Belmont, Arlington
	Arlington	134.130	215.861	60	Lake Street – East Arlington
		134.649	216.697	–	Alewife Station	Eastbound exit only
	Arlington / Cambridge border	134.915	217.125	East end of freeway
	Cambridge	135.005	217.269		US 3 north / Route 16 east (Alewife Brook Parkway) – Medford, Woburn	Western end of concurrency with US 3 and Route 16
		136.354	219.440		Route 16 west (Huron Avenue) – Watertown, West Newton	Eastern end of concurrency with Route 16
		139.280	224.149		US 3 south (Memorial Drive)	Eastern end of concurrency with US 3
Charles River		139.349	224.260	Boston University Bridge
Suffolk	Boston	139.531	224.553		US 20 (Commonwealth Avenue) – Brighton, Kenmore Square
		140.446	226.026		US 20 west (Commonwealth Avenue)	Kenmore Square; eastern terminus of US 20
		140.881	226.726		Route 2A west (Massachusetts Avenue)	Eastern terminus of Route 2A
		141.556	227.812		Route 28 south (Clarendon Street)	One-way southbound
		142.35	229.09		Beacon Street	Eastern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access

See also

• Freeway and expressway revolts

References

Route map: Bing / Google

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Massachusetts Route 2.

External Link

• Mass. Route 2 Current and Future Exit Numbers List