Massachusetts Route 1A


Route 1A is a north-south state highway in Massachusetts, United States. It is an alternate route to U.S. 1 with three signed sections and two unsigned sections where the highway is concurrent with its parent. Due to the reconfiguration of tunnel interchanges brought on by the completion of the Big Dig, Route 1A is discontinuous in the downtown Boston area. Vehicles entering Downtown Boston via the Sumner Tunnel must take I-93 north to the exit for Government Center and make a U-turn to access the entrance ramp to I-93 south and vice versa.

Route description

Rhode Island border to Attleboro

A short segment of Route 1A, in length, in Attleboro runs from U.S. Route 1A at the Rhode Island border through a junction with Interstate 95, before heading north and merging with Route 1. The entire length of this segment is known as Newport Avenue.

North Attleborough to Dedham

This segment of Route 1A extends roughly north from North Attleborough to Dedham, passing through the towns of Plainville, Wrentham, Norfolk, Walpole, Norwood and Westwood on the way. Prior to its realignment along I-95 and I-93, Route 1 continued north along the Providence Highway towards Boston at the junction of Route 1A and that road.

Boston to Salisbury

History

Initially, Route 1A ran along part of its present-day route between the New Hampshire state line and Revere. It then turned west along present-day Route 16 until it ended at US 1 in Everett. Then, in 1931, an interchange in Revere was built over Route 107. In 1933, another, disconnected portion of Route 1A appeared between Attleboro and the Rhode Island state line. In 1934, two changes were made to the route. In Revere, the route was realigned to turn west smoothly. Between Boston and North Attleborough, a huge portion of Route 11 and all of Route 150 were replaced by Route 1A. The new portion soon got truncated to Dedham in 1936.
It then got truncated even further to end at US 1/Route 128.

Later history

After Route C1 was decommissioned in 1971 in favor of a new alignment of US 1, Route 1A was truncated to a roundabout interchange in Revere. As a result, Route 16 extended eastward along the then-former route. After all unbuilt Boston freeways were cancelled by 1973, US 1 was rerouted onto the Northeast Expressway. As a result of that, Route 1A was extended south towards the Sumner/Callahan Tunnels and then north along Central Artery towards US 1. In 1989, US 1 was rerouted from Storrow Drive onto I-93's Southeast Expressway, causing "signed" Route 1A to get truncated.

Major intersections