Useless Highway Designations

BostonUrbEx

BostonUrbEx

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Does anyone else find that half of all state highway designations are useless?

2A
3A
22
35
62
97
99
110
127
129
129A
145
150
203
225

To start with a few...


How much do we spend on signage of these?
 
Before continuing this discussion, please define 'useless'.

I find Route 62 very useful to get from Concord to Bedford, for instance.

I do wonder why Route 2A no longer goes through Concord Center.
 
As in, we don't need signs dedicated to random numbers. A simple sign like this would do:

To Bedford
<---------


Highways have shield signs, mile markers, larger than necessary directional signs, etc.
 
I'm not sure what happens for a road to be assigned a number, but I sure as hell would prefer the number to a series of ever-shifting road names, which I believe is the alternative.

That having been said, assign a new damn number to 1A/2A/3A/129A! Sticking an A on the end of the number just really, really bothers me for some reason. Is there really going to be some great confusion if 2A got changed to, say, 302 or something? Come on.

(Also, all highway numbers are assigned to designate 'state highways.' I'd say, then, that any numbered route which spends the entirety of its existence inside the same town is pretty useless.)
 
I would guess that it is for the millions of people who don't own a GPS device and still rely on paper maps?

"To Bedford" is useless on a paper map but 2A is easy to spot.
 
The state did a route designation cleanup back in the 1960's, but hasn't done much of anything since besides reshuffle the inside-128 designations to stretch around the canceled highways. Well...and continue their jihad against letting 128 be 128.

These are by far the most useless in Boston area:

-- MA 3/I-93 concurrency, Braintree-Leverett Circle exit. SE Expressway and tunnel already carries Route 1 as a triple concurrency, and the Expressway hasn't been 3 since the 60's. Get rid of it.

-- MA 2 on Fresh Pond/Memorial/BU Bridge/Mountfort/Beacon/Comm Ave. Seriously...who would ever follow a set of directions from Lexington saying "take Route 2 to the Public Gardens garage." Truncate it at Alewife. Extend US 20 down Comm Ave. to the Gardens so 20/9/28--3 routes that span all or most of the whole state--all converge more or less logically on one block.

-- MA 3/US 3 in Cambridge-Boston, 2A Lexington-Cambridge. US 3 currently goes down Mass Ave., up to Alewife, down Fresh Pond Pkwy., down Memorial...then magically changes into MA 3 at the Mass Ave. underpass...then goes over the Longfellow...then down Storrow...then Leverett Circle into the I-93 concurrency. Jesus...just keep it on Mass Ave. all the way, send down Memorial, and keep going to Rutherford Ave. and that interchange. Delete 2A after Mass Ave. where it starts making turns on 45 different streets in Lexington and Arlington. People only care about the cut-over from 128 to Mass Ave.

-- US 1/I-93 concurrency. Get rid of it. Nobody cares about interstate concurrencies except 128. Put it back on its thru route to Boston. If you absolutely "have" to connect something via the Expressway, make it 1A...which makes absolutely no sense in its current now-you-see-it-now-you-don't configuration on either end of town.

-- 128. For the love of @#$%, put it back to Braintree split. EVERY traffic report in the morning calls that stretch of 93 "128". Stop bucking public sentiment.

-- MA 203. Currently fizzes out at the Centre St. rotary. Keep it going down Jamaicaway/Riverway/Park Dr. so it forms a belt-parkway from 93 to Comm Ave./US 20. That's a route people actually use.

-- MA 4/MA 225 concurrency, Bedord-Lexington. Pick one number and stick with it. Both routes spend nearly half their length concurrent, and for all their mileage inside 128.

-- Routes that mysteriously stop at expressways. MA 135, MA 109, MA 37, MA 4/225, MA 228. Bring them to some logical conclusion on the inner end.
 
I have a better idea for US-3. Extend the 128/3/95 concurrency to 93/95 in Woburn, then delete MA-3 and replace it with US-3 from Woburn to the Sagamore Bridge.

Very simple, very easy.
 
Route 2 should go where the traffic goes, which is down Fresh Pond Parkway, then over the Charles River to Soldiers Field Road, ending at the Turnpike's Allston interchange.

US Route 3 should go south on 128 to Route 2, then follow the relocated route 2 into Boston as described above, ending at the Mass Pike Allston interchange. Truncating both route 2 and US Route 3 at the Turnpike Allston interchange would encourage traffic to use the Pike instead of Storrow Drive, and simplify routes.

State route 3 should be deleted in it's entirety. Label as I-393 the expressway from the Braintree Split to the Sagamore Bridge.
 
Charlie_mta said:
US Route 3 should be extended to the Central Artery at the Storrow Drive exit, and end there. State route 3 should be deleted in it's entirety. Label as I-393 the expressway from the Braintree Split to the Sagamore Bridge.
Click to expand...

No, US Route 3 should eat MA-3 and go all the way to the Sagamore. If you really want that road designated as an Interstate, designate it as I-93 and start calling the stretch of road between 95 and 93 128 again.
 
Commuting Boston Student said:
No, US Route 3 should eat MA-3 and go all the way to the Sagamore. If you really want that road designated as an Interstate, designate it as I-93 and start calling the stretch of road between 95 and 93 128 again.
Click to expand...


Actually removing the designation I-93 between Braintree and Canton (or rename it I-193) and just extending the I-93 all the way from Braintree to the Sagamore isn't a bad idea (and removing MA-3). Only because then if it has an Interstate Designation, it will be eligible for federal DOT money for upgrades which that highway desperately needs.
 
No, Route 3 from Arlington to Burlington is useful where it is now. How else would I tell someone in Arlington to get to Burlington, anyway?
 
Ron Newman said:
No, Route 3 from Arlington to Burlington is useful where it is now. How else would I tell someone in Arlington to get to Burlington, anyway?
Click to expand...

Tell them to take Cambridge Road, Lowell Street, or maybe to support a Red Line Extension to the Burlington Mall ahahahahaha who am I kidding?
 
Ron Newman said:
No, Route 3 from Arlington to Burlington is useful where it is now. How else would I tell someone in Arlington to get to Burlington, anyway?
Click to expand...

Would it be any different from calling it the "Burlington Parkway"?
 
Well, interstates require fed approval intervention whereas the state can do whatever it wants with state route and US routes. If we're talking interstates then. . .

-- I-93 to Sagamore. Delete US 3 in entirety. I-x95 from Braintree to Canton and reinstate the 128 concurrency. End US 3 cleanly at 93 in place of the Cambridge US/MA 3 fun and games.

-- I-293 from Hooksett to Burlington. Shift US 3 back onto its old route. Leave the old 3/93 connector in Manchester as NH 101. Delete MA 3A to Burlington.

-- I-195 from Wareham to Bourne Bridge. Delete MA 25. Or 495...but 195 is more the prevailing traffic direction.

-- MA 24 to I-x95, Canton-Westport. Cut it at 195 instead of doing the awkward concurrency. Leave as 24 from Fall River to Portsmouth...that is clearly a different road altogether. Or I-y95 it with RI's cooperation. But it is a different road.

-- Delete I-290 from the Pike to 190, extend 395 to Worcester. The numbering there is asinine, and 290 already breaks every rule in the book about even-prefixed 3-digit interstates so truncating it does no additional harm.


Renumber all exits by milepost like the MUTCD says we're supposed to. Even DOT-dysfunctional Connecticut is starting to do this with 395, and RI keeps toying with the idea but doesn't have money to pay for signs. We can't be provincial about this forever. The sequential numbering in this state has been scrambled beyond reason by canceled roads, re-routes, and infill exits.


---------------

Construction-dependent designations. . .

-- US 44 expressway to I-x93. Dependent on 93 going to the Sagamore and the Middleboro gap being filled in to 495. May be a good idea to make it a short concurrency with 495 to the 24/x95 interchange since that's an obvious source of traffic.

-- MA 146 to I-190. Dependent on Millbury-Sutton expressway gap filler (planned) and North Smithfield gap filler to 295 (don't know why this was never done because the land for it is all graded). In Worcester cut 290 at current 190/290, cut 395 at current 290/146.

-- MA 57 to I-x91. Dependent on US 5/MA 57 rotary elimination in Agawam (planned) and completion of 57 from Agawam to Southwick.


If the Cape Southside Connector ever gets built, then US 6 should obviously become I-195 (or better yet, the originally envisioned I-82). Not holding my breath.
 
In many towns the street names change while the route designations stay the same. In Marshfield Route 3A is Main Street, then briefly Ocean Street, then Morraine Street. It provides simple and clear directions. Not everyone wants some electronic voice telling them where to go. I eschew GPS because maps are easier to read and layout a longer route in my mind. 3A goes from Quincy to Plymouth with numerous street name changes. The Route markings provide clear direction. It isn't useless by a longshot. Also, when I am emperor, Route 128 goes from Braintree to Gloucester. No defiance from anyone on that, or I will have you exiled to Tysons Corner with your eyes forced open to look at Post Modern stumps.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
-- I-293 from Hooksett to Burlington. Shift US 3 back onto its old route. Leave the old 3/93 connector in Manchester as NH 101. Delete MA 3A to Burlington.
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No, this is I-89 with a 93 concurrency in Hooksett. Delete the 293 designation entirely or shift it onto NH-101.

F-Line to Dudley said:
Renumber all exits by milepost like the MUTCD says we're supposed to. Even DOT-dysfunctional Connecticut is starting to do this with 395, and RI keeps toying with the idea but doesn't have money to pay for signs. We can't be provincial about this forever. The sequential numbering in this state has been scrambled beyond reason by canceled roads, re-routes, and infill exits.
Click to expand...

This definitely needs to be done.
 
I agree with the Route 24 designation. Ridiculous in Fall River.

Route 79 always bugged me in that area too. It starts at 195 as an elevated urban highway in Fall River. It continues as a highway through Fall River up to the Route 24 interchange near exit 8. It continues along Route 24 for about 3 miles to exit 9 in Assonet where it splits off and runs along multiple local streets before terminating at Route 105. It's more or less pointless. Very few people follow it end to end (even though it's less than 20 miles long).
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
Delete I-290 from the Pike to 190, extend 395 to Worcester. The numbering there is asinine, and 290 already breaks every rule in the book about even-prefixed 3-digit interstates so truncating it does no additional harm.
Click to expand...

290 doesn't break any rule as it begins and ends at an Interstate highway. 190, on the other hand, is an offender as it branches from 290 and never meets its parent route.

JohnCostello said:
Also, when I am emperor, Route 128 goes from Braintree to Gloucester. No defiance from anyone on that, or I will have you exiled to Tysons Corner with your eyes forced open to look at Post Modern stumps.
Click to expand...

128 is an incredibly useless designation given how much of the route is duplexed with I-95. It ought to be retired in favor of an x95 designation.
 
omaja said:
128 is an incredibly useless designation given how much of the route is duplexed with I-95. It ought to be retired in favor of an x95 designation.
Click to expand...

No general-use name for a road is ever useless. 128 isn't just a designation anymore - how many people have you ever heard calling in "Yankee Division Highway" in conversation. In fact, not only is 128 a name for a road, it's a name for an entire linear edge city that runs along it, and it represents the whole circumferential road from Braintree to Gloucester, so that's where it should run.
 
I can't remember the last time I heard someone say '95' to refer to 128 where the concurrency is. The last time I did hear that was probably from some traffic reporter who isn't from this state.
 
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