Hey, there! Log in / Register

You can have Rte. 128 when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers

Jon Chesto explores the enduring popularity of "128", despite the best efforts of state and federal bureaucrats to kill the name off.

Topics: 
Free tagging: 


Ad:


Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

It's a terrible idea to try and snuff out the name. The name and reputation of 128 is valuable, and should not be sacrificed for the few nitwits who can't understand that a road can have more than one name. As the article points out, the name is known around the word (fun fact, a French person in France asked me if my office was near it). Remember what happened when the City tried to insist that the entire length of road from the Moakley Bridge to the BMIP be renamed Seaport Boulevard? The fishermen and Seafood people went nuts because Northern Avenue has a fair bit of cache in that industry (you'll notice that Massport retained "Northern Avenue" on the part of that roadway which it owns).

The other winning statement from this article:

Verseckes says Route 128 officially lost its South Shore leg after Route 1, between Dedham and Charlestown, was rerouted. Route 1 ran on Storrow Drive at the time. The then-commissioner of the MDC, Verseckes says, had hoped the new route would keep oversized trucks from ending up on Storrow and getting stuck under its low overpasses.

I have Sarah Palin's awful voice ringing in my head: "how's that workin' out for ya?"

up
Voting closed 0

to Route 128 south of Peabody tommorow, I doubt the world would spin off its axis. And we would wind up with much more consistent and logical route numbering in the Boston area.

As I've stated in other threads concerning this issue, private companies that people do business with every day change names all the time, be it through mergers, acquistions, sales to other companies, etc. The old established names go away, but that doesn't stop us from doing our banking, continuing our phone service, shopping for groceries, etc with the new or rebranded companies.

But, when it comes to changing a highway number, its "how dare the government do that." Totally illogical and emotional reaction, if you ask me.

And, with respect to Adam, it's not the state and federal highway "bureaucrats" you should be blaming for the current route confusion. It's the politicians in the Legislature that stopped MassDPW from originally removing the Route 128 designation south of Peabody in early 1975 (that's 38+ years ago). Not to mention the local traffic reporters, who seem to be stuck in 1972 when it comes to route and landmark reporting.

up
Voting closed 0

To take a prominent local example, Proctor & Gamble have been smart enough NOT to rename Gillette or any of its products. The 'Gillette World Shaving Headquarters' sign remains where it has always been.

TD Bank recognized the value of the word 'Garden' and brought it back when it acquired the naming rights to that sports arena.

A lot of folks in Boston, Chicago, Columbus, and other cities are less than thrilled by Macy's wiping out of historic names such as Jordan Marsh, Filene's, Marshall Fields, and Lazarus.

up
Voting closed 0

But, which would you rather have - a single Interstate 95 through Massachusetts, or "95 turns into 128, which turns back into 95". Even though all the big green signs reference 95 instead of 128, the latter is exactly what we have now, thanks in large part to our "professional" traffic reporters , who would rather keep an archane reference alive than properly do their jobs.

And remember, we're talking about a highway here - not razor blades. P&G kept the Gillette name to keep customers in a fierce market with lots of other options available to them. It seems highly unlikely that swarms of drivers will actually stop using the highway between Canton and Peabody just because it's no longer called 128.

The reality is that the time comes when some things are better left to history. IMO, removing an unnecessary and outdated state route designation from what is now part of an Interstate highway (and has been so for almost forty years) qualifies as one of those things.

up
Voting closed 0

Actually, traffic reporters *are* doing their jobs by using names that let you know instantly whether they're talking about the circumferential highway or the north/south highways that extend off of it like spokes?

What baffles me is why anyone is opposed to (a) one highway having more than one name (it happens almost everywhere in this state, and I think most people who have reached the legal driving age can figure out the fact that two different numbered highways can run along the same roadway) or (b) having a single name to describe the distinct road that runs from Gloucester to Braintree. Is it supposed to be less confusing to tell people to got "South on 95, then North on 93" to get to Rt. 3 (for example) when they're actually driving straight ahead on the same road?

up
Voting closed 0

I find it interesting that whenever this topic comes up, you obsessively complain about people obsessing over the 128 designation. ;-)

For national purposes, the roadway is I-95. For local purposes, it's Route 128. In time, when people like me are dead, that will probably change. Until then, live with it.

My uncle moved to Los Angeles in the early 1950s. When I visited him in the 1980s, I mentioned driving in on I-5. He had no idea what I was talking about. When I explained, he said Oh, that's the such-and-such freeway! Thirty years of driving around LA, and he had no idea what I-5 was. Guess what - he was right, and I said it wrong.

up
Voting closed 0

I grew up in lower new york state where you have route 17 that is also signed as "future I86" running alongside old route 17, which runs alongside 17m, which also occasionally runs concurently with and also variously crosses both 17 and old rt 17. And then you also have 17a and 17k which variously cross, run parallel to, and junction with all the other 17s. And just to make it better, there is also a route 17 in nj, but ny17 and nj17 haven't connected to each other in decades, nor does old route 17 which sort of connects them but really doesn't. Most of the 17s also run concurently with several other state highways at the same time.

And you know what? It works just fine. If mass drivers can't fugure out how 128 runs concurently with I95 there's something wrong around here.

up
Voting closed 0

It was the last time I went through there.

up
Voting closed 0

how will I be able to make sure people know I'm cool because I live inside 128 and they're not cool because they live outside 128?

up
Voting closed 0

Interesting how when this topic pops up periodically, most of the focus is on 95 v 128 label and none of the articles mentions how the other interstate in the equation is misnumbered.

The north-south primary (two-digit) interstates are odd numbers, progressing from low numbers in the west of the country to higher numbers as you look further east. Thus, 95 is the number for the east coast, north-south interstate. However, 93 runs east of it from Canton through Randolph, Braintree, etc... to Woburn/Wakefield.

Now, I'll agree it shouldn't be changed to I-97 or I-99, since most of the overall length of the road (through northern Mass and a great deal of NH) is west of I-95.

It would be more in keeping with the formula, however, to designate the "east of 95" segment as a three-digit interstate, starting with an odd number appropriate to being a lateral or spur (as opposed to loop/belt interstates starting with even numbers).

up
Voting closed 0

That would be much less confusing than just using an unambiguous name for the road that runs through Canton to Braintree.

up
Voting closed 0

Even it is pre-highway stages, the route from Gloucester to Braintree (and beyond to Nantasket) looped around Boston, so making it an odd three digit interstate wouldn't make sense.

Three different ways to fix the situation:

1. Promoting I-295 north from Attleboro to MA 128/I-95 from Gloucester to Braintree, and then extending it south on MA 3 from Braintree to Sagamore. I-295 would end at the Rhode Island border and the small section in Attleboro would be I-895.

2. Making the section between Gloucester and Peabody I-595/MA 128, with the section between Peabody and Canton "secret" I-595.

3. Making I-695 the entire route between Gloucester and Braintree, sharing exits with I-95 between Peabody and Canton, starting with Exit 1 at I-93/MA 3, "ending" with exit 7 at the I-95 interchange and restarting with Exit 40 in Peabody and ending in Gloucester as Exit 60.

up
Voting closed 0

I know Greater Boston like the back of my hand, and even I'm in a zombiefied state after reading your post.

up
Voting closed 0

I apologize for the zombification, though. Usually I get the foaming-at-the-mouth pitchforks and torches crowd, but the zombies are the least likely to heckle me.

up
Voting closed 0

Well, I wasn't talking about any of the Gloucester stretches you've mentioned.

I was talking about what is currently I-93, exits 1 to 37.

up
Voting closed 0

When I'm driving back up to Boston and get to the split that says North 95/North 93 I always imagine people from out of state thinking wtf way am I supposed to go? Do I go North or do I go North?

up
Voting closed 0

so, no 3 digit interstate number.

up
Voting closed 0

The very end of it in Gloucester has rotaries and traffic lights, but isn't the rest of it fully limited-access?

up
Voting closed 0

but if all of "128" was to be renamed an interstate they'd have to take the rotaries out - and also widen some of the stretches near there, which, as I remember, are narrow four lane with curves.

If that part still remained "128"", then the original problem remains.

up
Voting closed 0

There's the access point to the B'nai B'rith Cemetery before exit 24 in Danvers. And then there's Wayside Drive just before Exit 21 which seems really weird to have there. Also in Danvizz. Dem peeple in Danvizz ah weerd.

up
Voting closed 0

93 was originally intended to end at I-695 (the Inner Belt) in Somerville.

When the Inner Belt (I-695), the Southwest Expressway (I-95 Canton to Boston), and the Northeast Expressway (I-95 Peabody to Boston)projects were all cancelled in the early 1970s, I-93 no longer had a southern connection to another Interstate highway - as required by the long-standing numbering rules. So it was extended to I-95.

IMO, a better solution would have been to "swap" roads between Woburn and Canton - re-route I-95 over I-93, and re-route I-93 over I-95. That would both keep the numbering conventions correct and allow I-95 to directly serve Boston, like the signs coming out of New Hampshire and Rhode Island claim it does.

up
Voting closed 0

when it's dark outside with the radio on

up
Voting closed 0

Radio On!

up
Voting closed 0

would never disappear. Well they were wrong, it's Government Center, and you could fill a small hall with the number of people who remember Scolley Square. I suppose this is 128's fate,also. Ditto Filenes and Jordan Marsh, both well on their way to being the things gen y and z say 'huh?' when mentioned.

up
Voting closed 0

Scollay Square was pretty much completely torn up and replaced by all new buildings and roads and vast fields of brick. Aside from the smoking kettle and the front of the building it was in, there's no there there anymore.

128, though, is basically still the same as it always was, only now with fewer "Rte. 128" signs and more signs that make no sense ("93 ENDS" for no reason that any normal person can figure, since the road itself certainly doesn't end).

up
Voting closed 0

yeah, you're right.

up
Voting closed 0

I always take 128, 95 has to much traffic.

up
Voting closed 0

I don't think I saw it mentioned that Route 128 as we all commonly drive it is also called the Yankee Division Highway (as the US Army's 26th Infantry Division, not the NY baseball team). I like Steve Anderson's idea for the stretch between Dedham and Braintree: http://www.bostonroads.com/roads/MA-128/

up
Voting closed 0

I don't think I saw it mentioned that Route 128 as we all commonly drive it is also called the Yankee Division Highway--as in the US Army's 26th Infantry Division, not the NY baseball team. I like Steve Anderson's recommendation for the stretch between Dedham and Braintree: http://www.bostonroads.com/roads/MA-128/

up
Voting closed 0

Barney Frank cited Kevin White's role in stopping I-95 going through Boston in the 1960's. The result was designating a good part of 128 as 95, so the interstate system could continue north to the Canadian border. 128 as a designation makes a lot of sense, it covers the same piece of roadway as it loops around Boston's closer suburbs. 495 has a similar function, further out.

up
Voting closed 0