Massachusetts Turnpike
Massachusetts Turnpike logo. The original logo depicted Paul Revere on horseback with the words "Massachusetts Turnpike" in a circle around him. Sometime in the late 1950's, the logo was changed to a Pilgrim hat and Indian arrow, commemorating the arrival of the Pilgrims in 1620. The logo was later streamlined to a simple black Pilgrim hat during the late 1990s.
The Massachusetts Turnpike is the 138-mile long stretch of Interstate 90, which spans Massachusetts from West Stockbridge on the New York border to Logan International Airport in East Boston, and on to Route 1A. The Massachusetts Turnpike is generally known as the "Mass Pike."
Tolls
The Mass Pike is a toll road; it costs $5.60 to travel from Exit 6 in Chicopee to Logan Airport. No toll is charged for travel between Chicopee and the New York border. Tolls are collected at toll plazas along the route; motorists can opt to deposit exact change into baskets, obtain change from a toll booth operator, or utilize the Fast Lane electronic toll collection system, whereby motorists install transponders on their car windshields and use special lanes at the toll plazas that recognize the transponders and automatically withdraw the toll amount from the motorist's account.
The return trip from Logan Airport costs $3 more, since the Ted Williams Tunnel has a toll in the Westbound direction.
Exits
Massachusetts uses a confusing system of sequential numbering for the exits on the Pike. Since the exits were numbered, more have been added, leading to odd situations like Exit 11, which is a minor state route, and 11A, which is a major Interstate 10 miles away!
Also, near Boston, some of the "exits" are actually onramps and are not signed as exits, so there is no "Exit 21" signed.
| Exit Number | Location | Mileage | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Stockbridge | 0 | Entry from the New York Thruway |
| 2 | Lee | 7.7 | |
| 3 | Westfield | 29.8 | |
| 4 | West Springfield (I-91) | 5.3 | |
| 5 | Chicopee | 3.3 | |
| 6 | Springfield (I-291) | 2.3 | Stoplight intersection to I-291 |
| 7 | Ludlow | 3.6 | |
| 8 | Palmer | 7.9 | |
| 9 | Sturbridge (I-84) | 15.7 | Formerly I-86 |
| 10 | Auburn/Worcester (I-290, I-395) | 11.7 | |
| 10A | Worcester (Route 146) | 3.9 | New freeway to Providence |
| 11 | Millbury/Worcester (Route 122) | 2.4 | |
| 11A | Westborough (I-495) | 9.7 | |
| 12 | Framingham (Route 9) | 5.2 | Home of Staples and Bose |
| 13 | Natick (Route 30) | 5.4 | Shoppers World |
| 14/15 | Weston (Route 128/I-95) | 6.5 | Barrier toll plaza |
| 16 | West Newton | 1.9 | |
| 17 | Newton/Watertown | 2.5 | |
| 18/19/20 | Allston/Brighton | 3.2 | One barrier toll with three different exit numbers |
| 21 | Boston (Massachusetts Avenue) | 2 | Onramp only, not marked |
| 22 | Boston (Copley/Prudential) | 0.5 | No exit number listed on approach signs |
| 23 | Boston (Chinatown) | 0.5 | Onramp only, not marked |
| 24 | Boston (I-93) | 0.7 | |
| 25 | South Boston | 0.7 | After the Fort Point Channel Tunnel |
| 26 | Boston (Logan Airport) | 1 | After the Ted Williams Tunnel, $3 toll Westbound |
| 27 | Chelsea (Route 1A) | .5 | End of I-90 |
History
As early as 1948, the Massachusetts Department of Public Works (MassDPW) proposed a controlled-access road to link downtown Boston with its rapidly growing western suburbs. Eventually, this "Western Expressway" was to be the Interstate highway continuing along the US 20 corridor to Worcester, Springfield, and points west. Under the original plan, the Western Expressway, a 7.7-mile-long freeway, was to begin at the unbuilt I-695 and pass through Cambridge, Boston, and Watertown before finally terminating in Newton.
At this time, Boston's economic state was in question as the decline of rail and sea freight, and the lack of modern highway access, effectively cut the city off from the economy. Many, including MassDPW's commissioner, William F. Callahan, saw the expressway as an opportunity to create an "economic lifeline" for Boston. Many state lawmakers liked the idea of a modern east-west highway link, but the state's precarious economic position, aggravated by its heavy debt load, precluded more traditional means of financing the project.
In 1952, Callahan proposed the creation of a new authority to oversee the construction and management of the proposed turnpike. Originally named the Boston-Springfield Highway Authority, it was renamed the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority when legislation was introduced for the turnpike's creation in the State House.
Construction of the inital section of the turnpike from West Stockbridge to Weston began in 1955, with this section opening in 1957 at a cost of $257 million. While an extension of the turnpike to Boston had been planned since its inception, the poor viability of the first stretch, coupled with other factors, namely the purchase of the Back Bay rail yard by Prudential Insurance Company (which was right in the path of the proposed turnpike extension to the Central Artery) and the signing of the Federal Highway Act in 1956, which granted states the ability to construct new highways while only paying 10 percent of the cost, put a stop to the extension plans, at least temporarily.
The sale of bonds in the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority helped fund the Boston Extension, as it became known, and in 1962, ground broke on the new extension. In September of 1964, the Boston Extension was completed east to Exit 18 (Allston-Brighton-Cambridge). The entire 135-mile length of the Mass Pike opened to traffic on February 18, 1965 with the completion of the Prudential Tunnel (tunnelled beneath the Prudential property) and the interchange with the Central Artery.
The Big Dig extended the Massachusetts Turnpike in 2003 from the Central Artery through the Fort Point Channel Tunnel and Ted Williams Tunnel to Logan Airport and Route 1A.