Jon Chesto explores the enduring popularity of "128", despite the best efforts of state and federal bureaucrats to kill the name off.
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Jon Chesto explores the enduring popularity of "128", despite the best efforts of state and federal bureaucrats to kill the name off.
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Comments
128 should not be surrendered to the directionally challenged.
By issacg
Tue, 08/14/2012 - 3:09pm
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:
I have Sarah Palin's awful voice ringing in my head: "how's that workin' out for ya?"
If we were to completely remove all references
By roadman
Tue, 08/14/2012 - 3:29pm
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.
And sometimes, old branding is best left alone
By Ron Newman
Tue, 08/14/2012 - 4:39pm
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.
Point taken.
By roadman
Tue, 08/14/2012 - 4:59pm
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.
Traffic Reporters
By anon
Tue, 08/14/2012 - 5:33pm
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?
I find it interesting that
By NotWhitey
Tue, 08/14/2012 - 6:58pm
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.
ever hear of NY17?
By davem
Tue, 08/14/2012 - 6:39pm
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.
Isn't "old 17" from Harriman to Suffern still 17?
By jmeltzer
Wed, 08/15/2012 - 8:04am
It was the last time I went through there.
If we stop using the term 128
By Nancy
Tue, 08/14/2012 - 5:31pm
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?
Interesting how when this
By anon
Tue, 08/14/2012 - 5:26pm
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).
That would be much less confusing
By anon
Tue, 08/14/2012 - 6:28pm
That would be much less confusing than just using an unambiguous name for the road that runs through Canton to Braintree.
MA 128 always was a loop
By Cleary Squared
Tue, 08/14/2012 - 8:38pm
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.
I like your dry sense of humor
By anon
Tue, 08/14/2012 - 9:50pm
I know Greater Boston like the back of my hand, and even I'm in a zombiefied state after reading your post.
Thanks...
By Cleary Squared
Wed, 08/15/2012 - 9:32am
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.
Well, I wasn't talking about
By anon
Wed, 08/15/2012 - 9:28pm
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.
I work in Providence a couple of times a week
By Nancy
Tue, 08/14/2012 - 10:00pm
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?
That part of the road isn't interstate grade
By jmeltzer
Wed, 08/15/2012 - 7:57am
so, no 3 digit interstate number.
Route 128 east of Peabody
By Ron Newman
Wed, 08/15/2012 - 9:26am
The very end of it in Gloucester has rotaries and traffic lights, but isn't the rest of it fully limited-access?
Well, yeah,
By jmeltzer
Thu, 08/16/2012 - 6:43am
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.
Vestigal access points on 128 east o Peabody
By John-W
Thu, 08/16/2012 - 10:34am
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.
You can thank Governor Sargent for that
By roadman
Thu, 08/16/2012 - 5:35pm
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.
But there is no other way to drive past the Stop & Shop
By scollaysq
Tue, 08/14/2012 - 8:57pm
when it's dark outside with the radio on
your post put a huge smile on my face
By louielouie
Wed, 08/15/2012 - 9:12am
Radio On!
Hmmm...there were many who said the name Scolley Square
By anon
Tue, 08/14/2012 - 9:57pm
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.
The difference between Scollay Square and 128
By adamg
Tue, 08/14/2012 - 10:29pm
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).
well, since you put it that way Adam
By anon
Wed, 08/15/2012 - 4:11pm
yeah, you're right.
I always take 128, 95 has to
By anon
Wed, 08/15/2012 - 12:28am
I always take 128, 95 has to much traffic.
And yet another name for the road
By anon
Wed, 08/15/2012 - 9:50am
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/
And yet another name for the road
By anon
Wed, 08/15/2012 - 9:54am
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/
Kevin White did it
By TC TC TC
Wed, 08/15/2012 - 10:57am
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.