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Citizen complaint of the day: Again with the stupid Rte. 9 signs
By adamg on Wed, 08/14/2013 - 9:44am
We can't be the only people who used to think Rte. 9 ended (or began) somewhere in the area of the Riverway overpass just past Brookline Village. Now, thanks to the industrious beavers at MassDOT, we know it continues down Huntington Avenue to at least Mission Hill (remember last year when a contractor blocked the sidewalk on Tremont Street by putting up Rte. 9 signs?). And now, thanks to a concerned citizen, we know Rte. 9 extends even further into Boston, onto at least Stuart Street (and from there, hmm, maybe it goes through one of the tunnels into East Boston and then all the way up to Canada!):
One of the new state road signs has been knocked down by a car and is near Eastern Bank at Dartmouth and Stuart (on elevated sidewalk). By the way, why are all these signs being installed?
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Comments
MA-9
MA-9 ends where it meets MA-28, which would be the area near Park Plaza.
I have to wonder why we bother with most state highway routes or most signing... does anyone REALLY follow even half of them? Big subsidy to the sign manufacturer.
In the city
Yes I agree. waste of $ because most GPS's will have a dual name
i.e. MA-2A/Memorial Drive
But outside the city it's helpful. I'm one of the few who pays attention to signage.
Even outside the city
Here, I'll open up Google Earth and give you a list of useless routes outside the city...
6A
28A
39
124
130
132
134
137
149
151
And that's just the Cape. Not to mention 28 does a ridiculous dog leg down the Cape and then hooks north while going "southbound" still -- weird as hell.
6A is a "useless route"? Sez who?
It's one of the three main east-west highways across the backbone of the Cape (the others being 6 and 28).
We must be talking about different 6A's
Because 6A splits off of 6 near Provincetown, and then just runs through it and meets 6 again at it's terminus. Does it really need to be designated and signed? Can we not just put a sign that says "<- Provincetown" on 6 instead of a whole strand of "6A" signs?
This Route 6A. Hardly
This Route 6A. Hardly "useless".
Those route numbers on the
Those route numbers on the Cape certainly helped me find my way around on my visits there over the years. I tend to use maps rather than GPS, and route numbers make it very easy. In the city (meaning Back Bay, Downtown, etc where it's very congested and there are already lots of signs) I would agree that they're not so useful and street names are much better.
Isn't Memorial Drive marked Route 3?
On Sunday I was enjoying the day when they closed the Harvard section of Mem Drive. I noticed a *really* old Route 3 sign on the road that took me by surprise. Actually looking at Google Maps looks like it changes willy-nilly between Route 3 and Route 2. Weird.
sort of
Memorial Drive is MA-3 only between the Longfellow and Harvard bridges. West of the Harvard Bridge, it becomes U.S. Rt. 3, although according to some entities, that conversion doesn't occur until the BU bridge, which is also where Memorial Drive becomes MA-2. Got it? I don't see how that could possibly be confusing to motorists.
Per every Massachusetts state highway map
since the early 1970s, the current demarcation line between US 3 and MA 3 is where Memorial Drive goes under the Harvard (Mass. Ave) Bridge.
I noticed one Monday
I noticed a new sign on Monday on the west side of Berkeley Street with a left arrow approaching Saint James St. I would have thought Route 9 would end where Huntington Ave. did, but I remember that Route 28 kind of wound around Copley Square as well.
I thought the Muddy River
I thought the Muddy River served as town line between Boston and Brookline along that stretch? If so, it would put that Riverway overpass on the Boston side of the line. It certainly isn't in Brookline Village; more like Mission Hill.
Br/Bo town line
Mayor Curley's name is listed on a plaque on that overpass, so I would assume it is Boston's property, seeing as Brookline had long since became its own hot spot by the time Curley had ascended the throne.
Also, sort of, this.
As mayor or governor, though?
Since isn't that basically a state road?
In any case, yes, somewhere between that abandoned pedestrian bridge (definitely Brookline) and the Riverway bridge is the town line, and the latter bridge is on the Boston side of the Muddy River.
Massachusetts is unique
in that the presense of a state numbered route within certian cities and towns does not automatically imply state ownership of that particular road.
In the case of Route 9, state jurisdiction stops just west of Brookline Village. Everything east of that point is owned and maintained by Brookline and Boston.
Therefore, I suspect these new route signs were put in by or through the CIty of Boston, and not MassDOT.
We're not the only state. For
We're not the only state.
For example, New York has plenty of roads with state numbers but local maintenance. So does Vermont, though they attempt to use different styles of signs (green signs which say Vermont for state maintenance, black circles for local).
You are correct that other states do this as well.
However, it seems to be predominately a New England thing. My point of the posting was that Adam (and others) have apparently assumed that these signs were installed by MassDOT because they are state route signs.
Visitors use them
Someone unfamiliar with the area and not using a GPS can find route signs useful. Its good for the cape with many tourists happy to meander along some route with a known destination.
In the city, I would seldom follow one of these routes to get from A to B, so routes make less sense, but again can assist visitors.
I have a good friend who moved here from Europe. She would ask me about route this or that to get somewhere or if we were on it. I had no idea, it was just "X, Y, then Z Streets - nobody here pays attention to the minor routes in the city." But, it was her habit to do so, and it mattered. Meanwhile, she would say we needed to get off the highway at exit YY, which meant nothing to me, and I'd ask her what street or route that was.
So, the signs are useful to some people, except when they stop and people get lost, and then they ask locals who have no idea what route they are talking about!
Perhaps its preparation for hosting the Olympics and being a world class city!
Then again there is the local rule that if you don't know what street you are on, you don't belong here.
Useful Between Goshen and Belchertown
Following Route 9 is useful if you're traveling between places like Goshen and Belchertown, but I can't imagine how it could help anyone traveling within Boston. Certain city streets do have official route designations, but signing all of them only adds to the visual clutter.
In other states such as Florida, state routes are reliably marked; with signs before, at, and after every turn; but because that has not been the practice in Massachusetts, outsiders are likely to get lost if they try to follow state route numbers to navigate within Boston.
Rte. 203
When's the last time somebody actually used that, as opposed to "the Arborway" or "Morton Street" in conversation (ditto for Rte. 28, i.e., Blue Hill Avenue).
But It'll Always Be Route 128
I-95? No, that's those two roads at either end.
At least until somebody dies
from a car wreck because the emergency services were dispatched to Route 128 Exit 27 in Waltham instead of Route 128 Exit 27 in Danvers.
Then maybe people will finally wake up and realize the fultility of keeping this unnecessary designation on the highway south of Peabody.
Ah...so what really needs re-naming..
..are the EXIT Numbers, not the road numbers. Got it.
Way to miss the point
The signs, mile markers, and exit numbers between Canton and Peabody all reflect the Interstate 95 designation, a designation that has been in place for almost forty years now.
It's high time the locals wake up and realize that the world isn't going to end by permitting the removal of the unnecessary and confusing '128' designation from the highway south of Peabody. After all, I'm sure none of the people advocating for keeping the 128 designation tell people they shop at the First National or refer to their phone provider as New England Telephone.
As for the traffic reporters, it should be their job to refer to highways by their correct designations, and not hang on to outdated and idiotic local traditions in their reporting. They have the capability to do so - look at how quickly they began to call the old Winchester Highlands exit on I-93 (which went nowhere near WInchester Highlands) Park Street once the signs were changed earlier this year.
NYNEX
I do still call the phone company New England Telephone (or NYNEX), and the cable company is still Continental CableVision, and yes I do shop at First National (Finast) (not Stop & Shop). Oh and I do my banking at Shawmut Bank.
But....
Do you also wear an onion on your belt?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detail...
Sarcasm
That was sarcasm...
Wait there's TWO highways labeled I-95?
I could have sworn that was just "up the coast"! ;)
"How'd you go to Conway? 93 or up the coast?"
The Other I-95 Goes to Providence
One of the I-95's goes to New Hampshire, the Other I-95 goes to Providence.
I-95 was originally planned to go through Boston via the Southwest Corridor, over the Tobin Bridge and up US-1 to Revere, then through the marshlands of Saugus and the old-growth forests of Lynn Woods before before rejoining the northern end at Route 128.
After that plan was cancelled in the 1970's, I-95 signs were added to the part of Route 128 connecting the two separate I-95's at either end. In this case it's very useful for outsiders traveling through the state to follow a road labeled I-95. Most people who live here though (including the traffic reporters), know they're just pretending it's I-95 and are more likely to refer to the highway as Route 128.
Wrong. Interstate 95 is one
road between Attleboro and Salisbury. Despite what the traffic reporters would have us believe, the '128' designation between Canton and Peabody is secondary to the I-95 designation (and has been for almost forty years). As I've pointed out above, this is evidenced by the fact that the guide signs, mile markers, and exit numbering all reflect I-95, and not 128.
And, despite what several of the locals (and the Boston Globe) would have us believe, most people would be better served if we just got rid of the 128 name south of Peabody completley.
Remove Street Names Too?
I agree that it's one route, but it's actually comprised of three separate roads that were not originally built or intended to be a single road. Once something has become ingrained in common local usage, people will continue to call it by its original favored name, no matter what you try to rename it. Although a bank paid lots of money for the privilege, I never hear anyone call the sports arena above North Station by its official name "The Toronto Dominion Garden".
To use another city as an example, the highway crossing the Hudson River from New Jersey to Manhattan is also I-95, but you'll have a hard time getting people to stop calling it the George Washington Bridge.
Do you think we'd be better served if the street names were removed from all thoroughfares that also have state route designations? Since we now have these lovely new Route 9 signs, should all the signs for Stuart Street, Huntington Avenue, etc., be taken down?
TD Garden, or simply,
"the Garden", is a logical and understandable nickname. Keeping the Route 128 moniker on a section of Interstate 95 is not logical, and causes confusion among drivers.
As for the George Washington Bridge, that is a distinct landmark (like most bridges and tunnels are) that happens to be on Interstate 95. Therefore, it is perfectly logical to refer to it as such.
Despite what the Boston Globe claims every so often, Route 128 between Canton and Peabody is hardly a distinct landmark like a notable bridge or tunnel - it's just another multi-lane highway.
Other states routinely change route numbers, and the locals manage to get on with their lives. Only in Massachusetts are we so obsessed with trivial matters like this "OMG, we need to keep 128 forever" nonsense.
As Roadman said, it's unfortunate that this nonsense (and given the real and pressing issues government has to deal with, it is truly nonsense that the state can't eliminate a pointless route designation) likely won't be resolved until somebody dies as the result of having two separate sections of Route 128 with similar exit numbers.
A Distinct and Historic Landmark
Perhaps you're too young to realize that Route 128 is indeed a distinct and historic landmark unto itself. Built as a limited access highway long before the Interstate System was introduced, its name is associated with the ring of high-tech business and other development that (for better or worse) grew up along the corridor.
More than just a number, Route 128 has a certain amount of fame, not unlike US Route 66 or State Road A1A in Florida. I don't have a problem with duplexing I-95 over it, and the exits should definitely be numbered so there's no chance for confusion, but it would be a tragedy to eliminate the historic designation of Route 128.
A few of the remaining older bridges have absolutely fabulous Art Deco styling; one of my favorites is the bridge over Route 35 in Danvers. It was built in 1940, but is still in beautiful condition; they sure don't make concrete like that anymore!
And that's only the second Rte. 128
Building Route 128 is a pretty interesting book, describes how the state originally "built" 128 by basically just putting up a series of route markers along existing roads a couple miles closer to downtown Boston than the current road (I've been doing some freelance work in Newtonville, one of the photos shows Newtonville Center when Walnut Street was also 128, and, well, it still looks pretty much the same).
great idea!
Let's return 128 to the original roads around Boston, and leave I-95 to the eight lane highway.
You mean all the high-tech
companies that have since gone belly-up and left. Sure, let's keep a confusing route number just so we can celebrate the history of failure.
And, for the record, I grew up during the high tech boom, and was in junior high school when I28 was originally re-designated I-95. I also remember seeing MassDPW crews changing route shields on overhead signs from 128 to I-95. That is, until the Legislature stuck their noses where they don't belong and stopped the conversion.
Had that not happened, we wouldn't be having this discussion today. And life in Massachusetts would have gone on just fine all these years without the "sacred" Route 128.
There's still plenty of
There's still plenty of high-tech companies around Rt 128. You're correct the Microsoft and Google equivalents for Boston have lost to... well... Microsoft and Google. However, Boston remains a major tech area with some reasonable arguments still existing as #2, though a distant #2 (except venture capital investment where it remains pretty close I hear, which kinda shows part of our weakness is failure to generate new high-profile companies to replace the older ones rather than smaller investments).
That said, I don't see a problem either way. You're right that Boston would be just fine if it went with the I-95 naming completely. However, better exit numbering while keeping the Route 128 moniker is just as effective. If both ideas can achieve the same objective, but one allows an extra group of people to be satisfied, then why choose full adoption of I-95 over exit renaming?
The reasons I see to not go with the compromise that satisfies more seems to stem from reasons as personal to you as to arguments to keeping Route 128 name. A personal preference for a certain type of ordering (clean Interstate designations with a perhaps a distaste to keeping connections with the past). But that type of motivation by a desire for a certain order is no more valid than motivation by nostalgia.
Ignoring that and just following your argument said overtly. You are arguing the landmark status is a moot point as Route 128 is dead. However, as said in the first paragraph, it is not celebrating a history of failure. There's still plenty of tech companies - we do have a problem is generating new high-profile companies to replace the former ones (and when new ones do generate, we lost the ability to keep them). That part is true. In short, Route 128 technology is not dead.
No, I am arguing that
citing nostalgia, alleged historical importance, perceived "landmark" status, etc. for what is a modern multi-lane freeway is not sufficent justification to keep an unnecessary route designation that only serves to confuse people. Nor is arguing "but it's been 128 for years, people are used to it." (translation - people are too lazy and/or self-centered to accept a totally logical change)
Will the world end if we allow MassDOT to once and for all totally remove the needless and confusing "128" moniker from the highway south of Peabody? Not at all. Will navigation for drivers improve if we do so? Absolutely.
How does it "improve"
How does it "improve" navigation to have one single highway identified by three different route numbers (including driving straight from "93 S" onto "95 N" without taking an exit)?
Give me more examples of
Give me more examples of confusion where removing all signs of Route 128 would improve navigation. The one example that you gave can be also solved by better exit numbering.
To my understanding, the current set up is Route 128 is basically the name of the beltway while I-95 is the concurrent route that uses part of the beltway to continue onward to points north and south. Technically, it should be I-695 or I-595 or some other currently-unused triple digit number if we want to be consistent to the Interstate Highway System principals.
But in the end, unless there is some real benefits of the purported confusion between I-95 and Route 128, then you are making arguments based on personal preference. And when it comes to names and personal preference, what determine the name of a place is what people call it and communicate to each other. You can call it whatever you want, but the name is what people recognize in communication. And to my knowledge, people call it by both and understand by both. That's not laziness, that's popular preference. No different than your preference to I-95.
The 128 bridges on Cape Ann
The 128 bridges on Cape Ann are ok, but they're nothing compared to the Merritt or NYC-area parkways.
http://goo.gl/maps/DWoZN
http://goo.gl/maps/Jp5XT
http://ww4.hdnux.com/photos/22/25/71/4808283/3/628...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stone_bridge_on_...
And just for fun, a truck stuck on the Southern State Parkway:
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/03/11/nyr...
Merritt Parkway is Simply Divine
To anyone who appreciates High Art Deco bridge art, a drive on the Merritt Parkway is simply divine. Because it parallels I-95 through part of Connecticut, it's a lovely alternative that is well worth the few extra minutes it might (or might not) take to drive. The road has many well-preserved bridges with eye-popping designs and travels through mostly wooded areas without commercial advertising. Because there are no trucks allowed, it's also a more relaxing trip. Every roadgeek should experience the Merritt Parkway, at least once in a lifetime.
I know
I was just kidding, since most people seem to only mean Canton-Providence when they say 95.
Could be worse.
There's one section of that highway in Burlington where one drives on 128/I-95 North and US 3 South simultaneously.
If you think our I-95
If you think our I-95 situation is confusing, try driving from Philadelphia to New York.
Route 28
On this side of the river, I sometimes hear people say "28" instead of O'Brien, McGrath, and Fellsway.
That's what I call it up there
I'm not familiar enough with the local designations North of the city. In Boston, on the other hand, it's Columbus Ave., Seaver St., or Blue Hill Ave., depending on which section I mean.
"So, the signs are useful to
"So, the signs are useful to some people, except when they stop and people get lost"
Exactly.
Go ahead, try to follow Route 3 or Route 28 through the city, and see how far you get before you miss a turn.
For that matter, try to give someone directions from Alewife to downtown Boston. Maybe the parkways should have a unified route number, though that could encourage illegal trucks.
Zoo signs
Has anybody ever actually tried to get from the Public Garden to the Franklin Park Zoo by following those signs that went up a couple years ago?
No, but
No, but they're certainly useful coming off of 93. Though, I had the route down pat by the time they put them up.
Maybe USDOT requires it
For eligibility for certain fed funding, perhaps, or just for compliance?
had to be route 9 signs on huntington back in the 80s....
....because I distinctly remember on my first visit to Boston seeing a Route 9 sign at the beginning of Huntington street. I then remember looking at a map, seeing that the same street became Boylston Street in Brookline, which had nothing to do with Boylston street in Boston. Which was very confusing for a kid from a place where the streets have numbers and run N/S/E/W
Names, not numbers!
I like to walk down Huntington Avenue. I do not like to walk down Route 9. That makes it sound like I'm wandering down the shoulder of a highway.
Keep the numbers on the faceless roads outside of the city. Names have more character.
Get over it. I walk down 2A
Get over it. I walk down 2A all the time, and it's just as pleasant since new route number signs went up a few years ago.
Numbers help
How many Washington Streets do we have in Boston?
Street names change every few blocks in Boston, at almost every town line, and in the center of many towns. Having route numbers and clear signage helps folks navigate in and around the region. Massachusetts is one of the best tourist destinations in the United States. Can it hurt to help the tourists find their way to places to spend their money?
No offense, but I think that
No offense, but I think that just shows your distaste for cars. I know you just wrote a post yesterday that your real concern is for urban development, but a name is just a name and places can handle multiple names. There's nothing harmful in keeping two names except your distaste with names associated with cars.
I don't call Huntington Avenue Route 9, but I don't feel bothered by the double designation either.
It's consistent with what I wrote earlier
It comes back to urban development. Of course a street can have multiple names. But using a route number "dehumanizes" it. Makes it sound like it's just another part of a machine intended for one purpose: fast movement of cars. Whereas, when someone uses the street name, it implies a more complete place, where people live and work.
Ask yourself: if you lived on a street which had both a name and a number, which one would you use when describing your address?
Would you rather live at (to pick an address at random):
or at:
A name is just a name. Yet, it does have some power in the image it conjures up in the minds of people. It's part of the culture, too. I have never met anyone in the city who refers to anything being along "route 2A". I probably wouldn't even know what they were talking about, without a map. But I've spoken to plenty of people about Mass Ave.
I never said you were being
I never said you were being inconsistent nor said route numbers reminds of highways. I said your complaint in this case is more motivated by your discomfort to anything associated to cars than real damage by Route 2 naming on to Comm Ave or any other route numbering on other city streets.
Your rebutting example would demonstrate damage to the city and thus validate a real issue if your example was actually used like that. However, no one uses Route 20 (I believe you actually meant that) in that capacity. No one write an address with "150 MA Route 20, Boston, MA" nor calls Comm Ave as Route 20 when describing Warren Towers as part of its locations along the road.
What the route numbering is used is to denote routes to outside destinations since it requires multiple different streets separated by borderlines and intersections. Does this use and its signage dehumanize Mass Ave, Comm Ave or Huntington Ave?
Thus your concern is moot. It is not used in the as a dehumanizing alternative name to street, it is used as the way to demote the multiple turns and streets it takes to different parts inside and outside Boston. Thus it seems your concern is more annoyance there's there any numbering next to a street name than dehumanization concerns. This is not to argue that route numbering does not make an area sounds more desolate, but to no one used in that context that would dehumanize the location.
Note: "A name is just a name" did sounded like an argument to dismiss influence of names on the mind. I meant to mean more than you are over analyzing, because no one really feel sullied by Route 20 as no one uses in that context (or the existence of its occasional sign).
There is a negative effect
Route 20 is a good example. To me, and residents of Allston, that's Brighton/Comm Ave, a densely populated, heavily foot-trafficked, neighborhood street. To the DOT, it's Route 20, a state highway. Therefore by statute it has a 30 MPH speed limit, and the DOT doesn't give it the pedestrian safety upgrades it really ought to have.
The city has actually tried to take unilateral action on Brighton and Comm Aves by posting yellow "25 MPH" signs and other "Bicyclist and pedestrian zone" signs, as well as the bike lanes and sharrows. They're also supposed to be experimenting with a new program, in conjunction with FHWA, of "cyclist-priority shared lanes."
But as far as MassDOT is concerned, it's a state highway. Because to them, it's just Route 20. Designations matter.
Not true
MassDOT has jurisdiction to approve any speed limit under 30, regardless of ownership or a route number designation. They base their decisions based on engineering studies, not names or numbers.
Ah yes, engineers
You mean the same folks who refer to pedestrians as "moving obstacles?"
Yeah, I really trust those "studies" to deal with anything other than moving cars as fast as legally allowed (which is 30 mph by MGL Ch90 Sec17 in "thickly settled zones").
So DOT...
So DOT, the agency that is in charge of the system that should judge by the most objective measure possible, is being affected by the name "Route 20". The least objective way to calculate things. The name colors their mind so much that they can't factor neighborhood conditions.
Sorry Matthew, I'm going with Pablo. If they can't think objectively enough, that's a reflection of their competence, not the name.
Also I read before and I have agree with a speed limit philosophy that the speed limit should be set up to the average speed of the area. If it too high, then most car will drive slower with accidents happening because some will trying to make the most of the limit with another cohort who always drive faster than the limit. If it is too low, most will just ignore but accidents happening more by the subset of people trying to obey the limit.
Thus the signs are probably the reflection of the perception of the drivers of safe driving. If you want to change that, then the perception needs to change (feel like you need to drive at 25 to be safe rather than 30 - it's called traffic calming) than merely changing the sign.
But I digressed, back to the naming of streets. I think your issue with Route 20 as a name is a reflection of your distaste for cars than your concern it is hurting Comm Ave. I can agree if people was calling Comm Ave as Route 20, it would affect their perception. But one is. And no, you don't know what is DOT is thinking. And even if they do think as you claimed, it is still false because that more evidence of their incompetence to be colored by something as a name, than naming.
Objective
Yes, their objective is to move cars as fast as legally possible. I know there's been a lot of talk about getting nicer to neighborhoods, and "GreenDOT." There's been some good signs. There's some good people working there too. I've met some of them. But there's still a lot of old thinking.
I can't reach into the minds of the engineers, but I can ask questions. And I do. I ask questions like: why can't we have the street fixed up a bit like Brookline gets it? Or, why is there a crumbling pile of concrete and a broken signal where the pedestrians are supposed to walk? Maybe some visibility improvements? Or, hey, can we at least get the crosswalks painted in a way so that they can be seen by drivers?
You know what kind of answers I get? I shit you not, an official actually told me this: "we're not going to fix the broken stuff because we don't want the pedestrians to get too confident when crossing the street." That was after a child got killed.
Here's another answer I got from an official: "we'd put up crosswalk signs but they keep getting knocked down by cars." Nothing worse than having a sign run over, right?
P.S. I agree with you about traffic calming but the first step is to get the "engineers" to understand that the design speed should be lower.
This sign:
This sign: http://goo.gl/maps/mMFM3 exists because two routings ago, US 1 took a left off the Riverway onto Longwood Avenue.
Then they rerouted it to stay on the parkways.
Then they rerouted it to take 93.
Yet this sign with the greened-out 1 remains in place, even after they re-engineered the intersection.
MDC (now DCR) sign
Need one say more? Remember, this is the agency that installed brand new overhead signs on Storrow Drive with US 1 shields - about six months after US 1 was changed to its current routing via I-95 and I-93.
Washington Street in Dedham
When they rebuilt it a couple years ago, I was amazed when they put up a Rte. 1 junction sign near the entrance to the Dedham Mall because, of course, the main road past the mall hasn't been Rte. 1 for, what a couple decades now?
Makes me wonder why the state
Makes me wonder why the state DPW is so afraid of the "US-1 Bypass"/"US-1 Local" nomenclature that you see in almost every other state in the union.
1A
1A ceases to exist (as far as I am aware, it does not share a concurrency with 1, 3, and 93 on the SEX) between Haymarket and somewhere south of Boston. 1A could come out of the Sum/Call and follow the former 1 through the city and down through Dedham.
Wait- what in the hell am I saying? I'm advocating against ridiculous designations!
Starts in Dedham Square
Then parallels the former Rte. 1 and then the current Rte. 1 at least somewhere in Norwood, after which I just have been unable to care (sometimes very close to 1; the strip mall where Friendly's used to be fronts on 1 and backs up on 1A).
When the state re-routed 1, they promptly replaced the former "Rte 1 N Next Exit" sign on, um, 128 north (which, of course, at that point is headed south) with "To 1A," which always seemed kind of pitiful, but maybe I pay too much attention to highway signs (back in my cub reporter days, I broke the news that the state was replacing all the E's, W's, N's and S's on exit signs with A's and B's; hey, we all have to be good at something).
The alternative to "TO 1A"
would have been "Boston-Providence Highway North". Talk about a mouthful - not to mention the much larger signs that would be required, and the fact that at least some people would see "Providence" and proceed to get off at the wrong exit.
And I-95 and 128 in Dedham both share the same north-south orientation. The "South 93 North 128" dilemma happened between Canton and Braintree, and hasn't been an issue since 128 was decomissioned south of Canton in 1989 - at least from a signing perspective (the 128 markers were removed long ago). However, it's unfortunate that our crack traffic reporting staff here in Boston haven't yet figured that one out - perhaps they're too busy trying to get us to switch our car insurance to notice the change.
Identifying the Road, Not the Route
The traffic reporters must; in the shortest time possible; describe the conditions on specific sections of highways. When they talk about "the lower end of 128 between Dedham and the Braintree Split", anyone familiar with the area knows exactly what road they're talking about. Nobody's thinking about all of the various route numbers it has; it's visualized as road, not a route. I challenge anyone to describe the same section of highway without calling it Route 128.
BTW - Did you know that Boston has only ONE expressway? When the traffic reporters talk about "The Expressway", everyone knows exactly which road they're talking about. Yet, it would be totally confusing if instead, they referred to it by its actual route number(s).
And if the traffic reporters said
"I-95 between X and Y" (which they already do for sections of 128 and other highways) that would serve the same purpose. Sorry, but thanks for playing.
And this "shortest time possible" argument is such a crock. Now, if the people at MetroTraffic weren't artifically constrained to a much too short time limit and got rid of the useless advertising gimmicks (like the car insurance nonsense), mabye they'd have time to give decent reports.
Personally, I'm sick of this "we only have 26 seconds to tell you about traffic so the other announcer can get back to blathering nonsense about (insert any one of three dozen useless stories here).
Yankee Division Highway
Only some of the traffic coming down Route 128 takes the exit for I-95 towards Providence. Traffic destined for Route 24 or Route 3 'down the South Shore wouldn't be helped very much by just "I-95 between X and Y"; you'd also have to continue with "and then I-93 northbound between Y and Z" as if it were a totally different highway, but southbound drivers headed for Routes 24 and 3 aren't thinking about taking I-93 at all. (as you probably know, I-93 is what the traffic reporters call the road that runs from the Zakim Bridge up to New Hampshire)
Personally, I've found traffic reporting in general to be fairly useless; there's usually not much you can do to "seek alternate routes" when there aren't any practical alternatives. Most of the time, it's nothing more than an advertising platform; a hook to keep people listing to the station every ten minutes for another dubious update. I mean, if someone doesn't already know that traffic is going to be at a crawl on The Expressway during ANY afternoon rush-hour, then they certainly don't live in Boston!
I'm a little puzzled though, why you seem to have such an aversion to the use of "Route 128" to describe the road also known as the Yankee Division Highway. In various earlier Interstate proposals, the road might have received a 3-digit loop designation; perhaps I-895 using the "8" as a subtle reference to "128". Imagine, if back in the 1960's Route 128 was completely re-designated as I-895 from Braintree to Gloucester, and became accepted as such in local speech.
Subsequently then; with the cancellation of I-95 through Boston; I-95 was multiplexed along part of I-895, just as it is today along part of Route 128. (i.e.: exactly as I-95 was multiplexed along part of I-495 in Maryland when its route through Washington was cancelled) Would elevating Route 128 to Interstate status give the road an identity worthy of mention, or would you still feel as upset if the traffic reporters described the conditions on I-895 from Dedham to Braintree?
On the North Shore, Route 1A is the "A1A" of Massachusetts
After living in Florida for twenty years, I think of Route 1A on the North Shore as the "A1A" of Massachusetts. Before I-95 was completed, US-1 was the main route running from Maine to Key West, Florida. Today, I-95 more-or-less parallels US-1 through the Atlantic coastal communities of Florida. Sometimes given the local moniker "Federal Highway", US-1 through Florida is now a heavily built-up corridor of strip malls and other hideous commercial development.
Then there's A1A. It also parallels US-1, but further to the east. A1A also has its share of hideous development, but not as much and not always quite so hideous. Many stretches run close to the ocean and can actually be very scenic. If you just want to enjoy a leisurely drive through Florida, parts of State Road A1A can be very pleasant.
Our Massachusetts Route 1A is much the same. Parts of it can be a very pretty drive, running through a variety of communities while occasionally offering up some stunning ocean views. Visitors who want to "see Massachusetts" would not have much of an experience on I-95 or US-1, but driving on Route 1A would show them a lot of interesting things.
To help hapless cabbies
The other day a cabbie I tried to hire via Hailo couldn't find me on Comm Ave because Hailo's map of choice showed me as being on Rt 20. Well, that, and he fact that he wasn't clever enough to call me to clarify.
With more and more reliance on GPS systems (and the related growing inability to read maps), I suspect route numbers are actually becoming more important, not less.
Programming problem
Google can apply multiple names to one road. Now, Google has it's own problems at times, too. But a Google-esque GPS system would have known either address was valid.
New twist, old problem
I again used Hailo from Star Market yesterday. This time around it got the commonly understood address (1065 Commonwealth Ave), but had me in *Weston*. Something is screwy with their interface.
Cabbie found me with no trouble this time however.