It's a long way to Tipperary - and Newport, OR

By adamg on Wed, 12/07/2016 - 5:15pm

MassDOT reports that tomorrow state officials will post a new Rte. 20 marker in Kenmore Square - marking the 3,365 miles to Newport, OR, which make the highway the longest continuous road in the US.

Officials in Newport, OR will, in turn, place a similar sign noting the distance to Boston.

The official ceremony begins at 9 a.m. - and marks almost a year since somebody filed a formal complaint over the lack of any signage noting the end of the transcontinental federal route.

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Comments

Thirty years ago ...

By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 12/07/2016 - 5:22pm

... when I lived in Kenmore square and my grandparents lived near Newport, this would have been painful. But at that time anything west of Worcester did not exist in Boston.

Now? Seems to be a cycling challenge, beckoning.

more like

By Scumquistador
Wed, 12/07/2016 - 7:55pm

WHERE?cester am i right lmfao!!!!!!!!!!!

Bike on US-20? Yuck

By merlinmurph
Thu, 12/08/2016 - 1:18pm

I've driven on a lot of US 20 on both ends of the country, and not once did I ever wish I were on a bike. Even in the leafy burbs of Weston, Wayland, Sudbury, etc., it's a road I avoid.

Life is too short to ride shitty roads.

Not directly

By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 12/08/2016 - 9:59pm

More that it inspires me with the idea of biking across the country.

Now, that's a ride

By merlinmurph
Fri, 12/09/2016 - 7:35am

Hope you find a way to do it.

Where & when tomorrow and

By HarryMattison
Wed, 12/07/2016 - 5:28pm

Where & when tomorrow and with which state officials?

I want to know why they didn

By anon
Wed, 12/07/2016 - 6:37pm

I want to know why they didn't add "Martin J Walsh, Mayor" to the bottom of the sign in Oregon.

Because

By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 12/07/2016 - 8:02pm

That might be against state laws prohibiting using public resources for political advertisements in Oregon.

MassDOT sign

By anon
Thu, 12/08/2016 - 8:19am

Not City of Boston. And the State stopped promoting politicians and officials on highway signs back in the early days of the Romney administration.

I think I've got the 'when'

By D'orbs
Wed, 12/07/2016 - 7:26pm

sez 9:00 AM

9 a.m. in Kenmore Square with Tom Tinlin

By adamg
Wed, 12/07/2016 - 11:31pm

Don't know exactly where in the square, but I suspect if you get there a few minutes early, just look for the gaggle of people who look like they're about to dedicate a sign.

What an interesting story. I run a non profit to prtomote the historic highway and hadn't heard of this . we sponsored legislation this past year to designate 20 as a historic highway across the Commonwealth.

Route 20 originally went to the statehouse until 1940. It was then shortened and moved to Commonwealth Ave and ended at the Public Gardens.

Finally in 1963 it was moved to Kenmore Square.

More info

By cybah
Thu, 12/08/2016 - 10:54am

If you'd like more info about Bryan's group..

https://www.facebook.com/HistoricRoute20/?fref=ts

http://www.historicus20.com

Correction

By oddjob60
Thu, 12/08/2016 - 9:02am

www.historicus20.com, I think.

Thank you for wasting the

By anon
Thu, 12/08/2016 - 8:15am

Legislature's time and our tax money by forcing yet another pointless law on the public that will only serve to restrict the DOT and local communities from making necessary improvements. "Historic" roadway - don't make me laugh.

Sale at Macy's!

By lbb
Thu, 12/08/2016 - 9:16am

Sounds like you need the next size up in cranky pants. Even for cranky pants, the ones you're wearing seem to be a bit too tight.

Really? Name calling?

By Rob G.
Thu, 12/08/2016 - 1:32pm

Why does anyone who has an opinion that doesn't contain a degree of positivity to it, always get called cranky or angry?

It's an opinion...if it doesn't contain any aspect of relatable content, and expresses disgust, what makes anyone "better" than the opinion giver to call them cranky?

I'm sure in this passive-aggressive society we're in, this is where I'll be met with a stereotypical, "Chill, it was a joke" line to soften the significance of my point.

I can respect someone having an opinion....I can't respect making a joke at the expense of the person making it. But I suppose not doing so won't fill the daily 5 minutes of fame sought, or the "thumbs-up" approval of others.

so this past summer...

By bandit
Wed, 12/07/2016 - 5:50pm

my sister and i began driving the entire length of route 20. the plan is to do it in stages, because it takes a hella long time to do this. route 20, while being a six lane mega-highway in some places, is also like it is in much of massachusetts, a two lane twist-and-turn-fest with a stoplight every couple of blocks. we made it as far as the field of dreams movie set in dyersville iowa before turning around and heading back to mass (on a fast road). we figure two more summers and we'll have the whole thing done.

That's Awesome!

By SwirlyGrrl
Wed, 12/07/2016 - 8:04pm

All fun and games until you get dysentery. ;)

Seriously, though, that sounds totally cool. Do you have a trip journal or blog?

we had a great trip!

By bandit
Thu, 12/08/2016 - 12:29pm

we decided that the road trip needed it's own hastag, so we named it #Weston20 and you can search it on twitter.

and my sister wrote up a couple of great detailed blog posts about it:

http://www.jessamyn.com/journal/2016/07/weston20

and

http://www.jessamyn.com/journal/2016/08/weston20-c...

some of this won't be interesting to folks other than friends or family, but it's a nifty synopsis of the trip.

Similarly

By ElizaLeila
Thu, 12/08/2016 - 9:47am

Husband rode his 2 wheeler solely on Route 20 out to Ohio. His 2 wheeler of the Triumph persuasion. It might have been that ride (and not the route 6 trip he took) when the moto was named. He said he spent much of the trip talking to her.

it would be awesome to do on a motorcycle...

By bandit
Thu, 12/08/2016 - 12:54pm

although the good news about taking a CRV was that we could fill it up with snacks ;-)

He said

By ElizaLeila
Fri, 12/09/2016 - 9:17am

I would have hated it with all the stop lights. That's a lot of right hand squeezing of the clutch.

;-)

its on my short list

By Anon
Fri, 12/09/2016 - 10:35am

Riding the 20 across new england on my motorcycle has been a goal for sure.. stupid winter!!

Link to source?

By US Ends .com
Wed, 12/07/2016 - 6:54pm

Where is MassDoT reporting this?

Right now, in a press release

By adamg
Wed, 12/07/2016 - 7:15pm

That they e-mailed to reporters. The Globe has more.

i like road signs

By Scumquistador
Wed, 12/07/2016 - 8:09pm

and also maps

definitely maps

im real cool

Neat!

By lbb
Thu, 12/08/2016 - 9:18am

The first time I flew to Seattle on business, I just had to drive I-90 into the city all the way to the end. Most people don't 'get why I thought that was cool.

Chicagoland

By adamg
Thu, 12/08/2016 - 9:37am

Has both Rte. 20 and I-90, and don't think I wouldn't make a crack about how we could just home Every. Single. Time. we passed the exits on the way from O'Hare to Kankakee for Christmas with the in-laws.

An Aside

By ElizaLeila
Thu, 12/08/2016 - 9:49am

Sorry for the change in direction, when exactly did Chicago become Chicagoland? For some reason it irritates me in a "Get off my Lawn!" kind of way. I know it's illogical.

Chicagoland Native

By anon
Thu, 12/08/2016 - 11:13am

I grew up there and to my memory "Chicagoland" has always been used to refer to the City of Chicago plus the surrounding metro area and suburbs (never for just the city itself). The place I remember hearing it the most was car commercials ("Come to your local Chicagoland Ford dealer..." etc.) It was second nature to me to use the term, but was very jarring for people not from the area when I first used it after moving away...I hadn't ever thought anything of it until then

Seconding the anon above

By Michael Kerpan
Thu, 12/08/2016 - 2:41pm

Going back as long as I can remember (late 50s-early 60s), Chicagoland has been a term widely used in the Choicago area.

Interesting!

By ElizaLeila
Fri, 12/09/2016 - 9:18am

Thanks.

I might beat you guys

By Waquiot
Thu, 12/08/2016 - 9:53am

About a decade back, we needed to bring some things to Boston from Tacoma. Guess what we did? The entirety of I-90 (though admittedly we didn't go from Weston to South Station or Safeco to Snoqualmie, but we had hit them before.) A great trip. 6 days with a one day stop in Chicago, but there was also only a bit of sight seeing. Chicago east is boring, but Seattle to South Dakota was pretty cool.

Cool! And a question ...

By adamg
Thu, 12/08/2016 - 11:24am

In Oacoma, SD, did you happen to notice if there were a sign marking the highest point on I-90 until you get to Becket, MA?

Sadly, no

By Waquiot
Thu, 12/08/2016 - 12:53pm

I want to say I was cognizant of going by Oacoma, but I didn't see a sign. It was also dark by them- we did this thing quickly, that was at the end of the Livingston MT- Mitchell SD day. We almost missed Wall Drug, which was the biggest bummer of the trip.

Driven the whole thing

By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 12/08/2016 - 10:16pm

Just not in one go, and before the tunnel to Logan. I thought it was pretty cool that the last time I travelled coast to coast, my trip included that bit where I-90 starts/ends in Seattle. I followed it for a couple hundred miles to the Idaho border, where I turned north and headed to central Alberta. A few days later, I completed that trip by crossing Canada all the way to Quebec, picking up I-89 at the border.

I've driven I-84 in its entirety in a single trip ... with several thousand miles of I-80 in between.

My hometown

By baepp
Thu, 12/08/2016 - 9:38am

Route 20 used to go wind my hometown, in rural Upstate New York. At some point, it was straightened out, bypassing our little village center (while still going through the town). Prior to the straightening, my hometown had multiple car dealerships, a movie theater, restaurants, and stores. After the straightening, all car dealerships left, along with the movie theater. Many longtime townsfolk still blame the straightening of Route 20 for the economic hardship there.

Of course, the construction of the NYS Thruway also had a massive effect on all these small towns that had burgeoned around Route 20. It's a pretty interesting history.

Similarly in California

By Eighthman
Thu, 12/08/2016 - 10:00am

I grew up in Maryland, with Ocean City a popular destination. There's a similar sign in Sacramento for Rt. 50.

http://www.capradio.org/articles/2016/05/06/two-co...

This was my first thought about the new sign

By Gary C
Thu, 12/08/2016 - 10:35am

From the link above about Rt 50...

This sign ended up costing the state quite a bit of money because it kept getting stolen.

I hope the new one in Kenmore is theft-resistant.

I'm also from Maryland

By Katie
Thu, 12/08/2016 - 2:39pm

I'm also from Maryland (specifically, Salisbury), and the Rt. 50 signs immediately popped into my head. I always thought US Rt. 50 was the longest highway of its kind, but Rt. 20 has it beat by a few hundred miles.

If you grew up in the Salisbury/Ocean City area and didn't get your picture taken with the US Rt. 50 sign in Sacramento, it was considered a crime!