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Massachusetts Turnpike
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The Massachusetts Turnpike (commonly shortened to the MassPike or The Pike) is the easternmost 138-mile (222 km) stretch of Interstate 90. The Turnpike begins at the western border of Massachusetts in West Stockbridge connecting with the Berkshire Connector portion of the New York State Thruway. From there, the MassPike heads east, traversing the state and serving the major cities of Springfield, Worcester, and Boston, and ends at Logan International Airport in East Boston, where the road meets Route 1A.
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Encyclopedia
The Massachusetts Turnpike (commonly shortened to the MassPike or The Pike) is the easternmost 138-mile (222 km) stretch of Interstate 90. The Turnpike begins at the western border of Massachusetts in West Stockbridge connecting with the Berkshire Connector portion of the New York State Thruway. From there, the MassPike heads east, traversing the state and serving the major cities of Springfield, Worcester, and Boston, and ends at Logan International Airport in East Boston, where the road meets Route 1A. The highest point on the Turnpike is in the Town of Becket, Massachusetts at elevation 1,724 feet (526 m) above sea level.
Tolls
The Mass Pike is a toll road; it costs $5.10 for a Class 1 passenger vehicle to travel east from Exit 1 (Route 41), in West Stockbridge, to Logan Airport, in Boston. From Exit 1, in West Stockbridge, to Exit 14/15 (Route 128 / I-95), in Weston, the Mass Pike is a closed-system toll road, using long-distance tickets obtained once by a motorist on entrance, and surrendered on exit, at toll gates. The toll gates exist at all exits and entrances from Exit 1 to Exit 14/15. From Exit 14/15 to its eastern end, in East Boston, the Mass Pike is an open-system toll road. There are toll plazas at Exit 18/19/20 in Allston, Massachusetts, in both mainline directions and on the interchange ramps. There also is a toll plaza on the mainline at the westbound entrance to the Ted Williams Tunnel, in East Boston. Exits 16, 17, and 21–26 have no toll plazas on their ramps.
Toll plazas on the interchange ramps at Exit 16 were removed in 1996 at the direction of then Governor William Weld.
After protests from Western Massachusetts residents that their toll money was funding the Big Dig, a Boston highway project, tolls were removed on a western portion of the freeway in July 1996: no toll is charged for passenger-vehicle travel between Springfield (Exit 6, Interstate 291) and the New York (Exit 1, West Stockbridge) border in either direction.
Travel between exits 16 and 17, both in Newton, is a "free movement": no toll is charged for travel between these two exits. At exit 16, traffic can enter the Turnpike only eastbound and may exit from the Turnpike only westbound.
Motorists can pay tolls to toll-booth personnel or use the Fast Lane electronic toll-collection system, whereby transponders installed in the cars (typically on the inner windshields) are recognized automatically in special lanes at the toll plazas, the toll amounts then being withdrawn from the motorists' accounts. Fast Lane is compatible with the E-ZPass electronic toll-collection system, which is used in the northeastern United States, south to Virginia and west to Chicago.
The Ted Williams Tunnel has a toll only in the westbound direction. The trip away from Logan Airport (west) costs $3.50, starting January 1, 2008.
On November 14, 2008, the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority voted in favor of a possible toll hike which would affect the Weston (Route 128) and Allston-Brighton toll plazas and the Ted Williams Tunnel. The Weston and Allston-Brighton plazas would face a $0.75 increase for non-Fast Lane users while the Ted Williams Tunnel's toll would be doubled to $7.00 for drivers paying with cash or E-ZPass.
History
Plans for the Turnpike date back to at least 1948, when the Western Expressway was being planned. The original section would have connected Boston's Inner Belt to Newton with connections with US 20 and Route 30 for traffic continuing west. Later extensions would take the road to and beyond Worcester. From the beginning, the corridor was included in federal plans for the Interstate Highway System, stretching west to the New York state line and beyond to Albany.
Also included in the route was the planned Springfield Bypass, which had been proposed to provide a bypass of US 20 in the Springfield area. Part of this route (and that of the eventual Turnpike) used the grading from the never-opened Hampden Railroad. Similarly, the West Stockbridge Bypass provided a new route of Route 102 from Route 183 in Stockbridge west to Route 102 just east of the state line in West Stockbridge; this latter route was built prior to the Turnpike.
The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority was created in 1952 by a special act of the Massachusetts General Court (legislature) upon the recommendation of Governor Dever and his Commissioner of Public Works, William F. Callahan. (1952 Acts and Resolves chapter 354; 1952 Senate Doc. 1.) The enabling act was modeled upon that of the Mystic River Bridge Authority (1946 Acts and Resolves chapter 562), but several changes were made that would prove of great importance fifty years later. Callahan served as chairman of the Authority until his death in April 1964.
When the attorneys were searching land titles along the proposed route, they discovered that sections of the original land had been granted by the King of England to some of the landowner's ancestors. Construction began in 1955, and the whole four-lane road from Route 102 at the state line to Route 128 in Weston opened on May 15, 1957. The Berkshire Thruway opened on May 26, 1959, connecting the west end to the New York State Thruway mainline south of Albany. Prior to its opening, traffic used Route 22 and US 20 in New York. At the Massachusetts/New York state line, one can see where the Turnpike made an abrupt right turn before terminating at Route 102, as the old pavement still exists for Turnpike Authority and State Police vehicles to access this remote stretch of highway.
After political and legal battles related to the Boston Extension inside Route 128, construction began on March 5, 1962, with the chosen alignment running next to the Boston and Albany Railroad and reducing that line to two tracks. In September 1964 the part from Route 128 east to exit 18 (Allston) opened, and the rest was finished on February 18, 1965, taking it to the Central Artery.
The Interstate 90 designation was assigned to the Turnpike in 1959 with the completion of plans for the Interstate Highway System. Early proposals took I-90 across the northern part of the state, along Route 2, but this was rejected as too costly. With the completion of the Boston Extension, that too was designated as I-90.
In the 1990s, then-Governor William Weld took the decision to turn over the assets of Boston's Big Dig project to the Turnpike Authority. During this time he appointed James Kerasiotes to the Turnpike Authority to continue the authority's oversight of the Big Dig project.
In 1991, construction began on the extension of the Mass Pike to Logan Airport, via the Ted Williams Tunnel as part of the Big Dig "mega" project. The final extension opened in 2003; the eastern end of I-90 now merges into Route 1A.
The legislature separated the Turnpike into a western portion, from the New York border to Route 128, and the eastern Metropolitan Highway System, which includes I-90 from Route 128 to its eastern end in East Boston, the three harbor tunnels, and I-93 from Southampton Street through the Central Artery and to the foot of the Tobin Bridge. Finances for the two parts of the Turnpike are accounted for separately.
Controversies
MTA Board firings
Since 2001, the Turnpike Authority had come under fire from state politicians in a fight for control of the quasi-state agency. Beginning in 2001, former Massachusetts acting governor Jane Swift (R) attempted to fire Christy Mihos, a former Turnpike board member and Jordan Levy, the current Vice Chairman of the board.
Mihos and Levy had cast votes on the board to postpone a toll hike. Swift objected, saying such a delay was "fiscally irresponsible” and saying the two men "interfered with the effective daily management of the Authority." Mihos and Levy refused to step down and sued Swift to retain their positions. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled that the Turnpike was "not part of the machinery of the government" and therefore not subject to Swift’s decisions.
Proposed MTA/MassHighway merger
Gov. Mitt Romney (R), elected in 2002 during a fiscal crisis, ran on a platform of streamlining state government and eliminating waste. Part of this was the elimination of the Turnpike Authority. Gov. Romney wanted to fold the Turnpike into MassHighway, the state highway department, operated under the Executive Office of Transportation. A first step to this was to replace the Chairman of the Board, Matthew J. Amorello with someone loyal to the governor. The governor has the power to appoint members to the board, but the SJC advised in an Amicus brief that "nothing in G. L. c. 81A explicitly provides for the removal and reassignment of the chairperson to the position of "member."
The governor took the case to the court of the public opinion and put enormous pressure on Mr. Amorello to step down. Mr. Amorello announced he would do so in 2007, after Gov. Romney would have left office. Gov. Romney continued to press the legislature to give him the power to remove members from the board, specifically the chairman, pointing to a series of financial and construction mishaps over the last several years. However, the legislature instead sought to keep Mr. Amorello on board by extending the terms of various board members to prevent Gov. Romney from removing Mr. Amorello.
I-90 connector ceiling collapse
In response to a fatality caused by the collapse of the ceiling of the eastbound I-90 connector tunnel approaching the Ted Williams Tunnel on July 10, 2006, and in response to Mr. Amorello's refusal (at the time) to resign, Gov. Romney took legal steps to have Mr. Amorello forcibly removed as head of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, culminating in Mr. Amorello's resignation on August 15, 2006. The next day, John Cogliano was sworn in as the new Chairman of the Turnpike Authority by Gov. Romney.
On November 27, 2006, departing Attorney General Tom Reilly (D) announced the state will launch a civil suit over the collapse of the ceiling in the Ted Williams Tunnel. The Commonwealth will be seeking over $150 million dollars from project manager Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, builder Modern Continental Construction Co. and the manufacturer of the epoxy used to hold the ceiling bolts.
Toll removal
On October 18, 2006, the Turnpike board voted to remove all tolls west of the 128 toll plaza in response to a recommendation made by Eric Kriss, a former fiscal adviser to the governor, whom Gov. Romney asked to review the Turnpike situation following the July 2006 tunnel ceiling collapse.
On October 19, 2006 members of the Massachusetts Legislature Transportation Committee were quoted in The Boston Globe as saying that the governor's actions may require state law to be amended for the toll removal to happen. In addition, questions have been raised in regard to how the State would fund the maintenance of the Turnpike after the removal of the tolls.
The issue of the removal of the tolls is highly charged politically. Several members of the state Democratic Party declared this as a political maneuver to bolster the gubernatorial campaign of Lt. Governor Kerry Healy (R), who was behind in the polls at the time of the announcement. Also, because the MTA Board is composed of appointees of Gov. Romney, Mr. Kriss's former association with the Gov. Romney Administration and the ongoing election at the time, the issue was clouded by accusations of partiality and political agendas from both sides of the aisle.
In the November 9, 2006 edition of The Boston Globe, Gov. Romney announced his intention to try to remove the tolls before Governor-elect Deval Patrick (D) was inaugurated in January 2007, but this did not occur. As of January 2009, Gov. Patrick's plan was to remove all tolls west of Route 128, except at the New York and Connecticut borders (I-84).
Turnpike Authority funding and jurisdiction
The Turnpike Authority also owns the Callahan Tunnel and Sumner Tunnel, the other two road connections between downtown Boston and East Boston under Boston Harbor. Upon completion of the Central Artery/Tunnel Project, all tunnels constructed as part of the Big Dig, including the O'Neill Tunnel segment of I-93, were transferred to its control.
The Authority receives no state or federal government funding. Its revenues come from tolls, leases on air rights and service areas, and advertising.
Air rights
The MTA has leased much of the air space over the highway east of Exit 15; these are the current structures that have been constructed or are planned:
- The Shaw's Supermarket between exits 16 and 17.
- The Sheraton Hotel and Gateway Office complex in Newton Corner at exit 17.
- The Copley Place Mall at exit 22. (1984)
- The new One Beacon development at parcel 9, between Beacon st and Brookline Ave., including a 23 story apartment complex and mixed use development.
- New construction on parcels 8, and 10 adjacent to Fenway Park. (2008-2018)
- Near BU Bridge, Boston University announced long-term plans to extend its campus over the highway
There is one major air rights property that the MTA does not own and that is the Prudential Center Complex constructed beginning in 1965. This property includes a Shaw's Supermarket, the Prudential Tower office and residential buildings, the Shops at Prudential Center mall, the Hynes Convention Center and the Back Bay MBTA station.
In 2001, the Turnpike Authority and the City of Boston agreed on for the remaining parcels over the highway in Boston from the I-93 interchange to Commonwealth Avenue (with the exception of a parcel adjacent to the historic Fenway Studios). While development is not presently planned for all of this corridor, the agreement provides de facto zoning rules should it take place.
Exit list
The Massachusetts Turnpike uses a system of sequential exit numbered interchanges. Since the time that the interchanges were originally numbered, more have been added, leading to situations like Exit 11, which is a minor state route, and 11A, which is a major Interstate Highway away.
Also, near Boston, some of the interchanges are solely onramps and are not signed as exits, so, for instance, there is no "Exit 21" signed.
| County | Location | Mile | Exit # | Destinations | Notes |
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| Berkshire | West Stockbridge | 2.9 | 1 | Route 41 to Route 102 – West Stockbridge | Westbound exit/eastbound entrance only | | West Stockbridge Toll Barrier | Western end of ticket system | | Lee | Lee Service Plaza | Welcome Center at eastbound plaza | | 10.6 | 2 | U.S. Route 20 – Lee, Pittsfield | | | Hampden | Blandford | Blandford Service Plaza | | Westfield | 40.4 | 3 | Route 10/U.S. Route 202 – Westfield, Northampton | | | West Springfield | 45.7 | 4 | Interstate 91/U.S. Route 5 – Springfield, Holyoke | Hartford exit for eastbound travelers | | Connecticut River crossing |
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| Chicopee | 49.0 | 5 | Route 33 – Chicopee | To Westover AFRB/Airport | | 51.3 | 6 | Interstate 291 WEST – Springfield, Hartford, CT | Stoplight intersection to I-291 or Burnett Road. | | Ludlow | 54.9 | 7 | Route 21 – Ludlow, Belchertown | | | Ludlow Service Plaza | | Palmer | 62.8 | 8 | Route 32 to US 20 – Palmer, Ware (eastbound), Amherst (westbound) | | | Worcester | Sturbridge | 78.5 | 9 | Interstate 84 WEST to U.S. Route 20 – Hartford, CT, Sturbridge (eastbound), New York City (westbound) | Formerly Interstate 86. | | Charlton | Charlton Service Plaza | Tourist Info centers at both plazas | | Auburn | 90.2 | 10 | Interstate 290 EAST/Interstate 395 SOUTH/Route 12 – Auburn, Worcester | To Eastern Connecticut. | | Millbury | 94.1 | 10A | Route 146/U.S. Route 20 – Worcester, Providence | To Route 122A. The interchange was opened in 1998; Route 146 is being upgraded to a freeway from Providence to Worcester. | | 96.5 | 11 | Route 122 – Millbury, Worcester | To Grafton and Uxbridge | | Westborough | Westborough Service Plaza
| Westbound only | | | Westborough - Hopkinton line | 106.2 | 11A | Interstate 495 – New Hampshire, Maine, Cape Cod | Interchange opened in 1969. | | Middlesex | Framingham | 111.4 | 12 | Route 9 – Framingham, Marlborough (westbound) | Access to West Framingham and Southborough | | Framingham Service Plaza | Westbound only | | 116.8 | 13 | Route 30 – Natick, Framingham | Access to East Framingham, West Natick and Wayland.
Exit also serves the regional shopping hub and retail district. | | Natick | Natick Service Plaza | Eastbound only | | Weston | 123.3 | 14 | I-95/Route 128 – New Hampshire, Maine, South Shore | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | | Weston Toll Barrier | Eastern end of ticket system. | | 124 | 15 | I-95/Route 128/Route 30 – Westwood, Waltham | Westbound exit, eastbound entrance. Exit 15 ramps pay cash toll. | | Newton | 125.2 | 16 | Route 16 – West Newton, Wellesley | Westbound exit/eastbound entrance; exit became toll-free in 1996 | | 127.7 | 17 | Newton, Watertown | Washington, Galen, and Centre Streets; toll-free interchange. | | Suffolk (Boston) | | Allston/Brighton | 130.9 | 18 | Allston, Brighton, Cambridge | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance; To Cambridge Street and Storrow Drive | | 19 | Boston Toll Barrier | Not an actual exit, but 19 is the Interchange # for the mainline toll plaza located at exit 18/20. Exit 18/20 traffic goes to separate plaza. | | 20 | Allston, Brighton, Cambridge | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance; To Cambridge Street and Storrow Drive | | Back Bay | 132.9 | 21 | Massachusetts Avenue | Westbound entrance only, no exit. Number not marked | | Copley Square | 133.4 | 22 | Prudential Center, Copley Square | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance; To Route 9 and Route 28 | | Theater District | 133.9 | 23 | Arlington Street | Westbound entrance only, no exit. Number not marked | | South Station | 134.6 | 24A-B-C | I-93/U.S. 1/Route 3 – South Station, Concord, Quincy | This was the eastern end of the Massachusetts Turnpike and I-90 until 2003. No access from I-93 south to I-90 east. Eastbound Turnpike is toll-free east of this interchange. | | South Boston | 135.3 | 25 | South Boston | Toll-free interchange. | | Ted Williams Tunnel (Boston Harbor crossing) | $3.50 westbound toll. | | | 137.3 | 26 | Logan Airport | | | East Boston | 137.8 | | (merges with Route 1A) | |
Toll ticket colors
Toll tickets obtained by motorists traveling on the Mass Pike are color-coded based on the interchange where the motorist entered the Pike. In addition to the black stripe on the back which is read by a magnetic reader, this color coding allows rapid identification by the toll collector, expediting the process of toll collection.
- Exit 1 is orange.
- Exits 2-8, 11 and 12 are gray.
- Exit 9 is purple.
- Exit 10 is light blue.
- Exit 10A is dark blue/purple.
- Exit 11A is brown.
- Exit 13 is yellow.
- Exit 14 is green.
- Exit 15 is pink.
Service areas
There are 11 service areas (plazas) on the Massachusetts Turnpike, named for the towns in which they are located. Each plaza offers Gulf gas stations and Gulf Express convenience stores. Most offer McDonald's restaurants, with two plazas (Ludlow WB and Westboro WB) having Boston Market and D'Angelo as the main food offerings. Some plazas also have secondary food such as Auntie Anne's pretzels, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, Papa Gino's pizza, Original Pizza , and Fresh City restaurants.
The plazas are:
- Lee Plaza (Eastbound and Westbound) between exits 1 and 2.
- Blandford Plaza (Eastbound and Westbound) between exits 2 and 3.
- Ludlow Plaza (Eastbound and Westbound) between exits 7 and 8.
- Charlton Plaza (Eastbound and Westbound) between exits 9 and 10.
- Westborough Plaza (Westbound) between exits 11A and 11.
- Framingham Plaza (Westbound) between exits 13 and 12.
- Natick Plaza (Eastbound) between exits 13 and 14.
A weigh station is located on the eastbound side of the turnpike in Charlton between exits 9 and 10.
The Mass Pike in song and popular culture
"Now the first of December was covered with snow
And so was the Turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston
Lord, the Berkshires seemed dreamlike on account of that frosting
With ten miles behind me, and ten thousand more to go."
- The song "Roadrunner" by Jonathan Richman (originally with The Modern Lovers), first recorded in 1972, describes the joys of driving around Boston's highways, including the Mass. Pike
- The NRBQ song "Howard Johnson's Got His Ho-Jo Workin'" was composed by Terry Adams when he was driving along the Mass. Pike and, according to the liner notes on Peek-a-Boo: The Best of NRBQ, refers to the fact that, at the time the song was written, the only service areas on the highway were operated by Howard Johnson's.
- Kansas City's group The Get Up Kids featured a song titled Mass Pike on their 1999 EP Red Letter Day.
- A comedy skit ("Toll Booth Willie") on Adam Sandler's 1993 album, They're All Gonna Laugh at You!, concerns the abuse suffered by a toll-taker in Worcester, presumably at either exit 10 or 11 on the Massachusetts Turnpike.
- Worcester radio station WWFX calls itself "The Pike" in reference to the toll road.
- The far western portion of the Turnpike appears at the closing/credits section of the movie "Good Will Hunting," as the lead character "Will" (played by actor Matt Damon) is presumably driving west to California to follow his love interest, Skyler (played by actress Minnie Driver). The portion he drives is in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. As the scene fades to black, he rounds a bend. Just beyond this curve is the western toll plaza at exit 1.
- The Lemonheads song "The Turnpike Down" references "Butterscotch streetlamps" along the Mass Pike that mark the lyricist's progress toward New York.
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