 Route 109 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Route 109 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained byMassDOT | ||||
| Length | 20.97 mi[1] (33.75 km) | |||
| Existed | 1933–present | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end |  Route 16 inMilford | |||
| Major intersections | ||||
| East end | VFW Parkway inBoston | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Massachusetts | |||
| Counties | Worcester,Norfolk,Suffolk | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
Route 109 is a 20.97-mile-long (33.75 km)state highway in easternMassachusetts. It runs fromRoute 16 inMilford east to theVFW Parkway inBoston. Most of Route 109 runs along a portion of the Hartford and Dedham Turnpike.
Route 109 begins at Route 16 in Milford, just east ofRoute 85's southern terminus. The route proceeds to the east, meetingInterstate 495 (I-495) at exit 19 before crossing intoNorfolk County and the town ofMedway. Route 109 passes through northern Medway, crossingRoute 126 along the way before turning onto Main Street. The highway continues intoMillis, where it crossesRoute 115 in the center of town. The road then crosses theCharles River as it entersMedfield, passing through the center of town where it intersectsRoute 27.
East of Medfield, Route 109 travels along theDover–Walpole town line before enteringWestwood. The highway passes through the town, easing towards the urban landscape of metro Boston. North of the center of town, Route 109 intersectsI-95/Route 128 at exit 31 (old exit 16) as it entersDedham. Route 109 passes through northwest Dedham, crossing the Charles twice more before crossing into the Boston neighborhood ofWest Roxbury, where it immediately meets theVFW Parkway and ends.
The VFW Parkway, which has its southern terminus at the intersection with Route 109, formerly carriedU.S. Route 1 (US 1) into the city, before US 1 was rerouted along I-95 andI-93 throughBraintree and downtown Boston, due to the cancellation of I-95 in Boston during the 1970s. As such, Route 109 no longer ends at a numbered highway, although theBoston-Providence Turnpike runs south from this intersection to join the current US 1 at its interchange with I-95/Route 128. South of the interchange, US 1 runs along the Turnpike.
TheHartford and Dedham Turnpike was chartered on March 9, 1804, to close a gap in the turnpikes that were being built to replace theMiddle Post Road between Dedham and Hartford. It ran fromDedham southwest toWest Medway, where it continued as the earlier Ninth Massachusetts Turnpike andBoston Turnpike toHartford, Connecticut. North of Dedham, theNorfolk and Bristol Turnpike continued to Boston. The turnpike, built in 1807, was never a success. In 1821 it was closed to all but local travel due to its condition; it became a free road in 1830, with the rest of the route to Hartford becoming free in 1838.
The path of the road is now mostly covered by Route 109. The turnpike entered Dedham Square using High Street, and inWestwood,Dover andMedfield the old turnpike exists as Hartford Street, while Route 109 uses the older alignment with bettergrades. Near the west end, Route 109 turns west towardsMilford, and the turnpike continues southwest on Main Street to end at its merge withRoute 126 and the Middle Post Road.
The original Route 109 went fromUS 7 inPittsfield toUS 20 inWest Brookfield along what is nowRoute 9. This western section of Route 109 was decommissioned in 1933, during the flooding of theQuabbin Reservoir, as it had run through the center ofEnfield, Massachusetts, a town itself disincorporated in late April 1938 due to the flooding of the Quabbin Reservoir.[2]
| County | Location | mi | km | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Worcester | Milford | 0.0 | 0.0 | Route 16 –Milford,Uxbridge | Western terminus; toRoute 85 via Route 16 west |
| 1.0 | 1.6 |  I-495 –Taunton,Cape Cod,Marlboro,Lowell | Exit 48 on I-495 | ||
| Norfolk | Medway | 3.2 | 5.1 |  Route 126 –Bellingham,Woonsocket, RI,Holliston,Framingham | |
| Millis | 8.0 | 12.9 |  Route 115 –Norfolk,Foxboro | ||
| Medfield | 10.8 | 17.4 |  Route 27 –Walpole,Brockton,Sherborn,Natick | ||
| Dedham | 18.1 | 29.1 |   I-95 /Route 128 –Canton,Providence, RI,Peabody,Portsmouth, NH | Exits 31A-B on I-95 | |
| Suffolk | Boston | 20.97 | 33.75 | VFW Parkway | Eastern terminus |
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | |||||
