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| Route information | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maintained byMassDOT | ||||
| Length | 95.120 mi[1] (153.081 km) | |||
| Existed | By 1927–present | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| South end | ||||
| Major intersections | ||||
| North end | ||||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Massachusetts | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
Route 1A is a north–southstate highway inMassachusetts, United States. It is an alternate route toU.S. 1 with three signed sections and two unsigned sections where the highway is concurrent with its parent. Due to the reconfiguration of tunnel interchanges brought on by the completion of theBig Dig, Route 1A is discontinuous in the downtownBoston area. Vehicles enteringDowntown Boston via theSumner Tunnel must take I-93 north to the exit forGovernment Center and make a U-turn to access the entrance ramp to I-93 south (which silently carries Route 1A south as well) and vice versa.[2]
A short segment of Route 1A, 1.8 miles (2.9 km) in length, inAttleboro runs fromU.S. Route 1A at theRhode Island border through a junction withInterstate 95, before heading north and merging with Route 1. The entire length of this segment is known as Newport Avenue.
This segment of Route 1A extends roughly north fromNorth Attleborough toDedham, passing through the towns ofPlainville,Wrentham,Norfolk,Walpole,Norwood andWestwood on the way. Prior to its realignment alongI-95 andI-93, Route 1 continued north along the Providence Highway towards Boston at the junction of Route 1A and that road.

This segment of Route 1A extends fromBoston, Massachusetts toSalisbury, Massachusetts.
The highway starts from US 1 (which is on theCentral Artery withI-93 andRoute 3) at the formerGovernment Center/Logan Airport interchange. It passes through theCallahan Tunnel (outbound/northbound) andSumner Tunnel (inbound/southbound), becoming the East Boston Expressway pastLogan Airport. The East Boston Expressway was the first freeway built in the city. Immediately beyondLogan Airport,Interstate 90 ends at Route 1A.

The road continues as adivided highway throughRevere. It is a limited access highway through Revere, passingSuffolk Downs and the Wonderland Greyhound Park (which is across the street from the outer terminus of theMBTA's Blue Line), before running through the isolated Point of Pines neighborhood and exiting Revere over theGeneral Edwards Bridge intoLynn. For the first mile and a half in Lynn, it is concurrent with the Lynnway, and is a high-traffic retail area. After the Lynnway portion, the route becomes concurrent withRoute 129 for a mile, before crossing intoSwampscott as Paradise Road. AtVinnin Square, it passes intoSalem as Loring Avenue, passing by Salem State University. The route turns left onto Lafayette Street and is concurrent with Route 114. At the intersection with Derby Street, notable for the large fire station, the route turns right. At the next stop sign, the route turns left onto Hawthorne Boulevard passing Salem Common and the Salem Witch Museum before turning left onto Winter Street. At the end of Winter Street, the route turns right onto Bridge Street crossing theVeterans Memorial Bridge intoBeverly. It follows two of the main streets of downtown Beverly, before heading north, passing throughWenham andHamilton (through this section the road is occasionally signed as a US Route) before becoming the main road through the town ofIpswich, crossing the historic Choate Bridge over the Ipswich River. While in Ipswich, much of the route runs concurrently withRoute 133 until just over the town line intoRowley. It passes through the main village of Rowley, as well as the central villages ofNewbury. InNewburyport, Massachusetts, it merges withRoute 1, signed with its parent highway over theMerrimack River and into the town center ofSalisbury. It then heads east from the Salisbury town center before turning north and ending in Salisbury Beach at theNew Hampshire border.New Hampshire Route 1A continues north from this point.
Initially, Route 1A ran along part of its present-day route between the New Hampshire state line and Revere. It then turned west along present-day Route 16 until it ended at US 1 (now Route 99) in Everett.[3] Then, in 1931, an interchange in Revere was built over Route 107 (Broadway).[4] In 1933, another, disconnected portion of Route 1A appeared between Attleboro and the Rhode Island state line.[5] In 1934, two changes were made to the route. In Revere, the route was realigned to turn west smoothly. Between Boston and North Attleborough, a huge portion of Route 11 and all of Route 150 were replaced by Route 1A.[6] The new portion soon got truncated to Dedham in 1936.[7]It then got truncated even further to end at US 1/Route 128.[8]
After Route C1 was decommissioned in 1971 in favor of a new alignment of US 1, Route 1A was truncated to a roundabout interchange in Revere. As a result, Route 16 extended eastward along the then-former route.[9] After all unbuilt Boston freeways were cancelled by 1973, US 1 was rerouted onto the Northeast Expressway (formerly proposed I-95). As a result of that, Route 1A was extended south towards the Sumner/Callahan Tunnels and then north along Central Artery towards US 1 (Storrow Drive).[10] In 1989, US 1 was rerouted from Storrow Drive onto I-93's Southeast Expressway, causing "signed" Route 1A to get truncated.
| County | Location | mi[1] | km | Destinations | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bristol | Attleboro | 0.000 | 0.000 | Continuation intoRhode Island | |||
| 0.412 | 0.663 | Exits 2A-B on I-95 | |||||
| 1.637 | 2.634 | ||||||
| 1.728 | 2.781 | Southern terminus of unsigned concurrency with US 1 | |||||
| SeeUS 1 mileposts 2.4–7.0 | |||||||
| North Attleborough | 7.109 | 11.441 | Northern terminus of unsigned concurrency with US 1 | ||||
| Norfolk | Plainville | 7.981 | 12.844 | Western end of Route 106 | |||
| Wrentham | 10.634 | 17.114 | Exit 38 on I-495 | ||||
| 11.375 | 18.306 | Northern end of Route 121 | |||||
| 12.840 | 20.664 | ||||||
| Norfolk | 15.091 | 24.287 | |||||
| Walpole | 19.70 | 31.70 | |||||
| Dedham | 27.144 | 43.684 | Formerly US 1, south end of silent concurrency with Providence Highway and then US 1 | ||||
| SeeRoute 128 exits 37-39 andI-93 exits 1-17B | |||||||
| Suffolk | Boston | Northern terminus of silent concurrency with US 1; exit 17B on Central Artery; last northbound exit before toll | |||||
| Haymarket Square | Northbound entrance only | ||||||
| Sumner (southbound) /Callahan (northbound) Tunnels | |||||||
| 49.482 | 79.634 | East Boston | Access via Porter Street; last southbound exit before toll | ||||
| 49.677– 50.023 | 79.947– 80.504 | Eastern end of I-90 / Mass Pike; no northbound access to I-90 | |||||
| 50.305 | 80.958 | Interchange, southern end of Route 145 | |||||
| Revere | 52.487 | 84.470 | Interchange, northbound exit and southbound entrance | ||||
| 52.852 | 85.057 | Eastern end of Routes 16 and 60; To US 1 via Route 60 and Route 145 via Route 16 | |||||
| Essex | Lynn | 55.843 | 89.871 | Lynnway east –Nahant,Swampscott | |||
| 58.018 | 93.371 | Southern terminus of concurrency with Route 129 | |||||
| 59.167 | 95.220 | Northern terminus of concurrency with Route 129 | |||||
| Salem | 62.554 | 100.671 | Southern terminus of concurrency with Route 114 | ||||
| 63.326 | 101.913 | Northern terminus of concurrency with Route 114 | |||||
| 64.250 | 103.400 | North end of Route 107 | |||||
| Danvers River | 64.933 | 104.500 | Essex Bridge | ||||
| Beverly | 65.447 | 105.327 | South end of Routes 22 and 127 | ||||
| 66.242 | 106.606 | ||||||
| 67.699 | 108.951 | South end of Route 97 | |||||
| 67.897 | 109.270 | Exits 45A-B on Route 128; cloverleaf interchange | |||||
| Ipswich | 75.603 | 121.671 | Southern terminus of concurrency with Route 133 | ||||
| Rowley | 79.754 | 128.352 | Northern terminus of concurrency with Route 133 | ||||
| Newburyport | 88.395 | 142.258 | East end of Route 113 | ||||
| 88.588 | 142.569 | Southern terminus of concurrency with US 1, southbound exit and northbound entrance | |||||
| Salisbury | 90.879 | 146.256 | Northern terminus of concurrency with US 1, east end of Route 110 | ||||
| 95.120 | 153.081 | Continuation intoNew Hampshire | |||||
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | |||||||