Massachusetts Roads - I-93/MA 3/US 1 - Big Dig

I-93/MA 3/US 1
Big Dig Construction





A view only HNTB Corp. can give you, looking southward from the top of the under-construction Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge at the under-deconstruction Central Artery.


Two ways of signing shields on construction signs. Why not use the actual shields, hey?


Help! Help! I'm seeing red! Orange? Wait a minute...


RIDOT's influence yet again. I've lost count of states (and Canadian provinces, even) with white squares around their I- (or Autoroute, etc.) shields. Thankfully, only RI seems to do this as standard practice, but contractors are getting soooo lazy.


On Stuart Street at the western edge of Chinatown, the last remnant of construction signage along that street, showing that contractors sometimes get lazy enough to not bother with a shield at all. Come on, can't you at least have the DETOUR and the arrow on the same sign??


One more shot of the bridge, from the Surface Artery.
December 2002


Old signage from Causeway St. The Artery is now gone here.


The underbelly of the giant.


To work underneath the Artery, several of the original supports had to be taken out, so a whole load of steel work was brought in to shore up the still-traveled highway and rest it at its original level. The jacking procedures involved to prevent damage to the roadway were fantastic.


Views of the old bridge and the famous "suicide stubs". Before US 1 (would have been I-95) was tunnelled underneath Charlestown, it used to be on an elevated structure between the Tobin Bridge and I-93. In order to get 1 down low enough from 93, it had to take a wide loop to the west, meaning that there was no longer any use for the east ramps. Those were taken down, but rather than fix the rest of the structure, since it was planned for demolition anyway, Jersey barriers were put up and a two-lane-wide opening was left at the original 93/95 split. At least one vehicle has successfully made it past the barriers and over the edge, earning the famous nickname. Another set of these exist slightly farther north, at what would have been the northern terminus of I-695, the Inner Loop.


The old, and the new.


The old double-decked bridge, and then looking south at where it transformed into the single-layer Artery.
March 2003


The double-deck freeway in Somerset, with a stub on the left (and continued on the right) from where the old ramp from MA 99/US 1 came up to merge. You'll see another view soon.


The left corner of the second picture shows an old US 1 ramp (see above for what happened to US 1). The new construction will eventually handle a new US 1 ramp, which will tie into the new roadway.


Looking up at where the old and new construction meets. The old roadway merges into the new using the old I-695 stubs.


Views of the loop ramps that now connect I-93, US 1, and the Leverett Circle Connector.


Views from the ramp from MA 99 to US 1 and I-93. The NB I-93 ramp is closed while the SB 1-NB 93 ramp is constructed - the second pic shows where the old 1 ramp once merged in.
To I-93/MA 3/US 1, Central Artery
More Big Dig at Leverett Circle
Back to US 1 main page
Back to MA 3 main page
Back to I-93 main page


Onto MA 99
Into Boston
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