Looking west toward the I-93 Embankment Road ramp rising up from underneath the circle to come to a terrible blind left merge, and some late-day traffic.


Faced EB traffic; taken from the tangle of pedestrian overpasses above this intersection (thank goodness for them). Yup, that says BUSSES. Look up the word "buss", and you'll see why BUSES is much more appropriate. But this is the MDC we're talking about. As part of the Big Dig, the old pedestrian overpasses have been removed, sadly along with this sign.


Also faces EB traffic. Signage is good except for three things. One: 93 and 1 N? The MDC hates writing out directions, even through they did it for 93 SB. Which brings up point two: why no US 1 S? The answer is simple: according to the MDC, US 1 still uses Storrow Drive and associated roads, although it has been on I-93 since 1989. Thus the US 1 N shield is actually supposed to be for motorists following US 1 NB. Now, does this sign look newer than 1989? Yup.


As of November 2002, this is what traffic trying to find I-93 SB or, even worse, trying to go into Boston, would face. Notice in the first picture that I-93 NB traffic gets split around a temporary support for the elevated Green Line subway. And the Gilmore Bridge (see the MA 99 page) is a bit far from here, but since ramps to/from I-93 and US 1 were closed at the time for construction, just MAYBE it makes sense. Maybe.


One more for good measure, on what was once the Exit 25 NB split for Cambridge and now doesn't exist. Drivers were forced left, so there's no real reason to have this small, confusing, and not very well-lettered sign.


February 2004 and the newly opened ramp to the I-93 SB tunnel. As the sign at left states, no longer does traffic following the Leverett Circle Connector have the opportunity to split off to I-93 and US 1 SB. In this still-cluttered perspective, from Charles Street EB, MA 3 SB is turning right into that tunnel, though you'd never know it. The signs at the right of this picture match up to the ones above.


Big Dig photos underneath the Green Line, where work was undergoing in 2002 to finish ramps to/from Embankment Drive and Charles Street. It shows how the subway was shored up while its supports were removed to clear room to work, and maybe provides a peek into conditions under which the new EB Charles St. to I-93 ramp was being built.


On the old I-93 NB exit to "Storrow Drive" (actually Embankment Road), which first SB and eventually NB traffic abandoned. This is the narrowest a guide sign can get and still be useful, and it shows the left exit for Cambridge that was a miserable 10 MPH curve. Mercifully, this exit is now completely underground and built to better standards.


Where the old and the new come together - I-93's old ramps to the Leverett Circle area butt against the new ramps to/from the Circle and I-93 and the Leverett Circle Connector (which goes to/comes from I-93 and US 1 to the north).
Hee hee, I said "butt."


Included for historical context - Once NB traffic started using the new ramps, the NB signs were taken off the old ramps, and the NB connection was later torn down. This still shows the SB sign for Logan Airport via the Callahan Tunnel with a down arrow in the right lane, as well as an I-93 shield on the original-equipment support (solid rusted steel).

Onto MA 3 NB: Embankment Road and Longfellow Bridge
Onto MA 3 SB: Land Boulevard and Charles River Dam
Onto MA 28 alone
Onto I-93/MA 3/US 1 SB
Onto I-93/MA 3/US 1 NB
More Big Dig construction photos
Back to MA 3 main page

To US 1 new and old
Into Boston
Into Cambridge
To Logan Airport
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