Existed: 1970 – present Length 32.44 km | Constructed 1970 | |
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West end: I‑90 / I‑395 / Route 12 in Auburn East end: I‑495 / Route 85 Connector in Marlborough | ||
Interstate 290 (abbreviated I-290) an auxiliary route of Interstate 90 (I-90) in Massachusetts, maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). Spanning 20.16 miles (32.44 km), its western end begins as a continuation of I-395 in Auburn. It travels through downtown Worcester, where I-190 splits off, and across Lake Quinsigamond before arriving at I-495 in Marlborough at its eastern end.
Contents
Map of I-290, Massachusetts, USA
There are buildings very close to the highway, including a grand church which faces the road (referred to locally as "Our Lady of the Highway"). Massachusetts has built a freeway connector (Route 146) from I-290 in Worcester to the Mass Pike and then south to Providence, Rhode Island.
Route description
I-290 begins as the continuation of I-395 in Auburn with exits to I-90, Route 12, and the Auburn Mall. 290 continues north through Worcester into Downtown, where Route 146 and I-190 split off. After 146, I-290 has exits for Route 122A, Route 122, downtown, and Route 9. After 190, 290 presumes east to a junction with Route 70, then continues over Quinsigamond Lake into Shrewsbury, where it goes northeast. 290 has a junction with Route 140 and starts east into Boylston and Northborough, where it travels northeast again. 290 enters Berlin for a brief time with an exit for Solomon Pond Mall and then enters Marlborough with the junction with 495, where it terminates shortly after on the Route 85 connector.
History
Originally, I-290 was to rejoin I-90 in Westborough, roughly where I-495 sits now. However, this route would have run through the town centers of Shrewsbury and Northborough. Additionally, I-290 was intended to be extended past I-495 to I-95/Route 128 in Waltham, but this was canceled under pressure from towns along the planned route. A brief two-lane connector heads to Route 85 as a result of this aborted plan. The interchange with I-495 was originally supposed to be a cloverleaf, but after the plan was canceled, it was modified with a flyover ramp onto 495-northbound. The former exit 12 (Millbury Street) was closed when the Route 146 freeway was completed between the Mass Pike and I-290 in 2007.
Exit list
All interchanges were to be renumbered to milepost-based numbers under a project scheduled to start in 2016. However, this project has now been indefinitely postponed.