Interstate 495 (Massachusetts)

Interstate 495
Blue Star Memorial Highway
I-495 highlighted in red
Route information
Auxiliary route of I‑95
Maintained by MassDOT
Length	120.74 mi[1] (194.31 km)
Existed	1957 – present
Major junctions
South end	I‑195 / Route 25 in Wareham
	US 44 in Middleborough Route 24 in Bridgewater I‑95 in Foxborough US 1 in Plainville I‑90 at the Hopkinton-Westboro town line US 20 in Marlborough I‑290 in Marlborough Route 2 in Littleton US 3 in Chelmsford I‑93 in Andover
North end	I‑95 in Salisbury
Location
Counties	Plymouth, Bristol, Norfolk, Worcester, Middlesex, Essex
Highway system
Interstate Highway System Main Auxiliary Suffixed Business Future Massachusetts State Highway System Interstate US State ← I‑395 I‑695 →

Interstate 495 (I-495) is an auxiliary route of I-95 in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, maintained by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). Spanning 120.74 miles (194.31 km), it is the second-longest auxiliary route in the Interstate Highway System, ranking behind I-476 in Pennsylvania by a difference of roughly 11 miles (18 km).^[2][3][4]

Serving as one of two beltways (the other being Route 128) that circumnavigate Boston, I-495 has its northern terminus in Salisbury, where it splits from I-95. Its route forms an arc with an approximately 30-mile (48 km) radius around the city, and intersects seven additional radial expressways: I-93, U.S. Route 3 (US-3), Route 2, I-290, I-90 (the Massachusetts Turnpike), Route 24, and I-95 once more. I-495 has its southern terminus in Wareham, at the meeting of I-195 and Route 25. Originally, the stretch from Route 24 to I-195 was signed as Route 25, that status now only begins east of I-195.

I-495 and areas to its immediate west are often regarded as the outermost boundary of the Greater Boston region. The freeway's northern segment parallels the New Hampshire border, at one point coming as close as 400 feet (120 m) of the boundary, and its southern end is roughly 10 miles north of Cape Cod. West of I-495 is the Worcester area and Central Massachusetts. The stretch of I-495 north and east of Route 2 until its terminus at I-95 in Salisbury is also the main thoroughfare connecting the communities of the Merrimack Valley region, separate from its purpose as a beltway around Boston.

Route description

I-495 bridge over the Merrimack River in Lawrence

Interstate 495 begins as the direct continuation of Route 25 at the intersection with Interstate 195 in West Wareham. It starts as a two-lane highway in both directions. It gets the third lane during the interchange with Route 24. The junction includes the unusual transition of shrinking from the six-lane Route 25 to the four-lane interstate, due to the third lane of Route 25 joining to and from I-195. The road heads roughly northwest, passing through the towns of Rochester and Middleborough (where the road meets U.S. Route 44) as a four-lane highway before entering Bristol County, crossing the Taunton River at Raynham. There, it becomes a six-lane highway just southeast of the Route 24 interchange (which is actually in neighboring Bridgewater).

The road continues northwest through Taunton and Norton before entering Mansfield, where there is a short exit lane concurrency with Route 140. Interstate 495 makes its southern junction with its parent route, Interstate 95 on the border between Mansfield in Bristol County and Foxborough in Norfolk County. The road continues through Plainville (where there is a junction with U.S. Route 1, a popular exit for those heading to Gillette Stadium) and Wrentham (where the Wrentham Village Premium Outlets lie beside the highway at Route 1A). The highway comes within 2 miles of the Rhode Island state line before turning in a more northerly direction through Franklin and Bellingham.

Interstate 495 passes through Milford, Medway and Hopkinton (where the junction with the Massachusetts Turnpike, or Interstate 90, is located), Westborough (where the road meets Route 9). Southborough, Marlborough (where the road meets U.S. Route 20 and Interstate 290), Hudson, Berlin, Bolton (where the road finally begins to turn northeasterly) and Harvard.

Continuing to turn to a more easterly direction, the road passes through Boxborough, Littleton (where there is an intersection with Route 2), Westford and Chelmsford. At the Chelmsford-Lowell line lies the intersection with U.S. Route 3 and the Lowell Connector (formerly Business Spur 495). The road continues through Lowell and Tewksbury before entering Essex County at Andover, directly at exit 39.

In Andover, the road has a junction with Interstate 93. It then enters the city of Lawrence, where the road turns due north, crossing the Shawsheen River into North Andover before crossing the Merrimack River at the O'Reilly Bridge back into Lawrence. It then heads into Methuen, where the road turns back to a northeasterly route after the junction with the Loop Connector (Rte. 213). The road heads into Haverhill, crossing the Merrimack twice more at a bend in the Bradford section of town. It passes north of downtown Haverhill, coming within 150 yards of the New Hampshire state line, the closest the road comes to leaving the state. Interstate 495 then passes through the towns of Merrimac and Amesbury before entering Salisbury where it immediately meets Interstate 95 and ends approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south of where that interstate enters New Hampshire.

Throughout its path, the road passes closely to several existing state highways. From Wareham through to the Middleborough Rotary, it parallels Route 28. For much of the stretch between Norton and Milford, the road is within a few miles of Route 140, with two junctions of that highway in Mansfield and Franklin. From Milford to Bolton, the road passes just west of Route 85. Much of the northern third of the route also roughly parallels Massachusetts Route 110.^[5]

History

As early as the late 1940s, a plan was developing for an "outer circumferential highway" around Boston, a limited-access freeway of meant to have an approximate 30 mile (49 km) radius from the Boston city center. A portion of this new "outer circumferential highway" southeast of the US Route 1 junction in Foxborough was meant to be a "relocation" of the existing MA Route 28, which was quickly changed in 1947 to a new designation of Route 25 as a full-length freeway from MA 24 expwy in Raynham to Wareham. The section of I-495 between MA 24 in Raynham and I-95 at the Foxboro/Mansfield line was not constructed until the late seventies with construction beginning at I-95 in 1976 and reaching the MA 25/MA 24 interchange in 1982. (Prior to 1982 I-495 ended at I-95, the section from Raynham to Wareham was just signed as MA 25). MA 25 was constructed in stages from the late fifties to the late 60’s.^[6]

Future improvements

In 2014, a new ITS system was installed to help commuters and the state better understand the traffic congestion on I-495.^[7] Some improvements expected to come to I-495 in the next few years include a project that will install fiber optic cable, traffic cameras and VMS Signs on I-495 from I-90 (Hopkinton) to I-93 (Andover).

In 2015, the state pledged $165–285 million for improvements to the Interstate 495-Massachusetts Turnpike intersection, and is considering three different plans. The work is expected to begin in 2021 and be completed in 2025.^[8] Improvements to the 495-Route 9 intersection will commence at the same duration, with a different budget.^[9]

Exit list

Interchanges were to be renumbered to mileage-based numbers under a project scheduled to start in 2016, however this project has been indefinitely postponed by MassDOT.^[10][11]

County	Location[12]	mi[12]	km	Exit[13]	Destinations[13]	Notes
Plymouth	Wareham	0.000	0.000	–	Route 25 east – Cape Cod	Southern terminus; continuation from Route 25
		0.012	0.019	1	I‑195 west – Wareham, New Bedford	Eastern terminus of I-195
		2.487	4.002	2	Route 58 – Carver, Plymouth	No signage for Route 58 south, which ends .45 miles (0.72 km) to the south
	Middleborough	7.600	12.231	3	Route 28 – Rock Village, South Middleboro
		12.068	19.422	4	Route 105 – Middleboro Center, Lakeville
		14.304	23.020	5	Route 18 / US 44 east – Bridgewater, Plymouth, Lakeville, New Bedford	US 44 only appears on northbound signage
		14.722	23.693	6	US 44 – Middleboro, Plymouth, Taunton, Providence RI
	Bridgewater	18.962	30.516	7A	Route 24 north – Boston
		19.200	30.899	7B	Route 24 south – Fall River
Bristol	Raynham	21.681	34.892	8	Route 138 – Stoughton, Taunton
	Taunton	24.508	39.442	9	Bay Street Taunton, Easton
	Norton	26.906	43.301	10	Route 123 to Route 140 south – Norton, Easton	No signage for Route 140 southbound
	Mansfield	29.875	48.079	11	Route 140 south – Norton	No northbound exit
		29.913	48.140	12	Route 140 north – Mansfield
		32.859	52.881	13A	I‑95 north – Boston
Norfolk	Foxborough	32.935	53.004	13B	I‑95 south – Providence, RI
	Plainville	35.554	57.219	14A	US 1 north – Wrentham	Access to Gillette Stadium and Patriot Place
		35.605	57.301	14B	US 1 south – North Attleboro
	Wrentham	37.565	60.455	15	Route 1A – Wrentham, Plainville
	Franklin	40.954	65.909	16	King Street – Franklin, Woonsocket, RI
		43.183	69.496	17	Route 140 – Franklin, Bellingham
	Bellingham	45.820	73.740	18	Route 126 – Medway, Bellingham
Worcester	Milford	48.318	77.760	19	Route 109 – Milford, Medway	To Route 16
		50.245	80.861	20	Route 85 – Milford, Hopkinton	To Route 16
Middlesex	Hopkinton	54.151	87.148	21A	West Main Street east Hopkinton, Ashland
		54.151	87.148	21B	West Main Street west Upton, Northbridge
		57.928	93.226	22	I‑90 / Mass Pike – Boston, Albany, NY	Exit 11A on I-90
Worcester	Westborough	59.414	95.618	23A	Route 9 east – Framingham
		59.472	95.711	23B	Route 9 west – Worcester
Middlesex	Marlborough	61.758	99.390	23C	Simarano Drive Marlboro, Southboro	Interchange constructed in 2000
		63.155	101.638	24	US 20 – Marlboro, Northboro	Split into exits 24A (east) and 24B (west)
		64.895	104.438	25A	To Route 85 – Hudson, Marlboro	Connection to Route 85 via unnumbered connector road
		64.951	104.529	25B	I‑290 west – Worcester	Eastern terminus of I-290
Worcester	Berlin	67.314	108.331	26	Route 62 – Berlin, Hudson
	Bolton	70.006	112.664	27	Route 117 – Bolton, Stow
Middlesex	Boxborough	74.652	120.141	28	Route 111 – Boxboro, Harvard
	Littleton	77.641	124.951	29	Route 2 – Boston, Leominster	Split into exits 29A (east) and 29B (west); Exits 40A-B on Route 2
		79.176	127.421	30	Route 2A / Route 110 – Littleton, Ayer
		80.209	129.084	31	Route 119 – Groton, Acton
	Westford	83.297	134.054	32	Boston Road Westford	To Route 225
	Chelmsford	87.328	140.541	33	Route 4 – North Chelmsford	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		88.175	141.904	34	Route 4 / Route 110 – Chelmsford, Lowell	No signage for Route 4 northbound
		89.143	143.462	35	US 3 – Burlington, Nashua, NH	Split into exits 35A (south) and 35B (north)
	Lowell	89.425	143.916	35C	Lowell Connector	Formerly Exit 36
		91.192	146.759	37	Woburn Street South Lowell, North Billerica
	Tewksbury	92.284	148.517	38	Route 38 – Lowell, Tewksbury
		94.613	152.265	39	Route 133 – Tewksbury, Andover	Southbound offramp begins in Essex County
Essex	Andover	97.000	156.106	40A	I‑93 south – Boston
		97.045	156.179	40B	I‑93 north – Concord, NH
		99.411	159.986	41	Route 28 – Lawrence, Andover	Split into exits 41A (south) and 41B (north) northbound
	Lawrence	100.149	161.174	42	Route 114 – North Andover, South Lawrence	Split into exits 42A (east) and 42B (west)
	North Andover	100.953	162.468	43	Massachusetts Avenue North Andover
		101.370	163.139	44	Merrimack Street
	Lawrence	101.938	164.053	45	Commonwealth Drive / Marston Street Lawrence, Methuen	Split into exits 45A (Commonwealth Dr) and 45B (Marston St)
	Methuen	103.121	165.957	46	Route 110 (Merrimack Street) – Pleasant Valley
		104.057	167.464	47	Route 213 (Loop Connector) – Methuen, Salem, NH	Exit 5 on the Loop Connector; Eastern end of the Loop Connector
	Haverhill	105.788	170.249	48	To Route 125 (via Industrial Avenue) – Ward Hill, Bradford
		106.624	171.595	49	Route 110 / Route 113 (River Street)
		107.303	172.687	50	Route 97 – Haverhill, Salem, NH
		108.997	175.414	51	Route 125 – Haverhill, Plaistow, NH	Split into exits 51A (south) and 51B (north)
		111.182	178.930	52	Route 110 – Haverhill, Merrimac
	Merrimac	114.894	184.904	53	Broad Street Merrimac, Merrimacport
	Amesbury	117.854	189.668	54	Route 150 – Amesbury
		118.880	191.319	55	Route 110 east to I‑95 south – Salisbury, Boston	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	Salisbury	120.95	194.65	–	I‑95 north – Portsmouth, NH	Northern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Incomplete access       Tolled

References

External links

Route map:

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Interstate 495 (Massachusetts).

• Interstate 495 at Steve Anderson's Boston Roads site
• Mass. I-495 Current and Speculative Future Exit Numbers List