Interstate 93

Interstate 93 (I-93) is an Interstate Highway in the New England region of the United States. It begins in Canton, Massachusetts, in the Boston metropolitan area, at I-95; and ends near St. Johnsbury, Vermont, at I-91. It is one of three mainline Interstate highways located entirely in New England, the other two being I-89 and I-91. The largest cities along its route are Manchester, New Hampshire and Boston, Massachusetts. It also passes through the New Hampshire state capital of Concord.

For most of its length, I-93 indirectly parallels U.S. Route 3. Particularly in New Hampshire, the two highways have several interchanges with each other, as well as a concurrency through Franconia Notch State Park.

Route description

Massachusetts

Interstate 93 begins in the south at exit 12 of I-95 in Canton. I-93 begins co-signed with U.S. Route 1 North. At this junction, I-95 North heads to the northwest (co-signed with U.S. Route 1 South, as well as Route 128, which begins at the interchange), to serve as the beltway around Boston, while I-95 South runs by itself southwest through Boston's southwestern suburbs toward Rhode Island.

Franconia Notch

Franconia Notch (elev. 1,950 feet/590 m) is a major mountain pass through the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Dominated by Cannon Mountain to the west and Mount Lafayette to the east, it lies principally within Franconia Notch State Park and is traversed by the Franconia Notch Parkway (Interstate 93 and U.S. Route 3). The parkway required a special act of Congress to sidestep design standards for the Interstate highway system because it is only one lane in each direction.

The notch was home to the Old Man of the Mountain, a rock formation whose profile is a symbol of the state of New Hampshire, until 2003, when the formation collapsed.

The notch is located primarily in the town of Franconia but extends south into Lincoln. It is bordered to the east by Franconia Ridge, comprising Mount Lafayette (5,249 feet/1,600 m), Mount Lincoln (5,089 feet/1,551 m), and Little Haystack Mountain (4,780 feet/1,460 m), and to the west by 4,080-foot (1,240 m) Cannon Mountain and the sheer face of Cannon Cliff. The notch's height of land is located near its northern end, at the base of Cannon Mountain. Echo Lake lies just north of the high point of the notch, with an outlet that flows into Lafayette Brook, then the Gale River, the Ammonoosuc River, and finally the Connecticut River, which enters Long Island Sound at Old Saybrook, Connecticut. Just south of the height of land, Profile Lake lies beneath the cliff that once held the Old Man of the Mountain. Profile Lake is the source of the Pemigewasset River, the primary tributary of the Merrimack River, which flows to the Gulf of Maine at Newburyport, Massachusetts.

Callahan Tunnel

The Callahan Tunnel, officially the Lieutenant William F. Callahan Jr. Tunnel is one of four tunnels, and one of three road tunnels, beneath Boston Harbor in Boston, Massachusetts. It carries motor vehicles from the North End to Logan International Airport and Route 1A in East Boston. Ordinarily, this tunnel is only used to carry traffic out of the city, and with the completion of the Big Dig it only collects traffic from I-93 southbound (right after traffic merges from Storrow Drive) and downtown Boston. There is no toll in this direction. Traffic from the airport and Route 1A towards downtown Boston and I-93 northbound normally flows in the older, parallel Sumner Tunnel, where a $3.50 toll is collected (raised from $3 on January 1, 2008).

Repair work to this tunnel had resulted in a complete closure, which began at 11 pm on December 27, 2013 and ended on March 10, 2014, two days before scheduled reopening. A second phase of work will take place between March 13, 2014 to late August 2014. The tunnel will be open and no work will be performed during the day, the tunnel will be closed overnight from 11 PM to 5 AM. From August to mid-November 2014, finish work will be performed during off-peak hours.

Boston

Boston (pronounced ⁱ/ˈbɒstən/) is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. Boston also served as the historic county seat of Suffolk County until Massachusetts disbanded county government in 1999. The city proper covers 48 square miles (124 km²) with an estimated population of 655,884 in 2014, making it the largest city in New England and the 24th largest city in the United States. The city is the economic and cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area called Greater Boston, home to 4.7 million people and the tenth-largest metropolitan statistical area in the country. Greater Boston as a commuting region is home to 8.1 million people, making it the sixth-largest combined statistical area in the United States.

One of the oldest cities in the United States, Boston was founded on the Shawmut Peninsula in 1630 by Puritan settlers from England. It was the scene of several key events of the American Revolution, such as the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the Siege of Boston. Upon American independence from Great Britain, the city continued to be an important port and manufacturing hub, as well as a center for education and culture. Through land reclamation and municipal annexation, Boston has expanded beyond the original peninsula. Its rich history attracts many tourists, with Faneuil Hall alone drawing over 20 million visitors per year. Boston's many firsts include the United States' first public school, Boston Latin School (1635), and first subway system (1897).

Massachusetts Route 16

Route 16 is an east–west state highway in Massachusetts. It begins in the west at an intersection with Route 12 and Route 193 in Webster, just north of the Connecticut state border. It runs in a generally southwest-northeast routing through a number of Boston's suburbs and runs to the west and then north of the city before ending in Revere at an intersection with Route 1A and Route 60.

Much of Route 16 east of the Newton-Wellesley town line, and especially from Cambridge eastward, is a multi-lane parkway, although it is not limited access for any significant length of road. Segments of Route 16 are also known as the Mystic Valley Parkway, the Alewife Brook Parkway, and the Revere Beach Parkway, among other names.

From the western end of the Route 135 concurrency in Wellesley to Route 30 (Commonwealth Avenue) in Newton, the route serves as a part of the Boston Marathon, from the halfway point to just before Mile 18 and the hills.

Route description

Webster to Milford

Route 16 begins at Routes 12 and 193, not far from the Connecticut border. In Webster, along the shore of Lake Chaubunagungamaug, it intersects I-395.