Interstate 93 Main route of the Interstate Highway System
Length:	188.68 mi (303.65 km)
Formed:	1957
South end:	I-95/US 1/MA 128 in Canton, MA
Major junctions:	I-90 in Boston, MA I-95 in Reading, MA I-495 in Andover, MA I-89 in Bow, NH
North end:	I-91 in St. Johnsbury, VT
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Interstate 93 (abbreviated I-93) is an interstate highway in the New England section of the United States. Its southern terminus is in Canton, Massachusetts, in the Boston metropolitan area, at Interstate 95 (map); its northern terminus is near St. Johnsbury, Vermont, at Interstate 91.

Route description

Lengths
	mi[1][2][3]	km
MA	46.19	74.33
NH	131.39	211.45
VT	11.10	17.86
Total	188.68	303.65

Major cities Bolded cities are officially-designated control cities for signs
Quincy, Massachusetts Boston, Massachusetts Lawrence, Massachusetts Salem, New Hampshire Manchester, New Hampshire Concord, New Hampshire Plymouth, New Hampshire Littleton, New Hampshire St. Johnsbury, Vermont

Interstate 93 begins in the south at I-95 in Canton, Massachusetts. It passes through Boston's southern suburbs before reaching downtown. Once there, motorists use the Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Tunnel to go through the city, and then the Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge to cross the Charles River. I-93 continues through the northern suburbs of Boston, then crosses the Merrimack River into Methuen, where it interchanges with Route 213, a connector between I-93 and Interstate 495. I-93 then crosses into New Hampshire, heading towards that state's largest city, Manchester. It crosses the Merrimack River again before going through the state capital of Concord. I-93 traverses the Lake Winnipesaukee tourist region and makes its way north through the heart of the White Mountains Region (passing through Franconia Notch State Park as a Super-2 parkway, the only instance of a two-lane Interstate highway in the United States). It crosses the Connecticut River into Vermont and ends at I-91 near St. Johnsbury.

History

Southeast Expressway

The Southeast Expressway was constructed between 1954 and 1959, at the same time the Fitzgerald Expressway (Central Artery) was built. Its northern terminus is at Exit 18 (Massachusetts Avenue) in South Boston, a former Y-interchange where the cancelled Inner Belt (I-695) was to meet with the expressway and the Central Artery. The southern terminus is at the Y-interchange at Exit 7 in Braintree (where Route 128 "unofficially" begins).

A section of the Expressway, beginning south of the Savin Hill overpass and ending just before the junction with Route 3, utilizes a "zipper lane", in which a movable barrier carves out a high occupancy vehicle lane in the non-peak side of the highway during rush hour.

Boston

For more details on this topic, see Central Artery.

The Central Artery, officially the John F. Fitzgerald Expressway, was a section of highway in downtown Boston constructed in the 1950s and was originally designed as a fully elevated highway. This new highway was greatly reviled by the citizens of the city because it cut the heart city in half, cast long, dreary shadows and was an eyesore to the community. Because of the public outcry, Gov John Volpe ordered the southern half of the highway redesigned so that it was underground; this section became known as the Dewey Square Tunnel. With the cancellation of the highway projects leading into the city in 1972 by Gov. Francis W. Sargent, the Central Artery gained the designation of Interstate 93 in 1974. It has also carried the local highway designations of U.S. Route 1 (since 1989) and Route 3.

By the mid-1970s, I-93 had outgrown its capacity and had begun to deteriorate due a lack of maintenance. State Transportation Secretary Frederick P. Salvucci, aware of the issues surrounding the elevated roadway, proposed a plan conceived in the early 1970s by the Boston Transportation Planning Review to replace the rusting elevated six-lane Central Artery with new, more efficient underground roadway. This plan was merged with a long-standing proposal to build a third harbor tunnel to alleviate congestion in the Sumner and Callahan tunnels to East Boston; the new plan became known as the Central Artery/Tunnel Project (the Big Dig).

For more details on this topic, see Big Dig (Boston, Massachusetts).

These new roadways were built during a twelve-year period from 1994 to early 2006. The massive project became the largest urban construction project ever undertaken in American history^[4]. Construction on the new I-93 segment was not without serious issues: a lengthly Federal environmental review pushed the start of construction back form approximately 1990, causing many inflationary increases; funding for the project was the subject of several political battles between Pres. Ronald Reagan and Rep. Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr. Major construction on the new roadway was done while maintaining the old roadway, a step that also greatly increased the cost of the project. The original Charles River crossing, named Scheme Z, was the object to great public outcry similar to that of the building of the original highway. The outcry eventually led to the replacement of Scheme Z with a newer, more sleek cable-stayed bridge and complementing exit for Cambridge, increasing the cost even more.

In Downtown Boston, I-93 is now made up of the Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Tunnel and the Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge, which spans the Charles River. The underground construction of the tunnel system was completed as of October, 2006; however, repairs continue to many parts of the tunnel due to water leakage because of improper construction of the slurry walls supporting the O'Neill tunnel. The former route of the above ground Artery, so named "the other Green Monster" by Mayor Thomas Menino, was replaced mostly by open space known formally as the Rose Kennedy Greenway.

Additional improvements were done in the South Bay section of the highway: The I-90/I-93 interchange was complete redesigned, a new HOV lane extending from the zipper lane in Quincy was added and the South Boston Haul road that was constructed to bypass truck traffic around residential streets in the South End is now open to general traffic.

Hazardous cargoes are now prohibited from I-93 in Boston due to safety issues in the tunnels; these cargoes must now exit at either the Leverett Circle connector in Cambridge when traveling southbound or at the Massachusetts Ave. exit when traveling northbound.

See also: Massachusetts Turnpike, John F. Fitzgerald, Rose Kennedy, Leonard P. Zakim, and Bunker Hill Monument

Northern Expressway

I-93's original southern terminus was in Cambridge (just north of Boston) where it was to meet the Inner Belt (I-695). However, when that route was canceled, and the I-95 section into Boston was canceled and rerouted along Route 128 in the mid-1970s, I-93's route was extended an additional 18 miles down the Central Artery (which had been signed as a concurrency of I-95/MA-3 before I-95 was rerouted) and the Southeast Expressway (what was then just Route 3) from Boston to Braintree and then west along former Route 128 to its intersection with I-95 in Canton.

In an attempt to alleviate rush-hour traffic jams, travel in the breakdown lane of I-93 is permitted on a small stretch between Exit 38 and Exit 47/48. This extra travel is permitted on the southbound side on weekdays between 6AM and 10AM, and on the northbound side between 3PM and 7PM. However, on most busy days this fails to prevent traffic delays. The Massachusetts State Police is displeased with this arrangement, citing that traffic in the breakdown lanes interferes with the ability of emergency vehicles to respond to accidents.

New Hampshire

Originally planned to follow the alignment of US 3 through Nashua along the Everett Turnpike, this was changed before construction to the current route through Salem largely due to the intervention of the owners of Rockingham Park. Exit 1 in Salem was originally designed and built with ramps allowing northbound traffic to exit to the race track and return drivers to southbound 93 only. The complementary ramps were added much later, with the southbound off ramp being a particularly tight and dangerous turn squeezed within the curve of the southbound on ramp.

Between the northern end of I-293 in Hooksett and the beginning of I-89 in Bow, I-93 also carries the northern end of the Everett Turnpike. There is one toll booth along this section, at Exit 11 in Hooksett; toll for passenger cars is 75 cents (50 cents at the ramp toll booth).

An 8 mile (13 km) section of I-93 through Franconia Notch State Park, called the Franconia Notch Parkway in New Hampshire, was constructed as a two-lane freeway with a median divider. This was built as a compromise between the state's park department and highway officials. The speed limit on the Parkway is 45 mph (70 km/h). Originally, this section's signage read "U.S. 3 TO I-93" in this area complete with its own exit number sequence, but this has since been replaced by I-93 and US-3 signage along the entire length of the Parkway. The exits were renumbered to Exit 34A, 34B, and 34C.

Vermont

Future expansion

Massachusetts

Currently MassHighway has planned on widening I-93 to a uniform four travel lanes in both directions from the I-95 interchange in Reading to the New Hampshire border. Other improvements have not been announced at this time.

New Hampshire

Current plans to widen I-93 to a uniform four travel lanes in both directions from Salem to Manchester beginning in 2008 have been put on hold. Under orders from US District Judge Paul Barbadoro, the NH Department of Transportation and US Department of Transportation must provide an updated environmental review. The Conservation Law Foundation filed a lawsuit in February 2006, hoping to force any expansion plans in the area to include expanded commuter rail service between Manchester and Boston.^[5]

Exit list

County	Location	Mile [citation needed]	#	Destinations	Notes
Norfolk	Canton
		begins multiplexed with
		0.00		I-95 north / Route 1 south (Route 128 north) – Dedham, Portsmouth	The mainline of I-93 South defaults onto I-95 North.
		0.33	1	I-95 south - Providence	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		1.39	2A-B	Route 138 – Stoughton, Milton
	Milton	2.86	3	Ponkapoag Trail - Houghton's Pond
	Randolph	3.50	4	Route 24 SOUTH – Brockton, Fall River	Fall River Expressway/Amvets Highway
		4.26	5A-B	Route 28 – Randolph, Milton
	Braintree	6.71	6	Route 37 – West Quincy, Braintree, Holbrook
		7.16	7	Route 3 south – Braintree, Cape Cod	Route 3 enters northbound and exits southbound.
	joins
	Quincy	8.51	8	Furnace Brook Parkway - Quincy
	Milton	9.33	9	Bryant Avenue - West Quincy	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		9.33	9	Adams Street - Milton, North Quincy	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		9.91	10	Squantum Street - Milton	Southbound exit only
		10.86	11A	Granite Avenue - East Milton	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		10.86	11B	To Route 203 / Granite Avenue – Ashmont	Signed as exit 11 northbound; no northbound entrance
Suffolk	Boston		12	Route 3A south – Neponset, Quincy	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
			13	Freeport Street - Dorchester	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
			14	Morrissey Boulevard - JFK Library	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
			15	Columbia Road - Edward Everett Square, JFK Library
			16	Southampton Street - Andrew Square	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
			18	Frontage Road, Massachusetts Avenue - Roxbury, Andrew Square
			20	I-90 – Logan Airport, Worcester	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
			20B	I-90 west (Mass Pike) / Albany Street	Southbound exit and northbound entrance; also a ramp from I-90 west to I-93 north
			20A	South Station	Northbound exit is part of exit 20
			23	Purchase Street	No northbound exit
			24A	Government Center	Signed as exit 23 northbound
			24B	Route 1A north – Logan Airport	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
			26	Route 3 north (Storrow Drive) / Route 28 – Cambridge, North Station	North end of Route 3 overlap
			27	Route 1 north (Tobin Bridge) – Revere	North end of US 1 overlap; northbound exit and southbound entrance
Middlesex	Somerville		28	To Route 99 – Sullivan Square, Somerville, Charlestown
			29	Route 28 / Route 38 (Mystic Avenue) – Somerville, Everett	Signed as exit 30 southbound
	Medford
			31	Route 16 (Mystic Valley Parkway) – Arlington, Revere
			32	Route 60 – Medford Square, Malden
			33	Route 28 (Fellsway West) – Winchester
	Stoneham		34	Route 28 north – Stoneham, Melrose	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
			35	Winchester Highlands, Melrose	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	Woburn		36	Montvale Avenue - Stoneham, Woburn
	Reading		37	I-95 (Route 128) – Peabody, Waltham	Signed as exits 37A (north) and 37B (south)
	Woburn		37C	Commerce Way, Atlantic Avenue
	Wilmington		38	Route 129 – Reading, Wilmington
			39	Concord Street
			40	Route 62 – North Reading, Wilmington
			41	Route 125 – Andover, North Andover
Essex	Andover		42	Dascomb Road - Tewksbury
			43	Route 133 – Andover, North Tewksbury	Signed as exits 43A (east) and 43B (west) southbound
			44	I-495 – Lawrence, Lowell	Signed as exits 44A (north) and 44B (south)
			45	River Road - South Lawrence
	Methuen		46	Route 110 / Route 113 – Lawrence, Dracut
		47.07	47	Pelham Street
			48	Route 213 east – Methuen, Haverhill
MA-NH state line
Rockingham	Salem	1.76	1	Rockingham Park Boulevard TO NH Route 28, NH Route 38 - Salem
		3.00	2	Pelham Road TO NH Route 38, NH Route 97 - Salem, Pelham
	Windham	5.78	3	NH Route 111 - Windham, North Salem
	Londonderry	11.66	4	NH Route 102 - Derry, Londonderry
		15.24	5	NH Route 28 - North Londonderry
Hillsborough	Manchester	joins
		19.43		NH Route 101 WEST/I-293 - Manchester Airport, Bedford, Manchester	Route 101 joins northbound and leaves southbound.
		20.60	6	Candia Road, Hanover Street
		21.31	7	NH Route 101 EAST - Portsmouth, Seacoast	Route 101 leaves northbound and joins southbound.
		leaves
		22.01	8	Wellington Road/Bridge Street TO
Merrimack	Hooksett	23.86	9	US 3/NH Route 28 - Hooksett, Manchester
		25.65	10	NH Route 3A - Hooksett
		joins
		26.31		I-293 - Manchester, Nashua	Everett Turnpike continues south on I-293.
		28.66	11	Hackett Hill Road TO NH Route 3A - Hooksett
	Bow	35.37		I-89 - Lebanon, White River Junction VT
	Concord	36.04	12	NH Route 3A (South Main Street) - Bow Junction	TO
		37.21	13	US 3 (Manchester Street) - Downtown Concord
		38.34	14	NH Route 9 (Loudon Road) - State Offices
		designation ends
		joins
		38.87	15A	I-393/US 4/US 202 EAST - Loudon, Portsmouth	US 4 joins northbound and leaves southbound.
		38.87	15B	US 202 WEST TO US 3 (North Main Street)
		40.29	16	NH Route 132 - East Concord
		44.45	17	US 4 WEST TO US 3, NH Route 132 - Boscawen, Penacook	US 4 joins southbound and leaves northbound
		leaves
	Canterbury	47.72	18	West Road TO NH Route 132 - Canterbury
	Northfield	54.80	19	NH Route 132 - Northfield, Franklin	Northbound exit, southbound entrance.
Belknap	Tilton	56.72	20	US 3/NH Route 11/NH Route 132/NH Route 140 - Laconia, Tilton
	Sanbornton	60.97	22	NH Route 127 - Sanbornton, West Franklin
	New Hampton	69.01	23	NH Route 104/NH Route 132 - New Hampton, Meredith
Grafton	Ashland	75.06	24	- US 3/NH Route 25 - Ashland, Holderness
	Holderness	79.75	25	NH Route 175A TO Holderness Road - Plymouth
	Plymouth	80.64	26	US 3/NH Route 25/NH Route 3A - Plymouth, Rumney
	Campton	83.50	27	Blair Bridge TO US 3 - West Campton
			28	NH Route 49 TO NH Route 175 - Campton, Waterville Valley
	Thornton	88.29	29	US 3 - Thornton
	Woodstock	94.78	30	US 3 - Woodstock, Thornton
		97.05	31	Tripoli Road TO NH Route 175
		100.20	32	NH Route 112 - Lincoln, North Woodstock
	Lincoln	102.23	33	US 3 - North Woodstock, North Lincoln
		Begin Franconia Notch Parkway
		joins
		104.16 105.23	34A	US 3 South - Flume Gorge Park Information Center	No southbound entrance.
	Franconia	110.02	34B	Cannon Mountain Tramway - Old Man Historic Site
		110.82	34C	NH Route 18 - Echo Lake Beach, Peabody Slopes, Cannon Mountain
		End Franconia Notch Parkway
		112.36	35	US 3 North - Twin Mountain, Lancaster	Northbound exit, southbound entrance.
		leaves
		112.91	36	NH Route 141 TO - South Franconia, Twin Mountain
		115.61	37	NH Route 18, NH Route 142 - Franconia, Bethlehem	Northbound exit, southbound entrance.
		116.39	38	NH Route 18/NH Route 116, NH Route 117 - Franconia, Sugar Hill	Also signed southbound as To
	Bethlehem	118.95	39	NH Route 18/NH Route 116 - North Franconia, Sugar Hill	Southbound exit, northbound entrance.
		120.72	40	US 302, NH Route 18 - Bethlehem, Twin Mountain
	Littleton	122.28	41	Cottage Street TO US 302/NH Route 18/NH Route 116 - Littleton, Whitefield
		124.26	42	US 302 TO NH Route 10 - Littleton, Woodsville
		125.88	43	NH Route 135 TO NH Route 18 - Littleton, Dalton
		130.07	44