Massachusetts Route 2A

Route 2A
Route 2A
	Map of northern Massachusetts with Route 2A highlighted in red
Route information
	Maintained by MassDOT
Length	98.5 mi (158.5 km)
Major junctions
West end	I-91 / Route 2 in Greenfield
	US 5 / Route 10 in Greenfield; US 202 / Route 2 in Phillipston; I-495 in Littleton; I-95 / Route 128 in Lexington; US 3 in Arlington; US 3 / Route 16 in Cambridge; US 3 / Route 3 in Cambridge
East end	Route 2 in Boston
Location
Country	United States
State	Massachusetts
Counties	Franklin, Worcester, Middlesex, Suffolk
Highway system
	Massachusetts State Highway System; Interstate; US; State;

Route 2A exists in several sections of Massachusetts, mainly as parts of former Route 2 that have been moved or upgraded. Route 2A runs from Greenfield in the west to Boston in the east. It formerly extended to Shelburne Falls in Buckland in the west, but as of 2007, the route terminates at Interstate 91 in Greenfield.

Route description

Route 2A begins at the rotary intersection of Route 2 at Interstate 91 in Greenfield. It passes through downtown Greenfield before reconnecting to its parent route just west of the Greenfield-Gill town line. After a 12.6-mile silent concurrency, Route 2A leaves Route 2 once more, passing through Orange and Athol. In Athol it passes the former northern terminus of Route 21, which was truncated to Belchertown after the creation of the Quabbin Reservoir. From Phillipston through Westminster, Route 2A weaves around its parent route, crossing it a total of six times with five exits of access off of Route 2. In Fitchburg the road is shared with several other routes as it passes through the northern half of town. Once in Lunenburg it has another short concurrency with Route 13 just north of the former Whalom Park before crossing into Middlesex County at Shirley.

In Shirley, Route 2A passes north of Fort Devens into Ayer, heading into Littleton and crossing Interstate 495 at Exit 30. It then turns south through Acton and into Concord before rejoining its parent route once more. As a silent concurrency, it passes south of the historic center of town and north of Walden Pond before splitting again. Route 2A then passes through the Minuteman National Historical Park along the Great Road, the route taken by British troops between the Battles of Lexington and Concord. It then leaves the park, intersecting with I-95/Route 128 at Exits 30 A-B. The road passes south of Lexington's town center before winding into Arlington. In Arlington, the road begins a concurrency with U.S. Route 3 which eventually joins the route to Massachusetts Avenue (Mass Ave). After US 3 leaves Mass Ave at Alewife Brook Parkway, Route 2A continues through the city of Cambridge, passing by Harvard Yard and through Harvard Square. Due to the one-way circulation patterns of the Square, Route 2A follows Mass Ave in the westbound direction and a combination of Mass Ave, Brattle St, and Mt Auburn St in the eastbound direction before rejoining Mass Ave east of Putnam Ave. It then passes by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It intersects the junction of US 3 and Massachusetts Route 3 at Memorial Drive before crossing the Harvard Bridge (also known as the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge) and crossing into Boston, ending at Route 2 and Commonwealth Avenue.

Signage mistakes

In 2013, Route 2A signs were extended 2.2 miles further into Boston through the Back Bay and South End neighborhoods along Massachusetts Avenue. This extension connected it with several additional numbered routes including the Massachusetts Turnpike/Interstate 90 by its junction with Boylston Street, Huntington Avenue (MA Route 9), Tremont St (MA Route 28), and Melnea Cass Boulevard (which connects with Interstate 93 / US 1 / MA Route 3) in Roxbury. Not only did neither MassDOT, nor the Boston Transportation Department, acknowledge that Route 2A had been extended, they denied knowing who put up the signs, indicating it was the action of an unknown organization. The Route 2A signs themselves had either wrong directional banners (signed as a north-south highway at least once north of Melnea Cass Boulevard) or are signed backwards (east going west and vice versa), as it heads in a northwesterly direction towards Commonwealth Avenue beyond Tremont Street. On February 26, Boston television station, Fox 25 aired an investigative reporting segment showing the incorrect signs and their attempt to track down the source. In the report, Boston transportation officials admitted they had paid a private firm, Jacobs Engineering, to manufacture and put up the signs through a wayfinding improvement grant. The signage errors were caused by problems with the plans developed by Jacobs that apparently were not checked for accuracy before they were approved for installation by the city. The city said they were going to take action against the firm to recoup moneys from Jacobs, and would work to fix the signs as soon as possible.^[3] Meanwhile, a MassDOT official reiterated that the eastern terminus of Route 2A is at the intersection of Massachusetts and Commonwealth Avenue and that crews would be removing the MA 2A signs further east. In the city's defense, they stated that they do not typically manufacture, install, or maintain signage pertaining to state entities, similar to an arrangement with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority relating to bus stop signage within the city.

Major intersections

County	Location	mi^[2]	km	Destinations	Notes
Franklin	Greenfield	0.0	0.0	I-91 / Route 2 – North Adams, Boston, Springfield, Brattleboro, VT	Western terminus at a traffic circle; Exit 26 on I-91
		1.1	1.8	US 5 / Route 10 – Deerfield, Bernardston	Court Square
		4.1	6.6	Route 2 west – North Adams, Williamstown	Western terminus of silent concurrency with Route 2
	Gill	8.0	12.9	French King Bridge over the Connecticut River
	Erving	9.1	14.6	Route 63 – Northfield, Amherst	Interchange; connection via local roads
	Erving	16.7	26.9	Route 2 east – Athol, Boston	Eastern terminus of silent concurrency with Route 2
	Orange	18.9	30.4	Route 78 north – Warwick, Winchester, NH	South end of Route 78
	Orange	20.2	32.5	Route 122 south to US 202 – New Salem, Worcester	North end of Route 122
Worcester	Athol	25.2	40.6	Route 32 north – West Royalston, Keene, NH	Western terminus of concurrency with Route 32
		26.6	42.8	Route 32 south – Petersham, Barre	Eastern terminus of concurrency with Route 32
		27.7	44.6	Route 2 west / US 202 south – Greenfield, Belchertown	Exit 18 on Route 2 / US 202
	Phillipston	28.4	45.7	Route 2 east / US 202 north – Boston, Winchendon	Exit 18 on Route 2 / US 202
	Phillipston	30.7	49.4	Route 2 / US 202 south – Fitchburg, Greenfield, Belchertown	Exit 19 on Route 2, western terminus of concurrency with US 202
	Templeton	31.5	50.7	US 202 north – Baldwinville, Winchendon	Eastern terminus of concurrency with US 202
		34.5	55.5	Route 101 south – Queen Lake, Petersham	Western terminus of concurrency with Route 101
		35.5	57.1	Route 2 – Fitchburg, Boston, Greenfield, North Adams	Exit 21 on Route 2
		36.2	58.3	Route 101 north – Gardner, Ashburnham	Eastern terminus of concurrency with Route 101
	Gardner	38.6	62.1	Route 68 – Hubbardston, Gardner
	Westminster	43.8	70.5	Route 2 east / Route 140 south – Boston, Shrewsbury	Western terminus of concurrency with Route 140 Exit 25 on Route 2
	Westminster	44.0	70.8	Route 2 west / Route 140 north – Gardner, Winchendon	Eastern terminus of concurrency with Route 140 Exit 25 on Route 2
	Fitchburg	47.7	76.8	Route 31 south – Princeton	Western terminus of concurrency with Route 31
		48.8	78.5	Route 12 north – Ashburnham, Winchendon	Western terminus of concurrency with Route 12
		49.6	79.8	Route 12 south – Leominster, Worcester	Eastern terminus of concurrency with Route 12
		50.6	81.4	Route 31 north – Ashby	Eastern terminus of concurrency with Route 31
	Lunenburg	53.4	85.9	Route 13 south – Leominster	Western terminus of concurrency with Route 13
		53.7	86.4	Route 13 north – Townsend, Milford, NH	Eastern terminus of concurrency with Route 13
		58.0	93.3	Route 225 east – Groton, Westford	West end of Route 225
Middlesex	Ayer	63.0	101.4	Route 111 north – Nashua, NH	Western terminus of concurrency with Route 111
	Ayer	64.7	104.1	Route 111 south / Route 110 west to Route 2 – Harvard, Worcester	Eastern terminus of concurrency with Route 111 Western terminus of concurrency with Route 110
	Littleton	69.2	111.4	I-495 – Marlboro, Lowell	Exit 30 on I-495
	Littleton	69.8	112.3	Route 110 east / Route 119 west – Chelmsford, Groton	Eastern terminus of concurrency with Route 110 Western terminus of concurrency with Route 119
	Acton	74.8	120.4	Route 27 – Chelmsford, Lowell, Acton, Maynard
	Concord	77.6	124.9	Route 119 east / Route 2 west / Route 111 north – Fitchburg, West Acton	Eastern terminus of Route 119, south end of Route 111 Western terminus of silent concurrency with Route 2
		78.9	127.0	Route 62 – Maynard, Bedford
		81.1	130.5	Route 126 south – Walden Pond, Framingham	North end of Route 126
		82.2	132.3	Route 2 east – Boston	Eastern terminus of silent concurrency with Route 2
	Lexington	85.3	137.3	Marrett Road – Minuteman Park
		85.6	137.8	I-95 / Route 128 – Dedham, Providence, RI, Peabody, Portsmouth, NH	Exit 30 on I-95 / Route 128
		88.3	142.1	Route 4 north / Route 225 west – Bedford, Carlisle	Western terminus of concurrency with Routes 4 and 225
		88.4	142.3	Route 4 south / Route 225 east – Belmont, Cambridge	Eastern terminus of concurrency with Routes 4 and 225
	Arlington	92.0	148.1	US 3 north – Arlington, Winchester	Western terminus of concurrency with US 3
		92.2	148.4	Route 60 east – Medford, Malden	Western terminus of concurrency with Route 60
		92.3	148.5	Route 60 west (Mystic Street) – Belmont, Waltham, Weston, Lexington	Eastern terminus of concurrency with Route 60, Route 2A / US 3 join Mass. Ave
	Cambridge	93.7	150.8	US 3 south / Route 16 (Alewife Brook Parkway) – Watertown, Boston, Revere, Portsmouth, NH	Eastern terminus of concurrency with US 3
		95.9	154.3	Harvard Square	Route 2A passes by Harvard University
		97.8	157.4	US 3 north / Route 3 south (Memorial Drive) to Route 2	Interchange, north end of Route 3, south end of US 3
Charles River				Harvard Bridge
Suffolk	Boston	98.5	158.5	Route 2 (Commonwealth Avenue) – Kenmore Square, Downtown Boston	Eastern terminus according to MassDOT Massachusetts Avenue continues east to I-90 / Mass Pike
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Concurrency terminus Incomplete access