Background and construction In the period following
World War II, Boston had fallen into a deep period of stagnant growth. Its former maritime industries had closed as traffic in the harbor declined, the textile mills that had provided a large portion of the city's wealth had migrated out of the region seeking new locations that would allow them to maximize revenues, and property development had ground to a halt with virtually no new construction of any impact occurring since the beginning of the
Great Depression. Boston retail stalwarts such as
Filene's and
Jordan Marsh had decided to focus their energies and growth into the suburbs; Boston's citizens had begun to flee to the same suburban pastures as property taxes in the city skyrocketed. As
U.S. News & World Report stated, Boston was "dying on the vine". After the end of the war, Massachusetts entered into a period of new highway projects planning that sought to help end the economic malaise the state was suffering from. It was in 1947 that Republican Governor
Robert F. Bradford realized that the commonwealth needed to implement a standard framework to properly guide the planning and construction of these new roadways. He commissioned a study to produce a new Highway Master Plan for the eastern region, and, by 1948, it had been completed. Seeking the political benefits that a major public works project would bring, Bradford sent his plan to the
Democratic-controlled
Massachusetts General Court for approval; however, the Democrats sat on the project until their candidate, newly elected Democratic Governor
Paul A. Dever, took office in January 1949. It was instead Dever who initiated the program to implement the Highway Master Plan for the city shortly after taking office in 1949. Enjoying a Democratic majority within the
State House coupled with a Democratic governor for the first time in the commonwealth's history, he pushed through a series of highway bills with associated gas tax increases totaling over $400 million (equivalent to $ in ) between 1949 and 1952. To oversee this undertaking, Dever brought in the former commissioner of the
Massachusetts Department of Public Works,
William F. Callahan, to once again head the agency he had helmed from 1934 to 1939. Known for his strong personality and drive to get projects completed, Because of the financial strain created by the bond issues used to construct these other highways, the commonwealth was unable to afford the costs of floating more bonds to fund the expenditures required to construct the Western Expressway along the Western Approach corridor of Boston. Callahan suggested creating a strong, independent, and semipublic transportation authority that could fund the new expressway by floating its own bond issues and financing them through tolls along the highway while having its own powers of
eminent domain to secure the land needed to build it. Utilizing the political goodwill he accrued during his tenure as public works commissioner, primarily through extensive patronage hires, The authority was formed in early 1952, and, by 1955, it had issued the required bonds needed to construct a highway from the New York–Massachusetts border to the recently completed Route 128 in
Weston. Despite being completed in 1957, many within the commonwealth quickly realized that the local routes used to get into Boston were still insufficient for the automotive traffic burdens placed upon them.
Extensions and improvements The road was designated as part of the
Interstate Highway System as I-90 in 1959. In 1964, exit numbers were introduced. In 1965, exit 10 (now exit 90) was rebuilt to connect to I-290 and I-395 (then Route 52). (
Boston and Albany parent company) employee magazine Headlights from February 1965 showing an aerial photograph of the completed Boston Extension of the Massachusetts Turnpike While the highway construction boom proved to be fortunate for the suburban communities these new roadways passed through, the economy of Boston was still in a fragile state. Realizing that Boston still needed to be connected to the turnpike to help reverse its flagging economy and reputation as a municipal has-been, Callahan was tasked in 1955 by the legislature to create an extension into the city designed to facilitate a turnaround of the city's fortunes. This new highway would connect the Massachusetts Turnpike to the heart of the city with a extension of the Interstate. It was his plan to bring the tolled turnpike from its terminus at Route 128 in West Newton into the city along the path of the
Boston and Albany Railroad and connect it to the Southeast Expressway. This plan was in line with the 1948 Master Highway Plan for the city, which had always called for a Western Expressway to be built into the city. However, with the passage of the
Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, the federal government provided sufficient funds to the states to construct new highways with a 90-percent subsidy, rendering the need for a toll road into the city obsolete. Complicating the matter, Callahan's planned extension route was not universally accepted by others within the state, such as newly elected Governor
John A. Volpe and Newton Mayor Donald Gibbs, who sought to construct a freeway that would follow a different route between the Borders of
Newton,
Waltham, and
Watertown along the
Charles River and
US 20 and be constructed using the funds now being provided by the
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Additionally, residents of the city of Newton, who would see significant demolition of neighborhoods within the city along with large portions of its central business district to make way for the turnpike extension, were adamantly against the proposed Boston and Albany routing of the road. Newton, through the terms of two mayors, set about fighting the turnpike proposal through a series of increasingly futile legislative maneuvers in the General Court. Realizing that the needs and wants of the smaller city could not overcome the influence of Callahan within the state capitol, the smaller city would instead redirect its efforts to blocking the highway at the federal level through the
Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) and federal courts. Affected property owners within Boston who were also looking at the possibility of losing their homes and business followed Newton's lead by filing a series of state and federal lawsuits that they hoped would derail the proposed extension. In the late 1950s, eminent domain takings for the Massachusetts Turnpike Extension into Boston devastated the historic
Black-American community named "The Village". Compensation was offered for the homes below market value. Homeowners and renters confronted racial discrimination when trying to purchase or rent homes in Newton. Real estate agents would not work with them. They had to rely on word of mouth to find a new home. It is estimated that 50 percent left Newton as a result of the construction of the turnpike. Exit 11A (now exit 106) in Hopkinton opened in 1969. It was built to connect the turnpike with
I-495 and enables transit between northern New England and
Cape Cod. The year 1968 saw the beginning of the first major improvement of the turnpike after the completion of the Boston extension in 1965. While the original design of the roadway called for an eight-lane expressway along the majority of the route, it was only constructed as a four-lane roadway along most of its length until it reached the junction of
Route 9 in Framingham, where the roadway expanded to six lanes. Starting in 1968, the highway from the I-84 interchange in Sturbridge to Route 9 was widened from its original four lanes to six; that widening project was completed around 1971. However, the mainline right-of-way was constructed to allow future expansion of the roadway, with most bridges over the highway built with the eight-lane roadway in mind, so few bridges had to be rebuilt when it was widened in the late 1960s. The original logo depicted
Paul Revere on horseback with the words "Massachusetts Turnpike Authority" in a circle around him. One incarnation of the pilgrim hat shield had a
Native-American arrow sticking through the pilgrim hat. It was replaced with a plain pilgrim hat and the words "Mass Pike" in 1989. It has been reported variously that the sign was changed due to confusion among motorists who sometimes mistakenly turned in the direction the arrow pointed (right) when attempting to enter the turnpike or that it was the result of a letter campaign describing the signs as offensive to Native Americans.
Electronic toll collection was introduced as an alternative to cash payment with
Fast Lane transponders in 1998; when installed in the inner windshield of a vehicle, the equipment would be recognized automatically in special lanes at toll plazas and would withdraw the toll amount from the motorist's account. Exit 94 (former exit 10A) in
Millbury connects the turnpike to
Route 146 and
US 20 via the Route 20 Connector, which, in turn, facilitates movement between
Worcester and
Providence, Rhode Island; construction began in 1996 and was opened in 1998 before being completed in 1999. When designing the
Central Artery/Tunnel Project (CA/T Project;
Big Dig) in the 1970s and 1980s, the horror stories regarding urban renewal projects such as the construction of the old viaduct in the 1950s weighed heavy on the minds of
Frederick P. Salvucci and his team. It was realized early on that the commonwealth could not just lay waste to parts of the city and pave them over; the state would have to ensure that construction would balance the needs of the highways against the livability of the city and neighborhoods the project would pass through. Mitigation efforts would be of utmost importance in moving ahead with the project. Governor
Francis Sargent had shut down any ideas of further freeway construction within the Route 128 beltway in 1970, thereby canceling both the
I-695 "inner belt" and the
Southwest Corridor freeway projects, placing more emphasis on the already-completed Boston extension of I-90, the extension of I-93 into Boston, and the work to eventually
depress Boston's Central Artery below ground level as the only unbuilt freeway-related construction projects "inside" of Route 128 that would be allowed to go forward. The notions of using existing rights of way or areas where neighborhood displacement would be minimized were applied to the second extension of the turnpike as part of the Big Dig. Salvucci deliberately planned to bring the East Boston Extension through areas with little or no occupancy or those properties already owned by the commonwealth. As a result, East Boston saw almost no takings of buildings or homes through eminent domain or the destruction of neighborhoods because construction was relegated to the then-unoccupied areas of the
Seaport District and
Logan International Airport. Like the first turnpike extension, the connection of the turnpike to East Boston was also designed to provide an economic stimulus to the city, this one to revitalize the desolate Seaport District. Finances for the Western Turnpike and the Boston Extension continue to be handled separately with this reorganization. Fast Lane was first sponsored by
BankBoston, and later
FleetBoston Financial, before sponsorship was assumed by
Citizens Bank in October 2003. By 2004, much of the road had been improved with renovated pavement, renovated bridges, and a jersey barrier in the median. This effort culminated in Amorello's resignation on August 15, 2006. The next day,
John Cogliano was sworn in as the new chair of the MTA by Romney. On November 27, 2006, departing Attorney-General
Thomas Reilly (
Democrat) announced the state would launch a civil suit over the collapse of the ceiling in the Ted Williams Tunnel. The commonwealth sought to recover over $150 million (equivalent to $ in ) from project manager
Bechtel/
Parsons Brinckerhoff, builder
Modern Continental, and the manufacturer of the
epoxy used to hold the ceiling bolts. Compensating for the sparsity of eastbound entrances and westbound exits in
Back Bay and
Downtown Boston, a westbound U-turn ramp heading eastbound was opened in Allston in 2007; while unsigned with an exit number, it was recognized as exit 20A for administrative purposes. In addition, MassDOT oversees the RMV, the
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), regional transit authorities, and the state aeronautics commission. The new transportation department began operations on November 1, 2009. Citing federal highway regulations that prohibit sponsorship of toll plaza signage, the contract with Citizens Bank was not renewed upon expiration; the Fast Lane name was replaced with the
E-ZPass branding, with which Fast Lane was interoperable, in 2012. Tolls from exit 1 in West Stockbridge to exit 6 in Chicopee were removed by then-Governor
Bill Weld in 1996, following complaints that the tolls collected in
Western Massachusetts were financing the Big Dig in Boston; they were ultimately reinstated in October 2013. In 2014,
Raytheon won a $130 million (equivalent to $ in ) contract to convert the Massachusetts Turnpike to all-electronic
open road tolling. The stated goal of the change was to "make vehicle travel safer and more efficient". Additional changes included the elimination of toll booth operators, as well as the demolition of existing toll plazas and reconfiguration of surrounding roadways. Overhead gantries between most exits read E-ZPass transponders. Drivers without a transponder use
pay-by-plate, having their license plate photographed and an invoice sent to the registered owner. This method of payment adds a $0.60 surcharge per invoice, with payment made online, or in cash at a local retail location. Installation of gantries began in January 2016, and open road tolling began on October 28, 2016. The inner segments of the toll booths were demolished 30 days after this date, which allowed traffic speeds to be raised. Complete demolition of toll booths and reconstruction was completed by the end of 2017. As there are no gantries between exits 45 and 54 (former exits 4 and 7) or between exits 90 and 96 (former exits 10 and 11), the Massachusetts Turnpike is essentially free between those pairs of exits. Otherwise, the transition to open road tolling is revenue neutral, meaning the tolls between any other pair of exits only saw small adjustments. Tolls are slightly higher for out-of-state residents without an E-ZPassMA transponder, and no-transponder tolls are higher. Exit 22A was permanently closed in 2019 in an effort to improve safety, as its narrow deceleration lanes frequently caused accidents and congestion. The 2009 edition of the
Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices required that all US states submit plans to transition to
milepost-based exit numbering by 2012. All exits on the turnpike were expected to be renumbered following this convention with two sign replacement projects scheduled for completion by 2018; the contractors were ultimately instructed to install the new signs with the existing numbers, albeit with wider exit tabs that would accommodate larger two- and three-digit exit numbers should the conversion take place in the future. In November 2019, MassDOT announced that statewide milepost-based exit renumbering would begin in Western Massachusetts in summer 2020. The work began along I-90 during the week of December 13, 2020, starting from Weston (I-95) and working westward before renumbering the exits inside I-95 and toward the airport. The work was completed in one month. Much of the air space ("
air rights") over the Boston Extension has been leased to third parties for commercial development. This concept was originally designed to "knit together communities" that were divided by the new highway, since the turnpike had been described as "wider and more divisive to the city" than the original
Central Artery. More recently, the income received from the leased air rights have been used for paying off the
Big Dig. Among other objectives, guidelines established by the "Civic Vision for Turnpike Air Rights in Boston" in 2000 recommend that the proposed use of the parcels "[foster] increased use and capacity of public transportation" and "[reinforce] the vitality and quality of life in adjacent neighborhoods". The
Star Market (briefly renamed Shaw's Supermarket) in
Newtonville is the earliest example of commercial construction over the turnpike. In the 1960s, the MTA intended to route the highway through the parking lot of the supermarket's previous location in the city; this alignment was ultimately approved by the
SJC, under the condition that a replacement Star Market was allowed to be built above the turnpike. Other projects developed through air rights include the Four Points by Sheraton in Newton, the
Copley Place shopping mall in Boston, and the
Prudential Center in Boston. Proposals for future air rights projects include the mixed-use
Fenway Center, and an extension of the
Boston University campus near
Boston University Bridge. After four decades of no new developments, in August 2020, construction began on Parcel 12, and construction was expected to begin within the month at Fenway Center pending a final agreement with MassDOT, leading to planned closure of one lane in each direction until August 2021. Parcel 12 is between Newbury Street, Boylston Street, and the west side of Massachusetts Avenue and is expected to feature a 13-story citizenM hotel, a 20-story office tower (including the headquarters of
CarGurus), a reconstructed bus shelter, a public park, street-level retail, and a new entrance to the
Hynes Convention Center station of the
Green Line subway. An approved plan for Parcel 15 (known as 1000 Boylston Street) was canceled by the developer in August, 2019, with the dissolution resulting in a lawsuit. ==Future==