Worcester via I-101 and I-84 (or, is I-290 East-West or North-South?)

I did not grow up in Worcester, but I have lived here for more than five years. You would think that by now I would not still be getting I-290 and I-190 confused and I would not have to think so hard about the whole east-west or north-south question when it came to giving directions for I-290, but both issues still confuse me on a regular basis.

Interstate Highways In and Around Worcester, MA - I-90 (MA Turnpike) in Green; I-395 in Orange; I-290 in Blue; I-190 in Yellow

There are a few misconceptions I brought with me, however, that I have come to correct during this time: The MA Pike does not run through Worcester proper at any point; I-290, although signed as an east-west highway, generally follows a north-south orientation through downtown Worcester; and if traveling to Worcester from Boston, traveling the MA Pike all the way to I-290 to get to Worcester is not the fastest way to go.

I have often wondered if there was some way we could clean up the numbering of the auxiliary (i.e., 3 digit) interstates in and around Worcester to make it less confusing and help users orient themselves better when traveling through our city. As mentioned earlier, I never knew downtown Worcester was west (and not north) of I-290 until I moved here. As someone who was generally traveling northwest on an interstate signed as east-west, I always thought I was actually traveling east through Worcester and downtown was to the north. The I-395 designation makes no sense to me either. The concept that I-395 in Auburn is an auxiliary route to I-95 some 65 miles south never made any sense to me.

If we step back a little and look at the interstate system around Worcester, you can see that the combination of the current I-395, I-290 through downtown and I-190 is really just one long continuous north-south interstate. (Those interested in reading about the history around the building of these roads, check out bostonroads.com or search the road name at Wikipedia).


Wider View of Interstate Highways In and Around Worcester, MA - I-90 (MA Turnpike) in Green; I-395 in Orange; I-290 in Blue; I-190 in Yellow

Why don't we combine these three interstates and renumber them as one primary north-south highway? For the MA segment we could name it the Worcester County Expressway (the Worcester segment of I-290 is already at least informally known as the Worcester Expressway).

Proposed Renumbering of I-395, I-290 (Downtown segment) and I-190 into One Primary North-South Interstate (Red)

The question then becomes one of what number to give to this route. Interstate numbering conventions would require a number in the 90's ending in an odd number. Unfortunately, all odd numbers in the 90's are already in use. Digging a little deeper, there seems to be two options:

1. Interstate 97 (N) - There is precedence in the current numbering system for the same number to be used in different parts of the country. For example, there is the I-84 (E) that we are familiar with here in New England, but there is also an I-84 (W) running from northern Utah to Portland, OR. There are currently four even numbered interstate highways that have this dual designation and no odd numbered interstate highways with such a designation. Currently, I-97 is an 18 mile intrastate highway connecting the MD cities of Baltimore and Annapolis. This is the only odd numbered interstate in the 90's in the South - Interstates 91, 93 and 95 all presently serve portions of New England and therefore are not available, and I-99 is an existing interstate in PA.
2. Interstate 101 - This is an exciting choice as it breaks the rule that a primary highway have a two digit number. Typically, three digit numbers are reserved for auxiliary interstate highways such as I-290 today. Using this convention, Interstate 101 would be an auxiliary route of Interstate 1, which does seem to currently exist or be in the works. There is also precedence here - according to the Wikipedia page on US Route 101:

According to the AASHTO's numbering scheme for U.S. Highways, three-digit route numbers are generally subsidiaries of two-digit routes. However, the principal north–south routes were assigned numbers ending in 1. Rather than lose four available north–south numbers (93, 95, 97, and 99) or assign the primary west coast highway a "lesser" number, the AASHTO made an exception to its two-digit rule. Thus, U.S. 101 is treated as a primary, two-digit route with a "first digit" of 10, rather than a spur of U.S. 1. Thus U.S. Route 101, not U.S. 99, is the westernmost north–south route in the U.S. Highway system.


I like I-101 personally, it's got a nice ring to it.

This leaves us with what to do with the segment of the present day I-290 that really does run generally east-west between Marlborough and Worcester. The roadway functions as an auxiliary interstate, and because this segment connects two interstates, its not a spur, but functions most like a segment of a circumferential highway and therefore should have an even number prefix. We could probably technically retain the I-290 designation as there does not seem to be a requirement that it connect directly to its primary interstate (I-190 does not connect directly to I-90). This designation would be a nice link to the past, but if the goal here is to clean things up and make the signage simpler I think we need to consider other options.

Another option would be to add the 2 prefix to the renumbered primary north-south highway - I-297 works nicely, I-2101 technically works but would probably be asking too much of the sign administrators in DC. Stepping back again and taking a wider view of the interstate system around Worcester, another option comes to mind.


Wider View of Interstate Highways In and Around Worcester, MA - I-90 (MA Turnpike) in Green; I-395 in Orange; I-290 in Blue; I-190 in Yellow

Another option that I like is extending I-84 from its present eastern terminus in Sturbridge to Marlborough. I-84 would share the existing I-90 roadway between Sturbridge and Auburn, then share the renumbered I-101 through Worcester, and then split off eastward towards Marlborough by itself along the present day east-west segment of I-290. This dual numbering of one roadway appears to be a common occurrence.

Proposed Extension of I-84 (Blue) from Current Terminus at Sturbridge through Worcester and Terminating at Marlborough