Massachusetts
Interstate
Highway Exit Lists (plus
US Routes)*
New
and Old Numbers
The MassDOT Exit Renumbering project was
concluded on August 20, 2021. The following table has links to exit
lists that have the new milepost exit number and old sequential number
for each interstate highway and US Route, along with contract under
which the exits were renumbered, ERC=Exit Renumbering Contract
(1-Winning bidder-Liddell Bros., Work started on February 28, 2021 and
was completed on August 20, 2021), (2-Winning bidder-Roadsafe Traffic
Systems June 23, Work started Oct. 18, 2020 and was completed on May
20, 2021), (3-Winning bidder-Liddell Bros. July 21, Work started on
Dec. 13, 2020 and was completed on Jan. 15, 2021), (NA-Exits were Not
Renumbered):
Interstate 84
(ERC1-1-All
Exits Renumbered as of March 2, 2021)^
Interstate 190 (ERC1-4 All Exits Renumbered as of March 24, 2021)^
Interstate 95* (ERC2-All Exits Renumbered as of April 22, 2021,
(Updated as of 1/16/24)^
Interstate
195* (ERC2- All Exits Renumbered as of November 23, 2020)^
Interstate
295*
(ERC2-All Exits Renumbered as of January 5,
2021)^
Interstate 395
(ERC1-All Exit Renumbered as of August 20,
2021)^
US Routes
*With information
based on responses to comments sent to MassDOT, 12/4/19.
** Exits were
renumbered in 4 sections from south to north: I-195 to I-95, I-95 to
I-90/Mass Pike; I-90 to US 3, and US 3 to I-95. A MassDOT blog post on
June 12, 2021 indicated work had been completed, but many gore and
ground mounted signs still had the old numbers. An email sent out on
June 30, 2021 again indicated work had been completed, this has not been
confirmed by website contributors.
(1)To see more
original sign plans with the proposed numbers, for all exits between 1
and 20, Visit the I-90 / Mass Pike Photo
Gallery.
(2) Taken from p.
A00803-5 from Project 608024, Project Drawings and Detail Sheets, Part
1, MassDOT, Highway Division, downloaded from:
https://www.commbuys.com/bso/external/bidDetail.sdo?docId=BD-16-1030-0H100-0H002-00000005477&external=true&parentUrl=bid,
Link under 'File Attachments.'
(3) Post by
Roadman in AARoads Forum, Northeast Group, I-90 / Mass Pike Signing Work
thread, 10/4/2016, downloaded from:
http://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=16222.125
(4) Available at
http://vtrans.vermont.gov/sites/aot/files/planning/documents/planning/2018STIPFinal.pdf
Exit conversion project listed on p. 30.
History of the 2020-2021 Exit Renumbering Project
On November 18,
2019 MassDOT announced it would convert the state's limited access
highway exit numbers to the Geographic Reference or Milepost Exit
Numbering system between late summer 2020
and late spring 2021. This follows
a four year delay for the project originally announced in fall of 2015 (Project No.
608024) that would have converted the state's limited access highway's
exit numbers in 2016 and 2017.
The new project appears to be similar to the
earlier one in that it will start converting exits west to east (and
each highway north to south or east to west) over probably a 2 year
period. Differences include that it will be proceeded by a public
information campaign and the creation of a new website that will
provide information on the new exit numbers. Also, this project will
not include routes where exits are not numbered, such as US 1 and MA
28 or for I-291, I-391, MA 213 and the Lowell Connector, due to the
small number and/or close proximity of the exits. On September 10,
MassDOT announced the project would start in mid-October (originally
it was to start in late summer) and would be finished by the summer of
2021.
When the project starts in October 2020, up to 3
work crews at a time will not change exit signs, but will replace the
numbers on the exit tabs and gore signs, as shown in these diagrams
from MassDOT2:
On
November 19, 2019 MassDOT unveiled a website (newmassexits.com)
with its own logo:
which contained the future 'proposed' exit
numbers. The proposed numbers are mostly, unlike those from the
postponed 2016 project which were determined using a 'round down'
philosophy, based on simple rounding (below .5 down, for .5 and above,
up). They also eliminated the proposed use of Exit 0 which reduced the
need for many lettered exits for many routes. Each exit will also have
signs indicating what the former exit number was which will be posted
for two years, but unlike the proposed 2016 sign:
They will adopt similar signs as Rhode Island
and Connecticut (MassDOT images):
Public hearings will be held to get citizen
comments through March 2020. I attended the February 11 meeting in
Boston, with only 1 other person, who was a MassDOT sign engineer,
therefore I was the only 'general public' representative along with 6
other MassDOT employees, part of the renumbering project team. The
officials reaffirmed what was presented on the exit renumbering
project website, that the work will start in late summer, that it will
start with I-91 and end with US 6 on the Cape. That the Cape will get
US 6 mileage exits, despite their complaints, and that the project
should be completed by the spring of 2021. The sign engineer asked
about current sign replacement contracts. The answer was if the
project timetable has signs going up before the exit renumbering
project starts, they will have the current sequential numbers and the
renumbering project would change them later. At a later meeting in
Hyannis on February 25, a handful of people showed up, all but 1
opposing the exit renumbering of US 6, details in this Cape
Cod Times article. Additional public meetings were to be held in
Springfield (March 24), Leominster (April 14), and Peabody (April 28),
but these were all canceled due to the COVID-19 virus. Instead,
MassDOT invited citizens still curious about the project to take
advantage of the information of the agency's website.
On February 2020, MassDOT split the renumbering
project into 3 contracts: Divisions 1-3 (Contract 610646 covering the
western and central parts of the state), Divisions 4-6 (Contract
610799, for the northeastern and southeastern sections and Boston) and
a separate one for the Mass Pike (Contract 610800). The first contract
had its final plans sent to MassDOT management on March 19, 2020, the
second on April 4, and the third on April 6. The contracts were all
advertised in May, with winning bid announcements to take place over a
4 week period. The first contract (Districts 1-3) was advertised on
May 9 with a July 7 winning bidder announcement date. The second was
advertised on May 16 for a June 23 announcement at which RoadSafe
Traffic Systems of Avon, MA was declared the winning bidder. The third
was advertised on May 30 with a July 21 announcement date. All the
contracts should have been let by the end of July or early August. The
COMMBUYS site has a page for each advertised contract with additional
project documents that the public can access: Districts
1-3, Districts
4-6, and for the MassPike.
History of the earlier Exit Renumbering Project that was postponed in
2016
On November 17,
2015 MassDOT announced the lowest bid on a contract (Project No.
608024) that would have converted the state's interstate and US
Route freeway's exit numbers to the Geographic Reference or Milepost Exit
Numbering system. Liddell Bros., Inc. of
Halifax, MA, they were to have been award the contract by December
2015. The project was suspended indefinitely in the spring of 2016.
UPDATE
6/7/19: MassDOT
Reconsidering Milepost Based Numbers? Plans released for the recently
started I-95 Attleboro to Norwood Sign Replacement Project have the
existing sequential numbers but feature the following note:
Signs are not
probably to be manufactured until at least mid-2020. Does this mean a
possible change in policy in the next year or so? For images of the new
I-95 sign plans, visit the I-95
in MA Photo Gallery.
UPDATE
5/18/18: While Massachusetts
may not be moving forward on milepost based numbering, Rhode Island and
Vermont are. On August 25, 2017 the winning bidder for a contract that
will renumber exits on I-295 and RI Route 99 was announced. Guess who?
Liddell Bros. of Halifax MA. Unlike in Massachusetts, they did post the
new numbers in December 2017, photos are here.
In April 2017, Vermont's State Transportation Improvement Plan was
published and included moneys to start a public information campaign in
2018 to alert drivers as to a change in exit numbers. The project itself
is due to start in 2020.4 Maybe these moves will get
Massachusetts to look at starting their project again.
UPDATE
8/6/17: A Massachusetts legislator has filed a bill to
make the state adopt milepost exit numbers for its interstates and
other expressways according to this report from NPR
Radio. MassDOT still says matter is under evaluation (as they
have said since 2015). I forwarded information from this website, in
case he was unaware of MassDOT's actions over the past couple years,
he thanked me for the info.
UPDATE
10/5/16: MassDOT appears to have indefinitely postponed
the Milepost Exit Numbering project. Work was to start in January 2016
to convert highway exit numbers, first in the western part of the
state then working eastward (except for numbers on the Mass.
Turnpike/I-90 which will be changed under another contract) with a
completion date for the entire project of early 2018. However, it
appears the start of work is now on hold indefinitely, with no
specific start date announced. This appears to be the results of
feedback from politicians and the public after news of the project got
out. Officials on Cape Cod were publicly critical of MassDOT's plan
(see this article
in the Cape Cod Times) and the then State Highway Administrator,
Tom Tinlin was quoted in a Worcester
Telegram & Gazette article in February saying he had not yet
signed off on the project. On April 27, 2016 it was reported that the
numbers on US 6 would not be changed and that the rest of the project
was still being evaluated.2 In a June public meeting,
officials said the existing exit numbers would be used, but that the
new exit tabs and gore signs would be designed to be able to use
larger milepost based numbers some time in the future. Back in April
2016, MassDOT announced the winning bidder for a project to replace
exit signs on I-495. This contract was modified to include a clause
whereby the state would inform the contractor whether to use milepost
based numbers or keep the sequential numbers for the new signs.
On October 1, 2016 MassDOT re-advertised a
project first advertised in 2015 that would have replaced exit signs
in the Big Dig and Mass Pike tunnels in Boston with those with new
numbers. Based on a website forum comment from a MassDOT sign
engineer, the new contract is reduced in scope, only installing new
signs with the existing numbers, if they are damaged and need
replacing, but like with US 6, any new signs will be designed to
display milepost based numbers, if and when a switch is made. He also
indicated that for the time being, this will be standard operating
procedure for new signage replacement contracts. Signs on the Mass
Pike to be replaced in 2017-18, designed for the use of milepost
numbers, will use the current sequential numbers as well.3
Earlier, a MassDOT official quoted in this July
29 Article in the Cape Cod Times says “We continue to evaluate
what would be in the best interest of Massachusetts taxpayers and
drivers with the federal government’s milepost-based exit numbering
initiative,” “Logistically, there are many questions which still need
to be answered concerning how Massachusetts would transition to
distance-based numbering and what the potential impacts could be on
the communities we serve." For more details about the reluctance by
MassDOT to start the conversion, see This
Blog Post.
Site Created: December 10, 2013
Site Last Updated: March 30, 2024
(c) 2013-2024 Robert H. Malme
Interstate 90 (Mass Pike) (ERC3-All Exits Renumbered as of Jan. 15, 2021)^
Interstate
290* (ERC1-All Exits Renumbered as of Aug. 20,
2021)^
Interstate 91 (ERC1-2-All Exits Renumbered by March 18, 2021)^
Interstate
291 (NA) 
Interstate
391 (NA)
Interstate 93* (ERC2-All
Exits Renumbered as of May 20, 2021)^
Interstate 495 (ERC1-All
Exits Renumbered as of June 30, 2021)**^ 
US
3, Burlington to NH Border* (ERC2
- All Exits Renumbered as of February 10, 2021)^
US 6 / Mid-Cape
Highway, MA 3 to MA 28 in Orleans (ERC2-
All Exits Renumbered as of December 24, 2020)^ 
