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|terminus_b= in Gloucester |counties=Norfolk, Middlesex, Essex |previous_type=MA |previous_route=127A |next_type=MA |next_route=128A }} Route 128, also known as the Yankee Division Highway (for the 26th Infantry Division), and originally the Circumferential Highway, is a partial beltway around Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is also used to refer to the high-technology industry that developed from the 1960s to the 1980s in the suburban areas along the highway.〔("MassMoments: Route 128 Opens Boston's High-Tech Age." ) Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities. Accessed 05-18-2010.〕 The majority of the highway is built to freeway standards, and about 3/5 of it is part of the Interstate Highway System (that stretch has the dual designation 128/Interstate 95). In local culture, Route 128 is seen as something of a dividing line between the inner municipalities of Greater Boston and the more far-flung suburbs. The road's roughly radius, for example, also delimits most of the area accessible by the MBTA rapid transit system. Much of the area within Route 128 was developed before World War II, while the area outside it was developed more recently. Despite a majority of Route 128's length running concurrent with either I-93 or I-95, most area residents refer to the entire length of the highway as Route 128. This includes the portion of I-93 south of Canton, which is no longer 128 at all, and substantial portions of I-95 that are not noticeably signed as 128. The perception of Route 128 running the entire length of highway from Gloucester to Braintree dates back to the road's pre-Interstate era, and has become an established part of local culture. ==Route description== The Route 128 number dates from the origin of the Massachusetts highway system in the 1920s. By the 1950s, it ran from Nantasket Beach in Hull to Gloucester. The first, , section of the current limited-access highway from Braintree to Gloucester was opened in 1951. It was the first limited-access circumferential highway in the United States. Route 128 popularly runs (but is not designated) concurrently with Interstate 95 from Canton north to Peabody and, when I-95 continues north from Peabody toward New Hampshire, east from Peabody to Gloucester. Until the early 1990s, it also ran concurrently with the present Interstate 93 from Canton to Braintree. This stretch of Interstate 93, which is now also designated as part of U.S. Route 1, though no longer officially part of Route 128, is still often referred to as "Route 128" by locals. The I-95 and I-93 signage were added in the mid-1970s when plans to construct I-95 through Boston, directly connecting the two I-95/Route 128 interchanges, were cancelled leaving an unsigned gap (filled in using Route 128). An unused cloverleaf in Canton, now removed, was one of the leftover structures from this plan as well as the existing Northeast Expressway (now part of US 1) Until 1965, while and shortly after the Route 3 freeway to Cape Cod was fully finished, the section of current Route 3 between exits 15 and 20 was also designated as Route 128. The route's southern end was then truncated to its intersection with Route 3 in Braintree. The non-freeway section of Route 128 from Route 3 through Hingham to Nantasket was redesignated Route 228. The Massachusetts Highway Department has tried twice, in 1997 and 2003, to truncate 128 even further, back to its intersection with I-95 in Peabody, but local opposition has convinced them to back down. A reflection of these attempts are along every interchange, where the main signage on the intersecting route indicates the highway as I-95, while smaller signage to the sides also identifies the road as Route 128. The area along the western part of Route 128 is home to a number of high-technology firms and corporations. This part of Route 128 has been dubbed and even signed as "America's Technology Highway", and through to the end of the 1980s, was second only to Silicon Valley. Roughly 6 months later, those blue signs were later changed to "America's Technology Region" due to complaints received from MA's National Guard's Yankee Division, the Yankee Division Association, after whom the highway was officially named circa 1948. Route 128 makes more than a 180-degree arc around Boston, and clockwise is "north" even when the road heads slightly south of east when approaching the Atlantic Ocean. Hackers in the area refer to this as going "logical north" on the route. Interstate 93, going north-and-south, intersects Route 128, which nominally goes north-and-south, at a right angle, about north of Boston. A traveller going "logical south" on 128 (compass west) from the I-93 interchange will soon find himself driving due west, travelling logically south on 128 and I-95, and north on US 3 in a wrong-way concurrency. Like the I-95 signage mapping onto 128, the mapping of US 3 onto this stretch of 128 is due to US 3 as a separate limited access highway terminating in Burlington on 128 instead of further south at Route 2 in Lexington as originally envisioned. This abrupt termination requires the US 3 signage to continue along 128 for somewhat over a mile until it can interchange the old US 3 surface arterial. Moreover, when I-93 and Route 128 ran concurrently south of Boston, before the route was truncated to the I-95 interchange in Canton, they were signed in opposite directions, so it was possible to travel north on I-93 and south on Route 128 at the same time. Much of Route 128 is now part of the Interstate system, being concurrent with I-95 (and formerly I-93). However, the vast majority of locals will refer to these stretches as 128; it is uncommon for a local to use the Interstate designation(s) in ordinary conversation or while giving directions. The northernmost several exits along Route 128, past exit 12, are not grade-separated interchanges. Exit 10 is signed as the signalized intersection with Route 127, and there are two rotaries between that and exit 12 (the Crafts Road interchange). Following the completion of the Peabody I-95/Route 128 interchange (Exit 45/29) in 1988; the exit system was changed from concurrency along 128 to a system using the I-95 exits. The exits, which had gone from Gloucester to Braintree, were renumbered along I-95, from the Rhode Island state line to the border with New Hampshire. Exit 37 had been the interchange with I-93, which also had its exit numbered 37 at that interchange. Coincidentally, with the renumbering, exit 37 remained exit 37. Route 128 Station is located along the highway in Westwood, Massachusetts and is served by Amtrak's Northeast Corridor line and MBTA commuter rail. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Massachusetts Route 128」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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