macrakis@harvard.ARPA (Stavros Macrakis) (06/10/85)
To bypass Boston on the way to Maine, it's best to take not I-495 (the outer circumferential highway, which makes a very wide loop around Boston) but rather Route 128 (I-95, the inner circumferential highway). There are only two problems here: 1. 128 gets slow at rush hours, including weekend departure (Fri. eve) and return (Sun. eve). Avoid these times. 2. most of 128 is also called I-95 despite being a loop road. This has to do with qualifying for federal aid after Massachusetts turned down Federal money for an `inner loop' through the middle of the city. The complete approach from, e.g., NYC is: I-84 E to I-90 E (Mass. Pike) to 128N (I-95 N) to I-95 N. So it's not that hard after all: from the Pike, take I-95 N. If you want to stop in Boston, take I-90 all the way in. (A very easy drive.) Do not use I-93 south of Boston (very slow, very bad condition, being reconstructed), but I-93 north of Boston is an excellent highway, a longer but faster route to rejoin 128 than Route 1 N, which is a bitch. Of course, it can't hurt to have a good map dated after 1980 or so.