Re: Traffic

["A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@world.std.com>]

On 12 Oct 99,  Garrett Wollman wrote:

> What happened was, when Sargent cancelled all of the ongoing projects
> inside 128 (NE Expressway, NW Expressway, Inner Belt, SW Expressway), some
> of the Federal funding was diverted to mass transit (Orange Line
> Haymarket-North and SW Corridor projects, Red Line to Alewife and
> Braintree) and the rest was used to widen 128 from three lanes to four
> between Needham and Woburn.

This doesn't sound right.  Route 128 was widened from two lanes to four, 
from Needham to Woburn, in the early 60s, long before Sargent was 
governor.  I know because I was learning to drive at the time, and I drove 
on 128 under construction.
 
> It was with this project, built with FAI (Federal Aid Interstate)
> money, which caused FHwA to insist that the 128 designation be
> dropped, because under the rules then in place, FAI funding could only be
> used for roads in the Interstate Highway System.  (Under today's rules,
> this would not have happened; the National Highway System includes roads
> of all designations.)

But so far, the 128 designation hasn't been dropped, just de-emphasized.  
Except for the part South of Boston which is now called I-93 in the wrong 
direction (i.e. 93 South = 128 North).


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