Best route to Mass Pike at rush hour?
May. 26th, 2010 11:55 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
fenicedautun.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
davis_squareSo I just got a job offer for a job that would require me to take the pike out to Framingham area every morning. I've never actually tried to get to the pike (I'm in Ball Square area) in the morning, and wondered if anybody had favored routes?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-05-26 03:59 pm (UTC)Oh, get a fast pass too.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-26 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-26 04:23 pm (UTC)Also, FYI, you can deduct daily toll payments as an employment expense ONLY if you have a FastLane pass and the ensuing paperwork statement to document them. Sucky, but true.
Also, though, maybe explore going out Rte. 30 instead of the Pike? Traffic patterns might make it worthwhile. Or will you be working *right* off the highway?
no subject
Date: 2010-05-26 04:39 pm (UTC)/rant off :)
no subject
Date: 2010-05-26 04:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-26 04:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-27 05:31 pm (UTC)While it's called the "commuter deduction", the tolls don't have to be employment-related -- any tolls paid via a FastLane are deductible.
The same applies to monthly and weekly T passes.
The bigger benefit to FastLane is the 25 cent discount at the two tolls inside 128, and the 50 cent discount at the harbour tunnels.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-26 04:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-26 04:55 pm (UTC)Follow Mass Ave up to Route 60, and get onto 2 from 60. You'll deal with Route 60 traffic, but it's not the parking lot that Route 16 is between Mass Ave and 2 in the mornings.
I used to take the 79 to work, and it would take as long to get to Alewife as taking the 77 to Porter. (I live just over the border in Arlington.)
no subject
Date: 2010-05-26 05:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-26 06:01 pm (UTC)When I lived in that area I had a 'super secret' back route to keep from sitting in Lake St. traffic for 15 minutes or more every day.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-27 05:41 pm (UTC)We thank people who take public transit by giving them a half hour traffic jam getting out of the Alewife garage onto Route 2, or a very slow, unreliable bus ride because of the traffic on 16.
If Cambridge got rid of the all-way walk phase at Mass Ave and 16, which most pedestrians don't wait for anyway, it would be a start.
Whittemore Avenue provides a very useful shortcut from 16 north to Mass Ave. Entering Whittemore used to be prohibited from 4-6 pm; a year or two ago Cambridge changed it to 3-7 pm. The cop guarding the street usually goes home around 6:30.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-28 10:27 pm (UTC)Cambridge doesn't control that intersection. Blame my favourite whipping boy, the DCR, for the horrible setup.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-13 05:34 am (UTC)There are signs on the light poles saying to call Cambridge Traffic and Parking if the light is malfunctioning. Plus the signal heads are yellow, not battleship grey.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-03 06:39 pm (UTC)I literally shifted my working hours to go in slightly later and stay later at the office so that I will arrive at Alewife at exactly 7 pm from Rt. 2 East every day when they made this change. I am always careful to drive extremely slowly and respectfully on Whittemore since it is a residential street, but waiting 15 minutes at that one Rt. 16/Mass Ave light every day was driving me crazy. I would love it if the city could do something to relieve the congestion there and make it easier to get on or off of Rt. 2.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-26 11:31 pm (UTC)I do, however, completely second that the 16 is an awful way to get to 2 at rush hour. (Great when it works, but it can also take 20 minutes to get from Broadway to 2 if the dice roll against you that morning...the variance is very high.)
no subject
Date: 2010-05-26 05:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-26 05:40 pm (UTC)From Porter Square, I usually take Beacon/Hampshire to Prospect to Western and go over the Western Ave. bridge to the Pike, but I don't use it during rush hours. Coming from Ball Square, you can easily pick up that route if you come down Cedar/Mossland and make the left on Somerville Ave.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-26 09:05 pm (UTC)It depends on where in Lexington, but I think your friend can likely find some back roads to Lexington if she got out one or two exits before the Rte 2/95 Xn.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-27 05:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-27 05:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-26 04:08 pm (UTC)if you don't want to sit in traffic for hours every week, check to see whether the framingham/worcester commuter rail out of south station goes anywhere near the office you're working in.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-26 04:12 pm (UTC)Mass ave to Walden St. Walden / Reservoir to Huron. Left on Huron, right on Appleton to Brattle. Left on Brattle then right on Hawthorn continue to Mem Drive. Left on Mem, right on Kennedy and left on Storrow to the Pike.
As I look at a map you could use Sparks from Huron to Mt. Auburn but I like having the light at Hawthorn. To reverse, I take Lowell from Mt. Auburn to Brattle as Hawthorn is a one way.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-26 04:18 pm (UTC)No seriously, there is no easy way to the pike from DS at that hour of the morning.
One more alternative, is to get to Storrow Drive from Harvard Sq, and get on the beginning of the pike at The Embassy/Guest Suites (whatever it's being called this week) hotel. At least you'll be on your road from the start.
And yes, a Fast past is a must.
Good luck.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-26 04:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-26 10:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-27 03:35 am (UTC)You'll be in traffic from the foot of the Sullivan Square on-ramp to 93, and from there until about the Prospect St off ramp in the tunnel, but other than that, the only other usual backup is that there tend to be slow patches around exit 17 in Newton, though I'm usually going through that area around 8, and it's not been too bad at that hour.
FastLane will be required though - the other place that route can have hold ups is going through the tolls.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-27 05:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-30 05:52 pm (UTC)Very do-able
Date: 2010-05-26 04:37 pm (UTC)The first trick is to get to Rte 2. From Teele, I do:: Broadway-Everett St-Mass Ave-Lake St. You'll want to get through Lake St by 7:30 to avoid the elementary school traffic.
Rte 2-95 intersection can get pretty jammed. You'll want to hit this intersection by 7:45 at the latest. A small stretch of 95 until the Waltham exits can be congested but once you're through that, it's easy.
Pike westbound is a reverse commute at that hour so you're ok.
If you can get out of the Davis area by 7:15 or so, the commute should take you 45 mins (depending on how close to the Pike in Framingham). If you leave at 8, it will take you an hour plus. I was able to leave early and never had a problem.
ezpass vs fastlane
Date: 2010-05-26 04:55 pm (UTC)EZ passes are vastly superior to fast lane passes:
* works outside of MA
* no monthly fees(!)
Basically, EZ passes are a model of how to do it right, and FastLane is a model of how to be greedy and lose.
ezpass-ny.com, I think? Google will know. :)
Re: ezpass vs fastlane
Date: 2010-05-26 05:08 pm (UTC)Re: ezpass vs fastlane
Date: 2010-05-26 05:11 pm (UTC)Re: ezpass vs fastlane
Date: 2010-05-26 05:25 pm (UTC)Some of the Mass tolls get discounted (at least they used to) if you have a Fastlane. The discounts don't apply to EZ pass holders.
Re: ezpass vs fastlane
Date: 2010-05-26 05:38 pm (UTC)Re: ezpass vs fastlane
Date: 2010-05-27 04:00 pm (UTC)Re: ezpass vs fastlane
Date: 2010-05-27 05:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-26 08:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-27 03:33 am (UTC)So, and I know this is going to sound nuts and will probably make you cross-eyed, but if you follow it on a map, it's not so bad. What I do is, I take Laurel (from Summer) down to Somerville Ave, turn left onto Somerville Ave and first right onto Dane Street, which curls around to Washington/Kirkland. I *cross* Washington onto a tiny one way called Calvin, and that road curls around to Hampshire Street. I turn left on Hampshire, and then immediately right onto a tiny little street called Cooney, then right (because you don't have choice) onto Line Street, and then immediately left onto Leonard Ave (it's like a 270 degree angle, so wicked sharp). You hit Cambridge street, but just go across it onto Ellsworth. At the bottom of Ellsworth, you turn right onto Broadway, and immediately left onto Dana. Take Dana all the way to Mass Ave. Turn left on Mass Ave, and immediately Right onto Bay Street. At the bottom, you turn right on Green St, then left onto Putnam. Putnam takes you to Western, and that takes you to the Pike.
If you don't want to do that, I totally understand, but if you have time one day, it could be worth pulling out a map of Cambridge/Somerville with the one ways on it and mapping out your own twisted route, and then seeing how it goes.
Other recommendations -- if you can leave as late as 8:45, do it. If not, just try to avoid 8 - 8:30. Because of the schoolbuses/schools and the garbage trucks.
And do not go Route 2 to 128, except as a last resort. It'll make you cry. I do that now, because I'm off 128, and I hate it with an all consuming passion. Alewife is a killer, and 128 is a life-sucker. I miss the Pike so, so much.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-27 08:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-28 01:47 am (UTC)I did it this morning, at 7:00. Took me eight minutes. But that's typical that early -- there's no traffic then.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-08 02:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 12:28 pm (UTC)I don't use the pike daily but I've heard of to many people being overcharged by the ezpass system. I don't trust it.