Massachusetts Route 18 is a 41.561-mile-long (66.886 km) north–south state highway in Southeastern Massachusetts. Beginning in the city of New Bedford, it runs as a freeway for approximately 2 miles (3.2 km), continuing as a surface street until it reaches Weymouth.

Route 18 marker
Route 18
Map
Route 18 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by MassDOT
Length41.561 mi[1] (66.886 km)
Major junctions
South end US 6 in New Bedford
Major intersections I-195 in New Bedford
I-495 in Middleborough
US 44 / Route 28 in Middleborough
Route 28 / Route 104 in Bridgewater
Route 3 in Weymouth
North end Route 53 in Weymouth
Location
CountryUnited States
StateMassachusetts
CountiesBristol, Plymouth, Norfolk
Highway system
Route 17 Route 19

The segment of Route 18 from its southern terminus to I-195 is part of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway, a state-maintained road that extends an additional 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south without the Route 18 designation.[2]

Route description

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Southbound entering Bridgewater

Route 18 starts as a four-lane freeway, a continuation of John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway in downtown New Bedford, at U.S. Route 6. After the interchange with I-195, Route 18 runs via surface streets parallel to Route 140 for a while, up to a connector road with Route 140 northbound. (Before its highway route was constructed, Route 140 followed County Road from Taunton until terminating at Route 18 in Freetown near the New Bedford line.) Route 18 then continues on a generally northerly direction. The highway goes through the East Freetown section of Freetown, Lakeville (with a three-mile (5 km) concurrency with Route 105 along Assawompset Pond), Middleborough, where the highway meets U.S. Route 44 and Route 28 at the Middleboro rotary just north of Interstate 495, beginning a six-mile (10 km) concurrency with Route 28 until the center of Bridgewater, then continuing onwards through East Bridgewater, Whitman, Abington, and Weymouth, ending at Route 53.

History

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The current routing of Route 18 was established in 1933 taking over what was the routing of Route 102 from Weymouth to Route 28 in Bridgewater (the remainder to Route 140 in Taunton became part of Route 104) running concurrently with Route 28 from Bridgewater to Middleboro, taking a new highway constructed in 1932 from Middleboro to Lakeville, running concurrently with Route 105 for a short distance before turning southwest and taking a route to end at Route 140 in Freetown. Around 1968, Route 18 arrived at its current terminus when extended further south along a highway parallel to Route 140 to end at U.S. 6.

When first established in 1927, Route 18 ran on a different alignment from Route 123 in Rockland north to Route 3A in Hingham using Hingham Street in Rockland; Pond Street in Norwell; and Main, Short, Leavitt and East Streets in Hingham. In 1931 the Hingham portion became part of the circumferential Route 128 and the remaining parts in Norwell and Rockland had the Route 18 designation removed in 1932.[3]

Highway improvements

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A major fault of Route 18 north of Bridgewater is its intersection patterns. At all lights north of Bridgewater center, the road widens to four lanes temporarily, before and after the intersection. While this helps alleviate backups at the lights and assists vehicles turning left off of the route, it creates bottlenecks after the intersection, where the two lanes re-merge into one.[4] To improve this, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation's Highway Division will be widening the section of Route 18 from Highland Place in Weymouth to Route 139 in Abington from two to four lanes. The $26 million project was originally planned to begin in 2013 but had yet to break ground as of July 2014. The project was substantially completed in late 2022 with the dedication of the rebuilt bridge over the MBTA Commuter Rail honoring fallen Weymouth Police officer, Michael C. Chesna.

Major intersections

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CountyLocationmi[1][2]kmDestinationsNotes
BristolNew Bedford0.00.0Cove Street / Rodney French Boulevard southContinuation south
0.40.64River StreetSouthbound exit only
1.42.3 
 
US 6 east
Northbound exit only
1.5
0.000
2.4
0.000
Elm Street – DowntownSouthern terminus of Route 18
0.0000.000Southern terminus of freeway section; northern terminus of JFK Boulevard
0.0310.050  US 6 – Dartmouth, FairhavenSouthbound exit and northbound entrance
0.4180.673Purchase StreetSouthbound exit and northbound entrance (via Hillman Street)
0.8811.418Weld StreetSouthbound exit only
1.2411.997  I-195 – Fall River, Cape CodNorthbound exits and southbound entrances; exit 26 (former exit 15) on I-195; no access between Route 18 south and I-195 or between I-195 and Route 18 north without using local roads Coggeshall Street and Washburn Drive
1.3752.213Northern terminus of freeway section; at-grade intersection with Coggeshall Street
4.8117.743 
 
Route 140 north – Taunton, Boston
Exit 6 on Route 140; access via Ashley Boulevard; no access to Route 140 southbound
PlymouthLakeville13.50821.739 
 
Route 105 south – Rochester
Southern terminus of concurrency with Route 105
16.19326.060 
 
Route 105 north – Middleboro, Plymouth
Northern terminus of concurrency with Route 105
18.09729.124  Route 79 – Middleboro, Assonet, Fall River
Middleborough19.715–
19.944
31.728–
32.097
  
 
I-495 to Route 24 – Wareham, Cape Cod, Marlboro, Boston
Exit 14 on I-495
20.062–
20.255
32.287–
32.597
  
 
 
 
US 44 / Route 28 south to I-495 – Middleboro, Plymouth, Taunton, Marlboro
Rotary; southern terminus of concurrency with Route 28
Bridgewater26.172–
26.308
42.120–
42.339
 
 
  Route 28 north / Route 104 – Taunton, Kingston, West Bridgewater, Brockton
Rotary; northern terminus of concurrency with Route 28
East Bridgewater28.09445.213 
 
Route 106 west – West Bridgewater, Plainville
Southern terminus of concurrency with Route 106
28.19745.379 
 
Route 106 east – Halifax, Kingston
Northern terminus of concurrency with Route 106
Whitman32.06651.605  Route 14 – Brockton, HansonSite of the Toll House Inn (birthplace of the chocolate chip cookie) northwest of here
32.79852.783  Route 27 – Brockton, Kingston
Abington34.54455.593  Route 123 – Brockton, Hanover
36.16858.207  Route 139 – Holbrook, Rockland
NorfolkWeymouth37.08559.683 
 
Route 58 south – Rockland
Northern terminus of Route 58
40.684–
40.940
65.475–
65.887
  Route 3 – Boston, Cape CodExit 38 on Route 3
41.56166.886  Route 53 – Braintree, Quincy, HanoverNorthern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

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KML is from Wikidata
  1. ^ a b MassDOT Planning Division. "Massachusetts Route Log Application". Massachusetts Department of Transportation. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  2. ^ a b "John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  3. ^ Information from Massachusetts Road Maps of 1930, 1932, 1933 and 1968 downloaded from MassDOT's Historic Maps Gallery at http://massdot.maps.arcgis.com/apps/PublicGallery/index.html?appid=29085e10d60743cf9a37d62b5fe8b83d, downloaded 4/29/2016.
  4. ^ Christian Schiavone (25 April 2013). "Weymouth residents object to Route 18 widening plan". Gatehouse Media, Inc. Retrieved 21 March 2015.