davis_square | Best route to Mass Pike at rush hour?

I'd guess 16 to route 2 West to 128 south to Mass Pike. It'll suck, but if you try to get onto the pike at Cambridge/Boston, the news always says it stinks horribly.

Oh, get a fast pass too.

I wonder if getting on the Pike at Newton Corner (after going through Belmont and Watertown) might be better?

My guess is no. Newton Corner gets INCREDIBLY backed up as well, even if this is a reverse commute. I would second

koshmom's route. (And you save slightly on the tolls if you enter at 128 rather than Newton.)

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?

Not that sucky - Fastlane passes are 100% free. You can pull over on the Pike to pick one up. You save money at some tolls, you can get all your statements online. And worth more than that, you don't have to wait in line or keep change in your car. I only commute on the Pike twice a week, but it boggles my mind that anyone who drives more than once a year would NOT get a Fastlane.

/rant off :)

I am opposed to it on political grounds, which is a rant I do not intend to start here. >:-)

That's fine :) In these situations, my politics tend to get boiled down to "Hmmm...am I willing to wait 25 minutes in line so that nobody has a record of what tolls I used? Nope, not today!" But I can understand how that kind of thing would make someone uneasy.

"you can deduct daily toll payments as an employment expense ONLY if you have a FastLane pass" -- to clarify, it's only a deduction on *state* income taxes, so you're only saving 5.3% of the toll. And there's no deduction for the first $150.

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.

Agreed.

Actually, that's not the route you want to take; the traffic lights near Alewife at the 16/2 junction are a nightmare in the morning.

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.)

Iiiinteresting. Good to know. I occasionally take route 2 out to 128S for my morning commute, but am often frustrated at the stretch of 16 between Mass Ave and the Route 2 no-longer-a-rotary Alewife intersection.

In the mornings, Lake Street is a very viable alternative to trucking all the way into Arlington Ctr to pick up Rt. 60. Though in weekday evenings it tends to be very often a bad choice, with a ton of traffic due to a) the oodles of 'no left turn' and 'no right turn' signs that force everyone coming from Rt 2 to stay on Lake St., b) the light cycle at the school and the narrowness of the road that means that anyone turning left there automatically holds up all the traffic behind them for *at least* one light cycle, c) traffic to and from Thorndike Park, and d) traffic halting for bicyclists on the bike path. (I should note here that Rt. 60 also has many of these defects combined with it being a major route through Arlington.)

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.

The total inability of our transportation planners to reduce the huge afternoon backups in that area is one of my peeves. 2 east->16 north is bad, 16 north approaching Mass Ave is much worse. Lake Street or 60 northbound approaching Mass Ave are both disasters.

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.

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.

Cambridge doesn't control that intersection. Blame my favourite whipping boy, the DCR, for the horrible setup.

For some reason, the Mass Ave/Alewife Brook Parkway light is maintained by Cambridge, even though the parkway is a DCR road.

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.

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.
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.

I do Rindge to Rte 2 at Alewife myself -- I find that Rindge moves faster than Mass Ave, and it gets to Alewife so close to Rte 2 that you spend very minimal time in the Alewife maelstrom of suck.

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.)

My sweetie does exactly this to Framingham and it's not too bad, it IS worthwhile to try to travel to work at slightly less than regular times (8am or 10am, for example) to avoid serious rush traffic. And YES get a fast pass :)

95 South isn't a mess at that hour? My roommate commutes to Lexington and is always complaining about a) getting on Route 2 in Cambridge and b) 128. She says 128 is a total crapshoot in the mornings in both directions.

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.

Tried this but the Beacon-Hampshire-Prospect-Western is a total no-go during rush hours. Too much traffic at Inman Square and on Prospect.

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 reason to use Prospect Street at all if you do this -- instead turn right from Beacon/Hampshire onto Inman, jog across Mass. Ave. onto Pleasant Street, then bear right onto Western Ave.

Inman approaching Mass Ave is very bad in the PM rush. Is it ok in the AM?

best choice is to see whether you can time-shift your day. i commuted past the 95S ramp on Rt 2 for several years, and that segment of 95 from 2 to 90 is nearly always scrod during rush hour (S in the morning, N in the evening is worst, but don't count on the opposite direction being any better).

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.

I am sure that others more clever than I could provide a map but this is the general route that I take from Davis to the Pike.

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.

I foresee a move in your future....

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.

From Ball Square, I'd head down Broadway to McGrath, to 93 south to the Pike. I commuted to the Framingham area from East Somerville for 2 years, it's a haul but mostly you're going against traffic.

Yeah, I second this route recommendation.

Yup, this is probably what I'd recommend from Ball Sq. (It is what I do from Medford Sq, but from my house it's easy to shoot straight down Mystic Ave to this point.)

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.

I am confused -- where is the 'Prospect St off ramp in the tunnel' ?

Sorry. Purchase Street. I shouldn't LJ while half asleep.

This is a very do-able commute. I commuted from the Davis/Teele area to Natick/Framingham for 3+ years. Very do-able if you can time your commute properly.

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.

My info is years out of date, so with that caveat...

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. :)

hmm, my fastlane also works outside of MA i thought -- aren't they all on the same network now?

Your information is very out of date (10 years or so). As far as I can tell fastlane = ezpass for all intents and purposes. There may be a small difference in the initial deposit, and I can't comment on the relative customer service (although fastlane hasn't been too bad for a big bureaucracy), but there is no monthly fee and they all work anywhere you go. I can't imagine driving to/around NYC without one.

I swapped out my EZ pass for a fastlane a couple of years ago. EZ pass started charging a $1/month account maintenance fee.

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.

They used to charge a deposit for Fastlane transponders, but it was possible to order an EZ Pass through the NYS Thruway people for free, so that's what I did. I have not noticed a difference, or any problems, going through tolls in Massachusetts with mine. I use it infrequently, so the discounts aren't really an issue for me--I probably end up saving more money on the EZ Pass discounts for the New York bridges.

we did this back 10 years ago as well... ez pass had no deposit then, and fastlane did. but ez pass is charging us a $1/month account maintenance fee which is kind of annoying now that we don't own a car and only use the transponder a few times a year....

"ez pass" doesn't charge the fee. Some, but not all, of the toll authorities in the E-ZPass network charge fees. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-ZPass#Account_fees_by_agency .

I commute this way everyday from Magoun Square. I cut through Davis & from Mass Ave turn onto a little side street (no clue what the name is) to cut down to Rindge. Take Rindge right into Route 2 & avoid the craziness that is 16. Once I get past the light at Alewife it's pretty quick (usually can go 70mph). Sometimes have a back up issue at the route 2/ 95 interchange, but if it's real bad I continue down to the turn around in Concord change directions & can somehow always get right on 95 with no problems from the opposite direction. Once on 95 traffic is pretty heavy till you get past Trapelo Rd., but once you're passed there I can usually go 70-80mph.

I live on Summer (at the top of Spring Hill, near the church), and, until my work moved about six months ago, I drove to the Pike every morning for years and years to get out to Westborough (past Framingham). It would take me ten minutes, give or take, to get to the Pike in the morning from where I live. What I do is cut around Harvard, literally skirting the eastern edge of it. Sounds nuts, but the route I take is one I planned, using all back roads, where I take as many right hand turns as possible. And it works like a charm.

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.

This? (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Summer+St&daddr=Laurel+St+to:Calvin+St+to:Cooney+St+to:Ellsworth+Ave+to:Dana+St+to:42.368564,-71.110618+to:Unknown+road&hl=en&geocode=FdfAhgIdPArD-w%3BFam3hgIdHAXD-w%3BFZmjhgIdfwnD-w%3BFeaahgIdmAjD-w%3BFcSPhgIdnv3C-w%3BFUmLhgId4_bC-w%3B%3BFWNhhgId2MnC-w&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=6&sz=16&via=1,2,3,4,5,6&sll=42.369785,-71.105039&sspn=0.009036,0.022724&ie=UTF8&ll=42.367819,-71.109695&spn=0.009037,0.022724&t=h&z=16)

Yes indeed! Wow, it almost looks like a straight line when you map it out like that. Doesn't feel quite that way when you're driving it.

I did it this morning, at 7:00. Took me eight minutes. But that's typical that early -- there's no traffic then.

Thanks! I'm probably looking at 7:45, which is close to your no 8am rule, but this does look like a pretty good route (and Cedar to Summer is pretty easy no matter time of day).

This is great info....I always take soldiers field road from either harvard square or prospect street to the newton corner entrance..Saves $1.25
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.

Best route to Mass Pike at rush hour?

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Very do-able

ezpass vs fastlane

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