Central Artery
| Central Artery | |
|---|---|
| John F. Fitzgerald Expressway | |
 |
|
| Route information | |
| Maintained by MassDOT | |
| Length: | 3.18 mi (5.12 km) |
| Existed: | 1959 – present |
| Component highways: |
   I‑93 / US 1 / Route 3
|
| Major junctions | |
| South end: |
I‑93 / US 1 / Route 3 in Boston
|
 I‑90 (Mass Pike) in Boston Route 3 / Route 28 in Boston |
|
| North end: |
I‑93 / US 1 at the Zakim Bridge in Charlestown
|
| Highway system | |
The Central Artery (officially the John F. Fitzgerald Expressway) is a section of freeway in downtown Boston, Massachusetts; it is designated as Interstate 93, U.S. Route 1 and Massachusetts Route 3.
The original Artery, constructed in the 1950s, was named after John F. Fitzgerald; it was partly-elevated and partly-tunneled. Its disruption of previously-uninterrupted travel within the city inspired the local nicknames "The Distressway," "the largest parking lot in the world," and "the other Green Monster" (referencing Fenway Park and the paint color of the highway girders.) The Artery was majorly rerouted during a 10-year period from the mid-1990s through the early 2000s as part of the Central Artery/Tunnel Project (the Big Dig.) The present-day Artery is almost entirely directed through the newly-constructed O'Neill Tunnel, while the original Artery was demolished and replaced with the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, named after the daughter of John F. Fitzgerald and the mother of John F. Kennedy.
According to Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation data, the Central Artery runs from the Massachusetts Avenue Connector just beyond Andrew Square in South Boston north to the split with U.S. Route 1 in Charlestown. Along with the harbor tunnels and the Turnpike from Route 128 to East Boston, it is part of the Metropolitan Highway System.
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