From 9PM Friday, June 20 to 5AM Monday, June 23, the Mass Pike (I-90) will be reduced to one lane in each direction between Exit 123 (I-95 / Rte 128) and Exit 125 (Newton Corner) to facilitate a key part of MassDOT’s major construction project to replace eight Mass Pike bridges near the I-90 / I-95 interchange. During this time, a new bridge (for one direction of the Mass Pike) will be installed over the Commuter Rail/Amtrak lines.
This is a repeat of the weekend of May 30 – June 2, when a bridge for the Mass Pike in the other direction was installed. Before that weekend, Mayor Fuller had warned: “Newton is the ‘gridlock’ epicenter. Backups on the Mass Pike are expected to be 2-3 hours with drivers using a lot of other roads to attempt to avoid the backups.” And MassDOT had said: “Significant traffic impacts will be felt between Boston and Framingham.”
For that weekend, traffic and backups did not seem as bad as forecast.
Nevertheless, for this weekend, Mass Pike traffic will likely spill over into Newton to the east-west routes of Commonwealth Avenue, Watertown Street, Washington Street, Beacon Street, and Route 9 — and to north-south routes of Chestnut, Walnut, and Centre Streets as well as Waverly and Glen Avenues, and perhaps side roads.
As with the earlier construction, Commuter Rail trains will be replaced by bus service during this same time.
