Interstate 95 (I-95) is a part of the Interstate Highway System that parallels the East Coast of the United States from Miami, Florida, in the south to Houlton, Maine, in the north. In the US state of Massachusetts, it spans along a north–south axis. It is the third-longest Interstate Highway in Massachusetts, behind I-90 (the Massachusetts Turnpike) and I-495, while I-95 in full is the longest north–south Interstate and sixth-longest Interstate Highway in the US.
Its southern terminus within the state is located in Attleboro, where I-95 enters from Pawtucket, Rhode Island. It intersects with US Route 1 (US 1) and the northern terminus of I-295 within Attleboro, I-495 in Mansfield, and US 1 in Sharon before arriving at an interchange with I-93, US 1, and Route 128 in Canton. At this interchange, I-95 begins running concurrently with US 1 and Route 128 along a beltway roughly outside of Boston. While earlier plans called for I-95 to run northeastward through Boston along the Southwest Corridor and a more northerly portion of Route 1 known as the Northeast Expressway, these plans were squashed due to fierce community opposition. As such, Boston is one of only two major east coast cities that I-95 bypasses (the other, Washington DC, for the same reason).
While its concurrency with US 1 ends in Dedham, its concurrency with Route 128 continues as it meets with expressways including the Massachusetts Turnpike in Weston, US 20 in Waltham, Route 2 in Lexington, US 3 in Burlington (with which it runs concurrently within the town), and I-93 and US 1 in Reading and Lynnfield, respectively. I-95 and Route 128 split in Peabody, as Route 128 travels northeast toward its northern terminus in Gloucester, I-95 continues north and crosses US 1 in Peabody and Danvers. Within Salisbury, it intersects the northern terminus of I-495 and arrives at its own northern terminus, where I-95 continues into Seabrook, New Hampshire, as the Blue Star Turnpike.
Route description
Attleboro to Canton
I-95 crosses the state border from Pawtucket, Rhode Island, into Attleboro as a six-lane highway, with the first northbound exits, 2A and 2B, providing access to Route 1A and nearby US 1 near the border. (There is an exit 1, but it is a southbound-only exit connecting to US 1 south into Rhode Island). Exits 4–7 (old exits 3–5) also serve the Attleboro area, with exit 6 (old exit 4) at the northern terminus of I-295.
Exits 12A and 12B (old exits 6A and 6B) in Mansfield provide access to I-495, the "outer circumferential" beltway around Greater Boston. I-495 provides northbound connections to Worcester, the Massachusetts Turnpike, and the western part of the state, and southbound connections to Cape Cod. Mansfield is home to the Xfinity Center, a Live Nation Entertainment-owned amphitheater that hosts numerous concert events, and TPC Boston, a PGA Tour player's club that hosted the Dell Technologies Championship yearly. The two venues are located near I-95's interchanges with Route 140.
I-95 continues northward into Foxborough, home of Gillette Stadium, located on US 1 and accessible from exit 19 (old exit 9). As the Interstate continues through Sharon, it then enters Greater Boston and the towns of Walpole, and Norwood, before entering Canton, where it meets I-93 at its southern terminus, and I-93 continues as exit 26 (old exit 12) to the right of I-95, while I-95 traffic is routed in a single lane to a sharp clockwise curve where it meets US 1 in a wrong-way concurrency.
Canton to Peabody (Route 128) Upon interchanging with I-93, I-95 loops around to the west, taking over the roadbed from I-93 (now four lanes) and joining US 1 southbound in a wrong-way concurrency. Route 128 begins here as well. The highway enters Westwood next, with US 1 leaving the freeway near the Dedham town line to parallel I-95 back to the south. I-95 and Route 128 makes its way around Greater Boston, passing through Dedham, Needham, and Wellesley, where the freeway has an interchange with Route 9, and the freeway widens to eight lanes. Then, the highway passes through Newton, then enters Weston and has a large interchange with the Massachusetts Turnpike (I-90) that provides connections to nearby Route 30. With the exception of between the I-90 on- and offramps, this portion of I-95 is four lanes in each direction.