Route 24 is a

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

south of

Interstate 93 Interstate 93 (I-93) is an Interstate Highway in the New England states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont in the United States. Spanning approximately along a north–south axis, it is one of three primary Interstate Highways ...

(I-93) in southeastern

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, linking

Fall River Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The City of Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States Census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state. Located along the eastern shore of Mount H ...

with the

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...

. It begins in the south in Fall River at the border with

Tiverton, Rhode Island Tiverton is a New England town, town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 16,359 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census. Geography Tiverton is located on the eastern shore of Narragansett Bay, across the Sa ...

where it connects with Rhode Island Route 24, and runs north to an interchange with

I-93 Interstate 93 (I-93) is an Interstate Highway in the New England states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont in the United States. Spanning approximately along a north–south axis, it is one of three primary Interstate Highways ...

U.S. Route 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making i ...

(US 1) in Randolph. Route 24 is also known as the Fall River Expressway, and officially as the Amvets Highway. Route 24 has a total of 21 interchanges (including the split at its northern terminus with I-93.) Route 24 connects many of the major cities of

Southeastern Massachusetts Southeastern Massachusetts consists of those portions of Massachusetts located along Buzzards Bay, including the cities of New Bedford and Fall River and their respective suburbs. Despite the location of Cape Cod and the islands to its south, ...

with Boston and Providence: Brockton,

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

, and

New Bedford New Bedford (Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Native American pe ...

(via the junction with

Route 140 Route 140 or Highway 140 may refer to: Australia * Hamilton Highway Canada * New Brunswick Route 140 * Ontario Highway 140 * Prince Edward Island Route 140 Costa Rica * National Route 140 (Costa Rica), National Route 140 Germany * Bundesautoba ...

Route description

The

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...

continues at the

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

border at Rhode Island Route 24 and meets Interstate 195 in

. It briefly runs concurrently with

I-195 Interstate 195 (I-195) is the designation for the following Interstate Highways in the United States, all of which are related to I-95: *Interstate 195 (District of Columbia), a future designation for the north–south portion of I-395 from the Sout ...

east (for less than a mile), then exits the interstate and travels north, merging with Route 79 at Exit 7 in northern

. Routes 24 and 79 run concurrently northward until Exit 9 ( Assonet). At this point, Route 79 exits the freeway and heads northeast. Route 24 continues north, intersecting the northern end of the Taunton-New Bedford Expressway (

) in Taunton, and Interstate 495 in Raynham. The highway continues north through the city of Brockton and into Randolph, where Route 24 ends at a split junction with

. This section of I-93 from Braintree to its junction with I-95 is frequently, yet erroneously, referred to by its former designation of

Route 128 The following highways are numbered 128: Canada * New Brunswick Route 128 * Ontario Highway 128 (former) * Prince Edward Island Route 128 Costa Rica * National Route 128 India * National Highway 128 (India) Japan * Japan National Route 128 ...

. This designation was removed from I-93 in 1989, when the roadway obtained the additional designation of

, although this is not shown on exit signs from Route 24. The route is officially 40.9 miles in length, however, mileposts continue up to 41.2 on the Exit 21B ramp to I-93 south. The speed limit on Route 24 is from the Rhode Island border to the exit from Interstate 195. North of I-195, the speed limit is , excluding a short drop to at the 79 merge northbound. Service plazas are located on either side of Route 24 in Bridgewater.

History

Route 24, along with Route 138, are both built parallel to an old Native American trail that went along the same north/south route from south of the Boston area into Boston. Route 124 on

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

was originally designated Route 24 before 1951, and its number was changed to 124 upon the completion of the initial stretch of the Route 24 freeway. The original portion of Route 24 opened in 1951, and brought commuters from Exit 10 in Assonet to Raynham. Route 24 is currently 40 miles (65 km) in length and has 21 interchanges from Fall River to Randolph.

Efforts to upgrade to Interstate standards

There have been calls over the years for Route 24 to be upgraded to an interstate highway. In 1997, a study was initiated by the Massachusetts Highway Department (MHD) and the SRPEDD on what improvements were necessary in order to convert the route to an Interstate highway. The project would require major upgrades to 11 interchanges and minor work on 6 others, and the plan was halted due to high costs. In April 2007 the Old Colony Regional Planning Council included this proposal in its 25-year regional transportation plan draft. The Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD) endorsed a similar proposal the month before which if built, according to a MassHighway official, would have been signed as an extension of

. The portion south of

would have remained MA-24 and then RI-24. This proposal too was eventually tabled due to high costs, especially those projected for reconstruction of part of the highway south of Interstate 495. Here were the early cost estimates for the Interstate upgrade project: Phase I: Randolph I-93 Interchange Reconstruction ($30 million), Phase II: Randolph to Stoughton ($56 million), Phase III: Canton to Bridgewater ($224 million), Phase IV: Bridgewater to I-495 ($175 million), Phase V: I-495 to US 44 ($35 million), and Phase VI: US 44 to Fall River ($357 million). The total cost was expected to be $877 million. There are currently no proposals in the MassDOT highway listings to upgrade MA 24 to an interstate. The only projects that may relate to this happening in the future are reconstruction of three bridges starting in 2015, which include the one for US 44 in Raynham.

Exit list

All interchanges were to be renumbered to mileage-based numbers under a project scheduled to start in 2016. However, this project was indefinitely postponed by MassDOT until on November 18, 2019 the MassDot confirmed that beginning in late summer 2020 the exit renumbering project will begin. Renumbering the exits along this highway started on January 6, 2021, and it was completed on January 19.

Route description

History

Efforts to upgrade to Interstate standards

Exit list

References

Further reading