A smooth start
Except for a few glitches, the new I-90 extension draws glowing reviews from rush-hour drivers
By Mac Daniel, Globe Staff, 1/22/2003
Never before in the crotchety history of Boston traffic have drivers handed out such rosy praise for a road as they did after yesterday's rush-hour debut of the new Interstate 90 extension.
But as motorists and radio and television stations fawned over the new tunnel's dreamy drive-time yesterday -- one woman said the ride actually made the tolls "worth it" -- Gregg Jacobs and others found a major glitch in the road signs that forced the uninitiated back into the mess they had intended to escape.
After making it from Sudbury to Logan in 33 minutes, Jacobs said, he immediately pledged his allegiance to Logan after years of favoring flights out of Providence to avoid Boston's traffic quagmire. Upon heading for the airport exit, though, the 44-year-old medical researcher was thrown off by the signs, which are controlled by the Massachusetts Port Authority and had not been updated with the new Interstate 90 information as of yesterday morning.
One sign instructed "authorized vehicles only" to keep left for the Ted Williams Tunnel, with no mention of the Massachusetts Turnpike or the new I-90 extension. A sign next to it told drivers to stay in the right lane for I-93, I-90, and the Sumner Tunnel.
Jacobs stayed right, and was shot straight back into downtown's Big Dig void.
"Just minutes before I was telling myself I'll never have to drive the Sumner Tunnel again," he said.
Then he was transported back to the bad old days, Jacobs said.
Massport spokesman Jose Juves confirmed yesterday that new signs directing drivers to I-90 via the Williams Tunnel had not yet gone up, but were scheduled to go up at five locations last night. In the meantime, he said, variable message signs were set up to fix the glitch, though many drivers reported not seeing them.
"We kind of knew there was going to be this stutter-step," Juves said.
Other than this and a few other foibles, the first rush-hour shakedown cruise for the new road was a relatively smooth ride. Some drivers complained of dusty conditions, of the road's less-than-smooth surface, and of abrupt lane closures that had tunnel traffic crawling at 15 miles per hour. But others said the well-lit tunnels on the I-90 connector make the Prudential Tunnel's lighting seem medieval.
Big Dig officials have concluded after 10 years of making major traffic changes in the city that it takes the average Boston driver between three and five days to get used to a new road configuration.
"People are used to routes staying the same for decades of their working lives and many drivers come into town on autopilot," said Glen Berkowitz, traffic milestone manager for the project. "So if the right lane of the Mass. Pike coming into town has always taken you to South Station, there's an adjustment period for people to realize that the right lane no longer takes you to South Station."
What has really changed thus far? After three days of monitoring from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. by Big Dig traffic teams, "all reports show that the new road is operating very well and is successful in attracting motorists away from the old Central Artery," Berkowitz said.
Traffic counts from the Big Dig study show that from the Mass. Pike eastbound, for every 10 cars going to what used to be the end of the turnpike, roughly one-third are taking the new I-90 connector.
Away from this evolving change, it was more of the dreary same for other drivers yesterday morning.
The new road's impact was not felt on I-93 southbound, which was backed up to Stoneham's Spot Pond at 8:30 a.m. yesterday. Nor was it felt on the Southeast Expressway northbound, which was backed up to Columbia Road from 10 a.m. until near noon.
Traffic analysts outside of the Big Dig warned not to judge the road too soon.
"It's like trying to take a snapshot of something that's still evolving; that involves a long process," said SmarTraveler's Jeff Larson, who paid close attention to yesterday's commute.
As the evening rush hour commenced, Larson said that "we're seeing a nice ride northbound [on the] expressway. . . . It seems as though you just have less traffic that's coming on [I-93 north] merging from the turnpike."
More good news could follow this weekend with the closing of Exit 24 off I-93 north for the Callahan Tunnel and the opening of a new Exit 20 off I-93 north, which drivers coming from south of town can take to merge directly into the new I-90 extension. Big Dig officials say those will further reduce Central Artery traffic by this time next week.
This story ran on page B1 of the Boston Globe on 1/22/2003.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
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