Massachusetts Route 79
Route 79 is a 18.47-mile-long (29.72 km) state highway in southeastern Massachusetts. The route had formerly began as a highway in Fall River, also known as the Fall River Viaduct and Western Fall River Expressway, before becoming a more rural route further north. The southern expressway portion of the route was permanently closed by MassDOT in 2023 for conversion into a street level urban boulevard.
Route 79 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Route 79 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by MassDOT | ||||
| Length | 18.47 mi[1] (29.72 km) | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| South end |   I-195 / Route 138 in Fall River | |||
 US 6 in Fall River Route 24 from Fall River to Assonet Route 140 in Taunton | ||||
| North end |  Route 105 in Lakeville | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Massachusetts | |||
| Counties | Bristol, Plymouth | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
Route description
Route 79 begins south of the Braga Bridge and I-195, multiplexed with Route 138 as a surface four-lane controlled-access highway. It has exits to Davol Street, which act as one-way frontage roads on both sides of Route 79, and to the Veterans Memorial Bridge, at which point Route 138 leaves Route 79 and goes over the bridge.
The route continues northward, passing under North Main Street with exit access to that street. It then connects to Route 24 at that route's exit 7. There is no access between Route 79 north and Route 24 south, or vice versa. The route continues concurrently along Route 24 into the Assonet section of the town of Freetown, where it leaves its concurrency at exit 11 (formerly 9), turning on to South Main Street. (South Main Street southbound in Assonet connects to North Main Street in Fall River.) The route passes through the village before turning eastward along Elm Street, intertwining with the Assonet River as both make their way into Berkley.
In Berkley, Route 79 passes through the village of Myricks, in the far eastern end of the town. It crosses the New Bedford Secondary in Myricks, and Route 140 just over the Taunton line. In Taunton, the route follows along the Taunton-Lakeville town line before leaving Taunton completely. In Lakeville, the route heads through the northern part of the town, crossing Route 18 and passing the former Lakeville Hospital, before ending at a 4-way intersection with Route 105 and Commercial Drive (the entry to Middleborough/Lakeville station).
History
In 2012, the northern terminus of Route 79 was relocated. Before the project, the northern terminus of Route 79 still ended at Route 105, only 1/10 of a mile north of its current terminus, but it was too close to the southbound ramps for Interstate 495. By relocating Route 79 to a four-way intersection with Route 105 and Commercial Drive, traffic was eased during rush hour. Instead of Route 79 traffic looping onto Route 105 to get to the MBTA station, the new alignment provides easier access to the MBTA station from areas such as North Lakeville, East Taunton, Berkley and Freetown.
The southern end of Route 79 used to be a double-decked elevated highway called the Fall River Viaduct, with ramps to Route 138 and I-195. The viaduct continued northward under the Braga Bridge for a third of a mile before splitting into a surface four-lane highway. As part of a $3 billion effort to replace structurally deficient bridges in Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation replaced the Fall River Viaduct and some of its connector ramps to I-195 with new roadways and structures. The project was completed in 2016.[2]
Expressway closure and redevelopment
Discussions to permanently close the expressway portion of Route 79 began in the early 2000s. Despite local officials and residents calling for the expressway's removal by the early 2010s, MassDOT moved forward with a plan to include a large multi-acre highway interchange with Route 79 and U.S. Route 6 as a part of the Veterans Memorial Bridge project in 2011. Expressway removal advocates viewed the Western Fall River Expressway as a vestige of urban blight that had been induced by twentieth-century highway construction practices; city officials viewed the expressway as a preclusion to the economic development of Fall River's waterfront.[3]
In 2014 MassDOT completed an improvement study of the Route 79-Davol Street corridor. The study examined many options to improve safety, mobility, and connections to the Taunton riverfront; the study ultimately recommended an alternative that called for replacing Route 79 and Davol Street with a at-grade urban boulevard. The study found that Route 79 carried approximately between 20,000 and 30,000 vehicles per day with excess capacity; this gave MassDOT justification to commence preliminary planning to remove the four-lane elevated expressway in 2018.[4]
The expressway closed permanently on February 27, 2023, with demolition of the expressway commencing shortly after.[5] The aptly named "Route 79 Improvement Project" seeks to reroute traffic onto existing surface streets and convert them to an urban boulevard; those surface streets will also get upgraded sidewalks, shared-use pathways, and crosswalks.[6] The project will also build new cross-streets to re-connect portions of the historic street grid and improve access between the city's North End neighborhood and the riverfront. The project will free up almost 17 acres of riverfront land between the Senator Norton City Pier park and Brightman Street; additionally, most of the land will be within walking distance of Fall River's South Coast Rail MBTA Commuter Rail station which is under construction one block to the east of Route 79. Fall River economic development officials and local investors view the project as opportunity to create new housing in walkable neighborhoods on the newly available land that the expressway had formally occupied.[7]
The Route 79 Improvement Project is projected to be complete in 2026.[4]
Major intersections
All interchanges south of Route 24 are unnumbered.
| County | Location | mi[1][8] | km | Exit | Destinations | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bristol | Fall River | 0.000 | 0.000 | – |  Route 138 south – North Tiverton, RI | Southern terminus; southern terminus of concurrency with Route 138; closed 2015-2016[2] | |
| – | I-195 – Providence, RI, New Bedford, Cape Cod | At-grade intersection with interchange ramps; exit 11 on I-195; closed 2015-2016[2] | |||||
| 0.936 | 1.506 | – |  US 6 east / North Davol Street | Northbound exit and southbound entrance; southern terminus for 2015-2016[2] | |||
| 1.356 | 2.182 | – |   US 6 west / Route 138 north – North Fall River, Somerset | Northern terminus of concurrency with Route 138; to Veterans Memorial Bridge | |||
| 2.303 | 3.706 | – | North Main Street – North Fall River | ||||
| 3.769 | 6.066 | 7 |  Route 24 south to I-195 – Newport, RI | Southern terminus of Route 24 concurrency; exit number follows Route 24 | |||
| 4.356 | 7.010 | 8 | Airport Road / North Main Street | Signed as exit 8A from 2012 to 2020 | |||
| Assonet | 5.756 | 9.263 | 10 | Innovation Way | Formerly Executive Park Drive; opened 2012; formerly exit 8B | ||
| 7.585 | 12.207 | 11 |  Route 24 north to I-495 – Boston | Northern terminus of Route 24 concurrency; north end of freeway section; formerly exit 9 | |||
| Berkley | 12.972 | 20.876 | County Street | Former Route 140 | |||
| Taunton | 13.229– 13.392 | 21.290– 21.552 | Route 140 – East Freetown, New Bedford, Taunton, Boston | Exit 16 on Route 140 | |||
| Plymouth | Lakeville | 17.070 | 27.472 |  Route 18 – Lakeville, Bridgewater, Brockton | |||
| 18.730 | 30.143 | Route 105 – Lakeville, Rochester, Middleboro Center | Northern terminus; to exit 12 on I-495 | ||||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
| |||||||
References
- MassDOT Planning Division. "Massachusetts Route Log Application". Massachusetts Department of Transportation. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
- MassDOT (2016). "Route 79/Braga Bridge Improvements Project". Retrieved January 19, 2016.
- "MassDOT Is Demolishing a Highway to Give Fall River Its Waterfront Back - Streetsblog Massachusetts". mass.streetsblog.org. 2022-12-21. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
- "About the Route 79-Davol St Corridor Improvements project | Mass.gov". www.mass.gov. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
- "Route 79 permanently closes in Fall River". WPRI.com. 2023-02-27. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
- "Big changes are coming to Route 79 in Fall River. Here's what to expect". Fall River Herald News. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
- "Say goodbye to Fall River's Route 79 highway. MassDOT is shutting it down forever". Fall River Herald News. Retrieved 2023-06-15.
- Google (January 19, 2016). "Exits 8A and 8B" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
External links
