BEGIN signage is rare in Massachusetts, and I-290 may be the only road with BEGIN signs at both ends (see below for the western end).


Button-copy shields in the opposite direction; the road that continues to MA 85 isn't part of I-290.


Rare button-copy distance sign on I-290 WB.


On I-290 EB (first two photos) and WB (third photo) approaching the same interchange.


I thought this was old, till I looked up top. Well, this one's still posted on the highway.


Original cobblestone entrance gore. There are a couple of new ones being put in around Mass., but most of the old ones have been paved over, especially on Interstate highways. I-290 through Worcester is not quite up to standards...


Typical Worcester overhead signage - yes, the city installs these. Looks vaguely MDC-ish, but actually accurate. You can see the proud city name standing on top.


Pretty cool arrow on that first one. These are both in Worcester; the second one has warped quasi-2di shields with size B lettering, but the rest of the sign is mostly okay (except for the missing border on the sides and the off-center TO).


Worcester's Union Station seen from I-290 WB.

MA 70 NB.


Temporary lane assignments as construction on the MA 146 interchange continues. When it's done, MA 146 will extend as freeway from I-90 (the former end) up to a new free-flowing interchange here.


Signage approaching the western end of I-290. I took the last photo a few years later, and already the red from the shields in the median (left side of the road) has faded away. I-290's exit numbering continues on I-395 to the CT border. The two highways are one and the same, except I-290 came first, and when I-395 was extended up the CT Turnpike (once I-95 followed US 1 instead of the entire Turnpike) into MA, it was simply routed into the existing highway. The whole thing, if you take it around I-290 to I-495, almost qualifies as a better routing of I-93, and you could argue that south of I-495, I-693 would work better on I-93's current routing, ending at US 1 and simplifying the multiplexes from there southward. The second photo, the best-looking one, is courtesy Matt Kleiman.

South onto I-395
Exit 7 to I-90
Exit 7 or 19 to MA 12
Onto MA 146
Exit 19 to I-190
Exit 26 to I-495
Exit 26B to MA 85
See more of Worcester County
I-290 on Steve Anderson's bostonroads.com
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