In order to get to the Mass. Pike, you have to get off at the Western Avenue exit and follow a few surface roads. The signage is good, though, as people coming out of Boston tend to use Storrow as much as the Pike. This sign is probably a little newer than the one at Western Avenue (keep reading).


EB Storrow advance signage for Western Avenue, Cambridge Street, and River Avenue (the latter are the same road on different sides of the Charles River). Way to give street names. And way to maintain the overheight warning sign. The Mass Pike sign with the weird MDC shield is on the EB ramp to Western. There are many more like it, as you will see.


Some of the overhead lighting in this area looks new, but it's all in this original style dating to the construction of the roadway.


Yup, an even older Mass Pike sign, on the WB surface road at Western Ave. I wish I knew what it once said, but it's interesting that what once was white has turned green and green is white... I'm guessing this is a residue from the paint that was once on the wood? Very fascinating, so click for a closeup of the sign that just may date from the Turnpike extension into Boston.


Also at Western are these two odd contraptions. One is a set of posts that might have held some sign - but it couldn't possibly have been facing traffic in a useful way. The other is a box with a couple of lenses, facing NB Western Ave. traffic. It might be a traffic counting camera, but there's not much traffic to count. Whatever it is, it's pretty damn old.


These signs are on the beautiful old Western Avenue bridge, which is one-way SB (NB traffic toward Central Square in Cambridge uses River Ave.). The STOP LINE sign is typical of those that the MDC used to post.


Between River and Western Avenues, the surface roads and through Storrow Drive lanes are all at the same level, all seperated by just guiderail.


EB and WB respectively at Cambridge Street; the I-90 ramp has already left from the EB surface road, so it's not signed along Cambridge.


Because Exit 18/20 from I-90 dumps out right here, Cambridge Street NB gets an overhead warning a block before Storrow Drive - not that you'd know it also goes to the west. 5 MPH may seem harsh, but during rush hour you're lucky to average more than 1 MPH through this interchange.


OK, who failed glue in kindergarten? The akimbo I-90 shields on Cambridge Street (there's one on the back of this one facing SB traffic) suggest someone spent his time eating glue instead. I think the dangerous cargo signs are cool; hazmats exit here at Exit 18 from the Mass Pike, follow River Avenue into the heart of Cambridge, then follow Mass. Ave. (MA 2A) to Main Street, and along several more streets than that as well.


A barrage of signs greets drivers entering EB Storrow Drive after Cambridge Street, including this beautiful truck-warning air horn. The MDC always made things weird.


WB signage at the BU exit - the straight arrows are misleading, as the actual exit requires a 5-10 MPH right-hand turn onto University Road. As you can see, the end of that road retains the old Storrow Drive LGS.


The return of Bike 1! This stuff is all where University Rd. enters Storrow Drive EB.


Ever wonder it's like to be a highway?


Looking west along Storrow from the BU Bridge, with I-90 in the distance. I-90 was meant to run along the path of Storrow, with Storrow relocated on top of the Charles River (just like Memorial Drive at the Longfellow Bridge), but the park advocates won (the Drive is really more like a Parkway), and so I-90 now runs above the Allston rail yards. In the foreground you may see a tree growing on the railroad bridge. Yes, in fact, you're right; until the 1960's or '70's there were two tracks here, but one was taken out of service, rails and ties removed, and left to nature and graffiti artists. The other is still used for shuttling MBTA cars, as it's the only Boston-area connection between North and South Stations.


As the sign above (on Beacon Street, WB) shows, Storrow is a useful road. It doesn't connect perfectly with either MA 2 or I-90, though, nor is it intuitively easy to follow to Newton.

Continue east on Storrow Drive
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West onto Soldiers Field Rd.
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Into Boston
Into Brookline
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