MA 9
MA 9 Information: Western terminus is at US 20 in Pittsfield, MA. The eastern terminus is at Charles Street in Boston.
History/Facts: MA 9's complete route did not exist since its inception, it was rather piecemeal until the 1950s. 9 was 109 through the Berkshires and most of the Valley, until it joined Route 20 in Brookfield. Old route 20 is now Modern 9, and continues from there into Worcester and Framingham when the Worcester Turnpike (not actually a toll road) was built. When reaching Boston, MA 9 had several parts listed with letters (like C9 and 9A), but all of these were eventually folded into Route 9 itself. Staples, the megaoffice store, is headquartered on Route 9.
Route 9 in Pittsfield has also undergone some routing changes in 2004. With the reconstruction of Merrill Road in Pittsfield, many sections of East Street and Merrill Road have been repaved, and are waiting to be re-signed as MA 9. MA 9W in Pittsfield used to run from Dalton Ave (from Dalton) to Tyler street, and eventually on to North Street, then changed over to First Street, while 9E went up First Street until it hit Tyler Street and followed Dalton Ave. This explains the 9E and W split in Pittsfield, and are now completely reuinted on Merrill Road. In any case, 9W would go to Park Square, where it would go on West Street to Center Street, and stay on Center Street for about a thousand feet before terminating at an intersection with US 20.
Route 9 will now be one road, following East Street to Merrill Road, where Merrill Road terminates at Dalton Ave at the current MA 8/9 junction. The route, in essence, is still the same, but it makes more sense. Dig?
Several old alignments exist in Windsor, as well. Most of the length of the old alignmets is open, as people live on them.
Photos: Eastbound / Westbound
Westbound: Pioneer Valley / The Berkshires
The following 40 or so pictures are courtesy of Arrow. Junction with MA 19 in West Brookfield.
Junction with MA 67.
West Brookfield directionals. Notice oddball 9 on thet op sign.
More West Brookfield.
Two conflicting sign styles. I guess the bottom one replaced a broken sign.
More West Brookfield.
Directionals for junction at MA 32.
Entering Ware, Massachusetts.
Ware directionals.
Welcome to the Pioneer Valley, indeed.
Ware turnoffs.
Interesting signs in Ware.
Ware directionals when 32 leaves MA 9.
More Ware.
Even more Ware.
To the Quabbin. Ware.
Belchertown directionals.
More Belchertown directionals.
More Belchertown.
Junction with US 202 in Belchertown.
MA 202 error in Belchertown.
Bay Road, which Arrow says is a shortcut to avoid Amherst.
Belchertown, nearing Amherst.
Entering Amherst. Ugly Helvetica speed sign.
MA 116 intersection in downtown Amherst.
Access to back end of UMass.
MA 116 and MA 9 multiplex in west Amherst.
MA 116 freeway begins here.
Amherst after the strip.
Hadley intersection with MA 47.
More Hadley.
The Coolidge Bridge coming over from Hadley.
Mount Holyoke range as seen from the bridge.
It's not I-91 yet. This post is missing a forward arrow.
The half interchange at Damon Road.
This is on 9W in Northampton. This sign's an oldie - in fact, all of the signage on the intersection of routes 9, 5, and 10 (10 is cosigned with 9 in downtown and 10 from this intersection) are incredibly old and decrepit. They also have rounded corners on the bordres, something you don't see too often.
Next five pics are courtesy of Arrow. MA 66 begins at this intersection with MA 9.
More MA 66 junction. The building in the background is a Smith College building.
Williamsburg.
More Williamsburg.
More Williamsburg.
On the Windsor Jambs road. And rounded corner borders, too!
This is on the intersection of West and Center St. in Pittsfield where MA 9 turns left on to Center Street to terminate at US 20. I took a picture of this sign because it is slightly different than most US shields. It reminds me of one of the US 20 shields in Westifeld, an old one, except it doesn't have the old MA cut corners font, and instead has a more modern Series D FHWA font. Most US shields that I've seen have the shield going all the way to the border of the sign. It's probably not that old; it just looks different.
Done? Head Eastbound or Return home.
All photographs and original info ©2004/2005 Dan Vincent unless otherwise noted.