Massachusetts Route 18

"MA 18" redirects here. MA 18 may also refer to Massachusetts's 18th congressional district.

Route 18
Route information
Length:	41.59 mi[1] (66.93 km)
Major junctions
South end:	US 6 in New Bedford[1]
	I-195 in New Bedford I-495 in Middleborough US 44/Route 28 in Middleborough Route 3 in Weymouth
North end:	Route 53 in Weymouth
Highway system
Massachusetts State Highway Routes ← Route 17 Route 19 →

Route 18 is a south–north state highway in southeastern Massachusetts.

Route description

Southbound entering Bridgewater

Route 18 starts as a four-lane freeway, a continuation of John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway in downtown New Bedford, at U.S. Route 6. After the intersection with I-195, Route 18 runs via surface streets parallel to Route 140 for a while, up to a connector road with Route 140 northbound. (Before its highway route was construction, Route 140 followed County Road from Taunton until terminating at Route 18 in Freetown near the New Bedford line.) Route 18 then continues on a generally northerly direction. The highway goes through the East Freetown section of Freetown, Lakeville (with a three-mile (5 km) concurrency with Route 105 along Assawompset Pond), Middleborough, where the highway meets U.S. Route 44 and Route 28 at the Middleboro rotary just north of Interstate 495, beginning a six-mile (10 km) concurrency with Route 28 until the center of Bridgewater, East Bridgewater, Whitman, Abington, and Weymouth, ending at Route 53.

Highway Improvements

A major fault of Route 18 north of Bridgewater is its intersection patterns. At all lights north of Bridgewater center, the road widens to four lanes temporarily, before and after the intersection. While this helps alleviate backups at the lights and assists vehicles turning left off of the route, it creates bottlenecks after the intersection, where the two lanes re-merge into one.^{[citation needed]} To help this, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation's Highway Division will be widening the section of Route 18 From Highland Place in Weymouth to Route 139 In Abington from 2 to 4 lanes. The $26 million project is expected to begin in 2013.

Exit list

The exits on the Route 18 freeway are unnumbered.

Town	Mile	Destination(s)	Notes
The portion of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway begins at . JFK Memorial Highway south of is an unnumbered highway.
New Bedford	0.00	US 6	Southern terminus of Route 18.
	0.3	Hillman Street	Northbound entrance only; no exit.
	0.5	Purchase Street	Southbound exit only; no entrance.
	1.1	I-195	Interstate 195, Exit 15. No access to Route 18 north from I-195. No access to I-195 from Route 18 south.
	Freeway ends at ; continues as a surface road

Junction list

This is a listing of Route 18's intersections with numbered highways which are not located on a freeway section.

County	Location	Milepost	Roads Intersected	Notes
Bristol	New Bedford	4.6	Route 140	Route 140, exit 6. Southbound exit and northbound entrance via unnumbered connector road.
Plymouth	Lakeville	13.4	Route 105	Southern terminus of Route 18/105 concurrency.
		16.1	Route 105	Northern terminus of Route 18/105 concurrency.
		18.0	Route 79
	Middleborough	19.6	I-495	Interstate 495, Exit 5.
		20.0	US 44 Route 28	Rotary. Southern terminus of Route 18/28 concurrency.
	Bridgewater	26.1	Route 104	Signed as a rotary. Southern terminus of Route 18/28/104 concurrency.
		26.2	Route 28 Route 104	Signed as a rotary. Northern terminus of Route 18/28/104 concurrency.
	East Bridgewater	28.0	Route 106	Southern terminus of Route 18/106 concurrency.
		28.2	Route 106	Northern terminus of Route 18/106 concurrency.
	Whitman	32.0	Route 14	Site of the Toll House Inn, birthplace of the chocolate chip cookie, just northwest of intersection
		32.7	Route 27
	Abington	34.5	Route 123
		36.1	Route 139
Norfolk	Weymouth	37.7	Route 58	Northern terminus of Route 58.
		40.5	Route 3	Route 3, Exit 16.
		41.59	Route 53	Northern terminus of Route 18.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Executive Office of Transportation, Office of Transportation Planning - 2005 Road Inventory

• John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway (Downtown Connector) on Bostonroads.com