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Route 3A
Length:	53.39[1] mi (85.93 km)
Formed:	1926
South end:	Route 3 in Plymouth
Major junctions:	US 44 in Plymouth Route 53 in Kingston Route 53 in Quincy
North end:	I-93/US 1/Route 3/Route 203 in Boston
Massachusetts State Highway Routes < Route 3 Route 4 >

Route 3A is a state highway in eastern Massachusetts, whose southern portion parallels Route 3 from Cedarville in southern Plymouth to Neponset in the Dorchester area of Boston. Towns and cities that Route 3A traverse along its path include Plymouth, Kingston, Duxbury, Marshfield, Scituate, Cohasset, Hingham, Weymouth and Quincy.

North of Neponset, Route 3A runs, unsigned, concurrently with Route 3 and U.S. Route 3 to Burlington, before separating again (MassHighway counts the mileage along MA 3 between the two sections as part of MA 3A mileage).

Junction list

County	Location	Milepost	Roads Intersected	Notes
Plymouth	Cedarville	0.00	Route 3	Southern terminus of Route 3A. Route 3 Exit 2.
	Plymouth		Plimoth Plantation Highway	Northbound exit and southbound entrance. Two left-hand modified jughandles are just past southbound entrance to enable access from Route 3A south. To Route 3 North Exit 4.
			U.S. Route 44	Eastern terminus of U.S. Route 44. To Route 3 Exit 6.
	Kingston		Route 3	Route 3 Exit 9.
			Route 80	Eastern terminus of Route 80. To Route 58.
			Route 106	Eastern terminus of Route 106. To Route 27. Signed access to Route 106/27 from Route 3A south is via Evergreen Street in Kingston Center; direct access from Route 3A south onto Route 106 requires negotiating a tight approximately 150° angle. No right turn signs were removed from the intersection approximately on July 1, 2009.
			Route 53	Southern terminus of Route 53.
	Duxbury		Route 3	Route 3 Exit 10.
			Route 14	Eastern terminus of Route 14.
			Route 139	To Route 14.
	Marshfield		Route 139	Eastern terminus of Route 3A/139 concurrency.
			Route 139	Western terminus of Route 3A/139 concurrency.
	Scituate		Route 123	Traffic circle. Eastern terminus of Route 123. Access from Route 3A south to Route 123 is via a ramp that bypasses the traffic circle.
	Hingham		Route 228
Norfolk	Quincy		Route 53	Northern terminus of Route 53.
Suffolk	Boston	53.39	Interstate 93 U.S. Route 1 Route 3 Route 203	Traffic circle. Northern terminus of Route 3A southern segment. Eastern terminus of Route 203. I-93 Exit 12 (southbound exit only).

History

From 1922 to 1926, Route 3A between Kingston and Quincy was New England Interstate Route 6A. In 1926, when New England Interstate Route 6 became Route 3, Route 6A became Route 3A.

In the 1930s Route 3A's route was shifted onto new alignments built to reduce traffic problems in several communities through which the highway traversed. This included a bypass of Hingham Square along Broad Cove Road and Otis Street along Hingham Harbor replacing the original route that took it down Lincoln Street to downtown Hingham then along North Street to Summer Street. Chief Justice Cushing Highway was built around the same time and Route 3A was put on this highway from south of the Hingham Harbor rotary through Cohasset to Scituate. This replaced a routing along long-existing roadways such as Country Way in Scituate, South and North Main Streets in Cohasset and East Street to Summer Street in Hingham. Along East Street from Hull Street to Summer, Route 3A shared the highway with Route 128 in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

In the 1950s and early 1960s Route 3A was extended to take over the original path of Route 3 south of Kingston to Plymouth and north of downtown Quincy to Neponset when Route 3 assumed its current freeway route. In between those locations, old Route 3 was designated Route 53. The section of old Route 3 from Cedarville south to the Sagamore Rotary near the Cape Cod Canal in Bourne is unnumbered.

Much of Route 3A is sometimes referred to as the "Cape Way" due to its history as the only major road to Cape Cod from Boston prior to the opening of Route 3. The "Cape Way" name is reflected in numerous business names along 3A's length.

See also

• Route 3A (northeast Massachusetts)

References

1. ^ Executive Office of Transportation, Office of Transportation Planning - 2005 Road Inventory

Road transportation infrastructure of Cape Cod U.S. Routes US 6 State Routes Route 3 · Route 3A · Route 6A · Route 25 · Route 28 · Route 28A · Route 39 · Route 124 · Route 130 · Route 132 · Route 134 · Route 137 · Route 149 · Route 151 State Roads Sandwich Road Bridges Bourne Bridge · Sagamore Bridge See also: Cape Cod Canal Tunnel · Southside Connector