# Massachusetts Route 18

Massachusetts Route 18 is a 41.561-mile-long (66.886 km) north–south state highway in Southeastern Massachusetts. Beginning in the city of New Bedford, it runs as a freeway for approximately 2 miles (3.2 km), continuing as a surface street until it reaches Weymouth.
The segment of Route 18 from its southern terminus to I-195 is part of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway, a state-maintained road that extends an additional 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south without the Route 18 designation.

## Route description

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 interchange 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 constructed, 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, then continuing onwards through East Bridgewater, Whitman, Abington, and Weymouth, ending at Route 53.

## History

The current routing of Route 18 was established in 1933 taking over what was the routing of Route 102 from Weymouth to Route 28 in Bridgewater (the remainder to Route 140 in Taunton became part of Route 104) running concurrently with Route 28 from Bridgewater to Middleboro, taking a new highway constructed in 1932 from Middleboro to Lakeville, running concurrently with Route 105 for a short distance before turning southwest and taking a route to end at Route 140 in Freetown. Around 1968, Route 18 arrived at its current terminus when extended further south along a highway parallel to Route 140 to end at U.S. 6.
When first established in 1927, Route 18 ran on a different alignment from Route 123 in Rockland north to Route 3A in Hingham using Hingham Street in Rockland; Pond Street in Norwell; and Main, Short, Leavitt and East Streets in Hingham. In 1931 the Hingham portion became part of Route 228 and the remaining parts in Norwell and Rockland had the Route 18 designation removed in 1932.

### 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. To improve 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 two to four lanes. The $26 million project was originally planned to begin in 2013 but had yet to break ground as of July 2014. The project was substantially completed in late 2022 with the dedication of the rebuilt bridge over the MBTA Commuter Rail honoring fallen Weymouth Police officer, Michael C. Chesna.

## Major intersections

| County | Location | mi | km | Destinations | Notes |
| Bristol | New Bedford | 0.0 | 0.0 | Cove Street / Rodney French Boulevard south | Continuation south |
| Bristol | New Bedford | 0.4 | 0.64 | River Street | Southbound exit only |
| Bristol | New Bedford | 1.4 | 2.3 | US 6 east | Northbound exit only |
| Bristol | New Bedford | 1.50.000 | 2.40.000 | Elm Street – Downtown | Southern terminus of Route 18 |
| Bristol | New Bedford | 0.000 | 0.000 | Southern terminus of freeway section; northern terminus of JFK Boulevard | Southern terminus of freeway section; northern terminus of JFK Boulevard |
| Bristol | New Bedford | 0.031 | 0.050 | US 6 – Dartmouth, Fairhaven | Southbound exit and northbound entrance |
| Bristol | New Bedford | 0.418 | 0.673 | Purchase Street | Southbound exit and northbound entrance (via Hillman Street) |
| Bristol | New Bedford | 0.881 | 1.418 | Weld Street | Southbound exit only |
| Bristol | New Bedford | 1.241 | 1.997 | I-195 – Fall River, Cape Cod | Northbound exits and southbound entrances; exit 26 (former exit 15) on I-195; no access between Route 18 south and I-195 or between I-195 and Route 18 north without using local roads Coggeshall Street and Washburn Drive |
| Bristol | New Bedford | 1.375 | 2.213 | Northern terminus of freeway section; at-grade intersection with Coggeshall Street | Northern terminus of freeway section; at-grade intersection with Coggeshall Street |
| Bristol | New Bedford | 4.811 | 7.743 | Route 140 north – Taunton, Boston | Exit 6 on Route 140; access via Ashley Boulevard; no access to Route 140 southbound |
| Plymouth | Lakeville | 13.508 | 21.739 | Route 105 south – Rochester | Southern terminus of concurrency with Route 105 |
| Plymouth | Lakeville | 16.193 | 26.060 | Route 105 north – Middleboro, Plymouth | Northern terminus of concurrency with Route 105 |
| Plymouth | Lakeville | 18.097 | 29.124 | Route 79 – Middleboro, Assonet, Fall River | |
| Plymouth | Middleborough | 19.715– 19.944 | 31.728– 32.097 | I-495 to Route 24 – Wareham, Cape Cod, Marlboro, Boston | Exit 14 on I-495 |
| Plymouth | Middleborough | 20.062– 20.255 | 32.287– 32.597 | US 44 / Route 28 south to I-495 – Middleboro, Plymouth, Taunton, Marlboro | Rotary; southern terminus of concurrency with Route 28 |
| Plymouth | Bridgewater | 26.172– 26.308 | 42.120– 42.339 | Route 28 north / Route 104 – Taunton, Kingston, West Bridgewater, Brockton | Rotary; northern terminus of concurrency with Route 28 |
| Plymouth | East Bridgewater | 28.094 | 45.213 | Route 106 west – West Bridgewater, Plainville | Southern terminus of concurrency with Route 106 |
| Plymouth | East Bridgewater | 28.197 | 45.379 | Route 106 east – Halifax, Kingston | Northern terminus of concurrency with Route 106 |
| Plymouth | Whitman | 32.066 | 51.605 | Route 14 – Brockton, Hanson | Site of the Toll House Inn (birthplace of the chocolate chip cookie) northwest of here |
| Plymouth | Whitman | 32.798 | 52.783 | Route 27 – Brockton, Kingston | |
| Plymouth | Abington | 34.544 | 55.593 | Route 123 – Brockton, Hanover | |
| Plymouth | Abington | 36.168 | 58.207 | Route 139 – Holbrook, Rockland | |
| Norfolk | Weymouth | 37.085 | 59.683 | Route 58 south – Rockland | Northern terminus of Route 58 |
| Norfolk | Weymouth | 40.684– 40.940 | 65.475– 65.887 | Route 3 – Boston, Cape Cod | Exit 38 on Route 3 |
| Norfolk | Weymouth | 41.561 | 66.886 | Route 53 – Braintree, Quincy, Hanover | Northern terminus |
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Concurrency terminus Incomplete access Route transition ||||||