Somerville to the Pike.. Help! :-( (Boston, Washington: neighborhood, live in, move to)

[tjfma]

Hello folks,

I live in Western MA but am having to go to Somerville (Innerbelt Rd, right off Washington by the Holiday Inn, specifically) for work here and there.

I can get there in 90 minutes, door to door, taking the Pike to 93N and then getting off at Sullivan Square. My return directions (via Google Maps) don't have me taking 93 at all, and instead have me going down Prospect to Western and over the bridge and on to the Pike at around exit 18. This return trip absolutely sucked the past 2 days. I left at 5 (stupid) the first day just to see, and it took me 90 mins to get to the Pike. I left at 3 yesterday thinking it would be smooth sailing but hit the very same traffic, 90 mins to get to the Pike.

So I'm asking all the Bostonians.. am I taking the wrong way? Should I be on 93 S to the pike instead?

Thx and a very Merry Christmas to you all..!

[Bostonian08]

Somerville is a really hard place to get in and out of - there really is no easy way - particularly where you are. Prospect St is always liable to be jammed. Rt 28 (O'Brien Hwy) and 93 also suck quite often. There is no easy way in or out of that neighborhood.

Other than move to town, here's the best advice I can give you. Learn to use 511 SmarTraveler. Go here: SmarTraveler Interactive Telephone Services for and check this before you leave to choose the best route. Use 6* to check Memorial Drive and Storrow and the Central Artery. 931* for 93 and 90* for the pike. Others are listed on that page. Once you know what highway is manageable, learn the backstreets of Somerville to beat the traffic. It will take studying a map very carefully and a lot of trial and error to deciper where the one-ways, traffics lights, and jams occur. Other varibales take time to learn like when to avoid the Museum, the drawbridge on 28, or when Memorial Drive shuts down during the summer.

Somerville is SO tough to get to -but once you figure out the backstreets you can beat the traffic sometimes. Sometimes you are just going to be stuck with no way out.