Greater Boston Suburbs

It is inevitable to many who live in suburbs near Route 128 (which is also mostly I-95) that life and travel will revolve around the highway dubbed America's Technology Highway, a name which is never ever used by locals (ever!). To visitors it is mostly known as I-95 but to locals it will always be known as '128' and that's all you really need to say to identify it. Living in this area you will hear it used in sentences such as this: "How far are you from 128?" or "Just shoot down 128

This is how we describe where we are and where we are going. It makes sense in a way because this relatively wide and fast moving ring road can bring you from the North Shore to the South Shore in less than thirty minutes without traffic. It can put you enroute to the Cape, to the mountains or out towards NY and beyond. For this reason, travel to other areas around or outside of Boston almost always involve some stretch of 128 and while it can get clogged at rush hour and turn into a parking lot on a rainy Friday afternoon, it is still usually the shortest way to get somewhere else.

In this next section I provide some restaurant and major shopping options along 128. The major highways intersecting Route 128 (going from North to South) are listed in sequence, with restaurant options shown in between. These are not really restaurants that I am recommending for the food (though I have eaten at them all) but more an indication of where you might conveniently meet someone. I've avoided fast food (there isn't actually much right off Route 128) and really high end:

This list is currently not complete. I'm still working on it!

I-95 - North towards Salisbury, Portsmouth and Maine

I-93 - South towards Medford and Boston / North towards Lawrence and Salem, NH

CHOICES IN READING - TRY JORDANS FURNITURE, ACTUALLY, FOR COOL HAMBURGERS AND ICE CREAM

CHOICES IN WOBURN - JOE'S AMERICAN GRILL, UNOS, SOUTH OF THE BORDER, BERTUCCIS

Route 3 - North towards Lowell and Nashua, NH

BURLINGTON MALL AREA - CHILIS, CHEESECAKE FACTORY IN THE BURLINGTON MALL, LEGAL SEAFOODS IN THE BURLINGTON MALL

CHOICES IN WALTHAM - NAKED FISH, BERTUCCIS, GREEN PAPAYA

Mass Pike (I-90) - East towards Boston / West towards Worcester, Springfield, Albany & NYC

CHOICES IN WELLESLEY - PAPA RAZZI

CHOICES IN NEWTON - BOKX109 (at the Hotel Indigo)

Route 9 - East towards Newton & Chestnut Hill, West towards Natick and Framingham

CHOICES IN NEWTON/NEEDHAM AREA - Panera Bread

I-95 - South towards Providence, RI

THERE IS VERY LITTLE BETWEEN THESE TWO MAJOR EXITS

Route 24 - South towards New Bedford and Fall River

I-93 - North towards Boston

Route 3 - South towards Cape Cod