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Street in Boston, Massachusetts

Washington Street is a street originating in downtown Boston, Massachusetts, which extends southwestward to the Massachusetts–Rhode Island state line. The majority of its length outside of the city was built as the Norfolk and Bristol Turnpike in the early 19th century. It is the longest street in Boston and remains one of the longest streets in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Due to various municipal annexations with the city of Boston, the name Washington Street now exists 6 or more times within the jurisdiction(s) of the City of Boston. The street's great age in the city of Boston has given rise to a phenomenon whereby intersecting streets have different names on either side of Washington Street.

In 1802, Fisher Ames and a group of others requested that the Great and General Court lay out a new turnpike between the Norfolk County Courthouse and Pawtucket. They agreed (over the no vote of Dedham's representative, Ebenezer Fisher) and the road was charted on March 8, 1802. It was finished in 1806 at a cost of $225,000, or $6,440 a mile. It was the best and fastest highway in America at the time, allowing for mail to be delivered between Boston and Providence in under three hours. It served as a straighter alternative to two roads between Boston and Providence: the Lower Boston Post Road (via Norwood and Foxborough), and the road via Walpole and Wrentham. The turnpike ran from Dudley Square to the border of Rhode Island and beyond to downtown Pawtucket. The turnpike was constructed as an entirely new road, except for a part through North Attleborough (which is the only part bypassed today by US 1). The southern half of the turnpike, which had some steep grades and bypassed towns where travelers wanted to stop, saw little use and remained a dirt road until the construction of US 1. The part of the turnpike within the Roxbury limits was laid out as a public road in June 1857 and named Shawmut Avenue, as an extension of the existing Shawmut Avenue from Boston. The adjacent part of the turnpike within West Roxbury was named Shawmut Avenue as well on February 3, 1858.

Washington Street begins at State and Court Streets as a one way thoroughfare (for northbound traffic only). Through Downtown Crossing, from Milk Street south to Temple Place, Washington Street is closed to most vehicular traffic (and continues to be one way northbound for authorized traffic only). South of Temple Place, Washington is, once again, one way northbound, becoming two way at Stuart Street and Kneeland Street. From Marginal Road, south to Herald Street, the bridge over the Massachusetts Turnpike and the adjacent Amtrak/Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) commuter rail tracks, the road is also one way northbound, with a southbound contra flowing bus lane for the Silver Line bus. At Dudley Square in Roxbury, Washington Street is southbound only for several blocks, between Warren Street and Dudley Street. Northbound traffic bypasses this section to the east using those two streets. Just after passing under the Arborway in Jamaica Plain, Washington Street becomes Hyde Park Avenue, and traffic staying on Washington Street must turn west on Ukraine Way to cross over the Amtrak/MBTA Commuter Rail tracks, and then south at South Street, which becomes Washington Street again. Southbound traffic must use short sections of South Street and Poplar Street at Roslindale Square. South of there, near the border between Roslindale and West Roxbury, Washington Street crosses West Roxbury Parkway and acquires a median strip. This median lasts until just before the Dedham city line, where the road continues as an undivided road. Washington Street continues southwestward, through the center of Dedham, the outskirts of Westwood, the centers of Norwood, and East Walpole and South Walpole. At the Walpole–Foxborough line, it no longer crosses the railroad tracks (the old Mansfield and Framingham Railroad), and traffic must detour via Water Street and North Street. North Street connects to the Boston Providence Turnpike, which carries US Route 1 (and was never actually a turnpike, a toll road). This road merges into the old path of Washington Street south of the railroad. From there to Rhode Island, except through North Attleborough center (which it bypasses using East Washington Street as opposed to North and South Washington Streets), US Route 1 stays with Washington, as it passes through the outskirts of Foxborough (past Gillette Stadium), Wrentham and Plainville, and then through South Attleboro.

As a main road, Washington Street has had its share of streetcar and later bus routes. It also had the Washington Street Elevated from south of downtown to and later An 1871 map shows horsecar tracks from Boylston Street south to Dudley Street. An 1874 map extends them south from Dudley to just north of Forest Hills, and north to Dock Square. By 1888, tracks also used Washington north to Haymarket Square, and by 1897 all the way to and over the Charlestown Bridge. As the West End Street Railway electrified its lines in the late 19th century, Tremont Street was the first north south arterial in downtown Boston to run electric streetcars. As the lines on Warren Street (December 28, 1889), Blue Hill Avenue (January 18, 1890), and Hampden Street (May 10, 1890) were electrified, they initially used Shawmut Avenue to reach Tremont Street. On September 2, 1890, the line on Washington Street to began electric operation, again using Shawmut Avenue north of Dudley Square. On November 28, 1891, the downtown Washington Street tracks were electrified, with the five Warren Street, Hampden Street, and Blue Hill Avenue routes rerouted to Washington Street. This relieved congestion on the Tremont Street tracks and allowed increases in service. A later, 1899 map, shows that tracks owned by the West Roxbury and Roslindale Street Railway continued southwest from Forest Hills via Dedham to Norwood. The Norfolk Southern Street Railway left Norfolk on the road to Walpole center, but used Washington Street from Common Street in Walpole to South Walpole. Except for the older section through North Attleborough center, used by the Interstate Consolidated Street Railway, none of the rest had streetcar tracks, due to its avoidance of populated areas. In 1925, yet another map still shows streetcar tracks on Washington Street within Boston, ending downtown at Essex Street. By 1953 they were only in use from Forest Hills to Egleston (by the 40 route, bus substituted December 18, 1955) and from Dudley to Northampton Street (by the 47 route, bustituted September 13, 1953, and the 10 route, bus substituted December 5, 1953). The Washington Street Elevated, later part of the Orange Line, opened from south of downtown Boston to Dudley on June 10, 1901, and south to Forest Hills November 22, 1909. The Washington Street Tunnel downtown opened November 30, 1908. The Elevated closed on April 30, 1987, with the opening of the Southwest Corridor several days later.