Get ready for new exit numbers, coming soon to a highway near you.
The long-awaited MassDOT project is finally set to begin in the Bay State on Sunday, with Interstate 90 -- the Massachusetts Turnpike -- and Route 6 the first roads to receive new mileage-based exit numbers under federal guidelines.
Starting at 8 p.m. Sunday and continuing until 5 a.m. Monday, sequential-based exit signs on the roads will be replaced. The schedule will continue daily, 8 p.m.-5 a.m., until the renumeration is completed.
"One of the reasons it was put in place to begin with is, especially for the trucking industry, if you're on a long haul and you know you need to exit say 125 and you're currently at exit 100, you know you have 25 more miles to go," MassDOT Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver said in October.
The move was first announced last year to bring Massachusetts in line with federal highway requirements. Failure to implement the mandated mileage-based system could have resulted in a loss of federal funding.
Massachusetts is among the last states to ditch sequential-based exit numbers. Similar projects are currently underway in neighboring Rhode Island as well.
