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Health & Fitness

Historic Route 20

Route 20 is Northborough’s Main Street through the town center. It is also the longest highway in the United States.  It stretches 3,365 miles from the Pacific Coast town of Newport, Oregon to Kenmore Square in Boston. Along the way it passes through Boise ID, Yellowstone National Park, Casper WY, Dubuque IA, Chicago IL, South Bend IN, Cleveland OH, Erie PA and Albany NY. It is part of the numbered interstate highway system developed in 1925. In the early 1930’s Route 20 was straightened to remove many of the twist and turns of the Old Boston Post Road from Weston to Northborough. In Northborough it bypassed what we now call East Main Street along with other zigs&zags (see turnoffs near the Jehovah’s Witness Assembly Hall). The southwest cutoff was constructed from the western part of Northborough to Auburn to by-pass Shrewsbury and Worcester centers.   Too bad they did not design a by-pass for Northborough Center at that time. 

Historic Homes on Rt20 Northborough (Thank You Brian Smith): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASOMjzTul6o

Rt20 Info:  http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/longest.cfm

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