Massachusetts Crash Hot Spots: The Most Dangerous Roads and Intersections

Where Massachusetts Traffic Deaths Happen

MassDOT’s preliminary crash data shows 354 people killed on Massachusetts roads in 2025, after NHTSA counted 363 in 2024. NHTSA’s early estimate for 2025 is close, at 352. The surprise for most people is where those deaths happen: about half are on city and town roads, not state highways. And the crash type behind the most deaths in the state’s safety plan isn’t a highway pileup: it’s a car leaving its lane, and about half of all deaths come in crashes involving a single vehicle.

From 2020 to 2024, MassDOT says, city and town roads carried 44% of the state’s driving but about half of its traffic deaths, while MassDOT roads carried 52% of the driving and 42% of the deaths. Boston had the most pedestrian deaths of any community in 2025, with 8, followed by Springfield with 6.

The Highways and Intersections Behind Massachusetts’ Worst Crashes

Some Massachusetts roads come up in crash coverage week after week. Here’s what makes each one tricky, with published figures wherever they exist.

1. Interstate 93: Canton to the New Hampshire Line

I-93 is the spine of greater Boston. From the Route 128 junction in Canton it runs through Braintree, Quincy and Dorchester, under downtown in the O’Neill Tunnel and north through Somerville, Medford, Woburn and Andover to the New Hampshire line at Methuen. Backups at the Braintree split, where Route 3 joins, are a setup for rear-end crashes.

The worst spots are often the ramps rather than the main lanes. MassDOT’s statewide top crash cluster list for 2019 to 2021 includes Frontage Road at the I-93 north ramp to the Pike and Route 1A in Boston, with 72 crashes, and Morrissey Boulevard where it meets I-93 northbound in Dorchester, with 40.

2. I-95 and Route 128: Attleboro to Salisbury

I-95 crosses in from Rhode Island at Attleboro and runs past Mansfield and Foxborough to Canton. From Canton to Peabody it shares the road with Route 128, the beltway through Dedham, Newton, Waltham and Burlington that nearly everyone still calls 128. North of Peabody, I-95 heads through Danvers and Newburyport to the New Hampshire line at Salisbury.

On 128 the interchanges come one after another, so drivers are always merging, exiting or cutting across lanes. Rush hour turns it into stop-and-go traffic, which is where the rear-end and sideswipe crashes pile up.

3. Massachusetts Turnpike (I-90): West Stockbridge to Logan Airport

The Pike runs 138 miles from the New York line at West Stockbridge to the Ted Williams Tunnel and Logan Airport. Out west, long grades, early snow and black ice catch drivers who are going too fast. East of I-495 it’s a commuter road through Framingham, Newton and Allston, with tight merges near Boston.

Where the Pike meets I-495 on the Hopkinton and Westborough line, MassDOT is rebuilding the whole interchange. Its stated goals are fewer crashes for all movements and shorter queues backing onto both highways, and MassDOT expects the work to be finished in summer 2027.

4. U.S. Route 1: Attleboro to Salisbury

Route 1 runs from the Rhode Island line at Attleboro through Foxborough, Walpole, Norwood and Dedham into Boston, then over the Tobin Bridge to become the North Shore’s commercial strip through Saugus, Lynnfield and Peabody, where turning traffic never lets up.

MassDOT’s 2019 to 2021 top crash list includes Route 1 at High Plain Street (Route 27) in Walpole, with 43 crashes, and a stretch of the Newburyport Turnpike in Peabody. In Norwood, Route 1 at University Avenue and Everett Street is one of the hot spot safety projects MassDOT has programmed for 2025 and 2026.

5. Interstate 495: Wareham to Salisbury

I-495 is the outer beltway, a wide arc from Wareham through Mansfield, Franklin, Marlborough and Littleton to Lowell, Lawrence, Haverhill and Salisbury. In the Merrimack Valley, the interchanges around Lowell, Andover and Methuen mean tight merges, heavy trucks and rear-end crashes.

Away from the cities, long, fast stretches make it easy to drift, doze or speed. That matters, because lane departure crashes account for 44% of Massachusetts traffic deaths, the most of any focus area in the state’s highway safety plan, MassDOT says.

6. Route 24: Fall River to Randolph

Route 24 links Fall River to the Boston area, running north past Taunton, Raynham, Bridgewater, Brockton, Avon and Stoughton to I-93 in Randolph. It’s built like an interstate, but some ramps are short and the inside shoulders are narrow.

The Old Colony Planning Council’s 2008 road safety audit of the 18 miles between I-93 and I-495, based on 2002 to 2007 crashes, found that most lane departure crashes there involved a single car hitting the median barrier or guardrail. It also flagged short merges and interchange queues spilling onto the highway.

7. Randolph Avenue (Route 28) and Chickatawbut Road: Milton

This intersection by the Blue Hills Reservation topped MassDOT’s statewide list. In MassDOT’s Top 200 Crash Clusters for 2019 to 2021, it ranked No. 1, with 69 crashes, 37 of them fatal or injury crashes. Route 28 here is a busy route between Randolph and Mattapan, and Chickatawbut Road is a parkway through the Blue Hills.

MassDOT’s HSIP plan lists intersection improvements at Route 28 and Chickatawbut Road among the projects programmed for 2025 and 2026, at a total cost of about $12.6 million, and estimates the work will save two lives over its 20-year service life.

8. Boston’s Vision Zero Streets: Blue Hill Avenue, Mass Ave and Columbia Road

Boston counted 11 traffic deaths in 2025, most of them involving a pedestrian, according to a City Council resolution citing MassDOT and the city’s Vision Zero data. A Boston Globe analysis of city data found 49 pedestrians struck at Mass Ave and Melnea Cass Boulevard, known as Mass and Cass, from January 2015 to May 2024. The Globe called it the city’s “single most perilous spot for crashes.”

On Blue Hill Avenue through Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan, a crash serious enough for an EMS response happens every three days on average, and the street ranks in the top 3% in Boston for crashes, the city says. A bus-priority redesign won’t start construction before 2028.

Columbia Road, which runs from Franklin Park to the waterfront, had 650 crashes with an EMS response over five years, two of them fatal, according to the city’s 2024 Columbia Road study. Our Boston car accident guide covers more of the city’s high-crash streets.

More High-Crash Locations Across Massachusetts

MassDOT ranks crash clusters, usually intersections, by a weighted score that counts every injury crash 21 times as heavily as a fender-bender. Its statewide top 200 for 2019 to 2021 has 202 entries because of ties at the bottom, and two cities dominate it: Springfield has 40 spots and Brockton has 27, one of them on the Abington line.

Several of these roads are getting work. MassDOT’s HSIP plan includes signal and safety work at three intersections on Route 6 in Swansea, about $18.3 million, and intersection improvements on Route 28 in Avon at Spring Street and Harrison Boulevard, both programmed for 2025 and 2026. In Worcester, Kelley Square was rebuilt as what MassDOT calls a hybrid roundabout, and Streetsblog Massachusetts, using MassDOT data, counted 7 crashes there in the first half of 2021, down from 18 in the first half of 2019.

How to Stay Safe on Massachusetts’ Most Dangerous Roads

You can’t avoid most of these roads, but you can drive them knowing where the trouble is.

For Drivers:

1. Stay in your lane: Lane departure crashes accounted for 44% of Massachusetts traffic deaths from 2020 to 2024. On I-495, Route 24 and the western Pike, put the phone away and pull off if you’re drowsy.
2. Pick your lane before the tunnels: The O’Neill and Ted Williams tunnels give you very little time to choose an exit. Know yours before you go underground.
3. Treat Route 1 like a city street: In Saugus, Peabody and Norwood, cars pull in and out of driveways constantly. Leave room.
4. Turn left with care: Many of MassDOT’s top crash clusters are busy intersections in Springfield, Brockton, Worcester and Lowell. Wait for a real gap.
5. Never drive impaired: Impaired driving played a part in about a third of Massachusetts traffic deaths from 2020 to 2024. Plan a ride before you go out.

For Pedestrians:

1. Cross where drivers expect you: On wide streets like Blue Hill Avenue, Mass Ave and Boston Road in Springfield, crossing mid-block leaves a driver almost no time to react.
2. Make eye contact: Don’t assume a turning driver has seen you. Wait until the car has stopped.
3. Be visible after dark: Most pedestrian deaths in 2025 happened in the dark. Wear something light or reflective, especially in winter.

For Cyclists:

1. Use separated lanes where they exist: Boston, Cambridge and Somerville have added them on several main streets. Run lights day and night.
2. Watch for right hooks and car doors: Turning cars and doors swinging open on parked streets are two of the most common ways cyclists get hurt.

General Tips:

1. Know your route: If you commute on I-93, Route 128 or the Pike near Boston, build in time for delays.
2. Check the weather: Snow, black ice and nor’easter rain are the big risks on the Pike west of Worcester and on I-495.

What to Do If You’re Injured in a Massachusetts Car Accident

A bad crash on I-93, Route 24 or a busy Springfield intersection can leave you hurt and unsure what to do first. These steps protect your health and your wallet.

1. Call 911. Get police to the scene even if nobody seems badly hurt. Their crash report is what insurers go by.
2. Get checked out. Concussions and internal injuries don’t always show up right away. Go to the ER or urgent care, then follow up with your own doctor.
3. Document the scene if you can. If it’s safe, photograph the vehicles, plates, signs and road conditions. Get witnesses’ names and numbers, and swap insurance information without admitting fault.
4. File your own crash report if it applies. Massachusetts drivers must file a crash operator report within five days when anyone is hurt or killed, or when damage to any one vehicle or property tops $1,000. Copies go to the police department where it happened, your insurer and the RMV.
5. Keep everything. Medical records, bills, repair estimates, missed work and every letter from an insurer. You can decline a recorded statement until you have your report.

Which agency has your report depends on where you crashed. State troopers patrol the Mass Pike and the Boston tunnels, and local police handle crashes on city and town streets; the RMV releases reports from both. Our Massachusetts crash report guide walks through getting a copy.

Don’t know which department took the report, or would rather skip the paperwork? We can get a copy of your report for you at no cost.

Massachusetts Crash Hot Spot Questions

More Massachusetts Crash Guides

City crash guides: Boston, MA

County accident news: Suffolk County · Worcester County · Hampden County · Middlesex County · Bristol County · Essex County · Norfolk County · Plymouth County

Nearby states: New Hampshire crash hot spots · Rhode Island crash hot spots · Connecticut crash hot spots · New York crash hot spots

For the latest, crashes from around the state are posted in Massachusetts accident news and our recent accident alerts.