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Date: 11/5/2019
CHESTER – Bryan Farr, president and founder of the Historic U.S. Route 20 Association appeared at the Statehouse in Boston Oct. 15, to give testimony at the Joint Committee on Transportation, asking the state to designate U.S. Highway Route 20 as a state historic highway.
Farr said the bill (H.3011) would designate historic Route 20 across the Commonwealth from Boston to the New York border.
“This has been an effort we have been working on for several years and we hope this year will be the year it finally passes,” Farr said.
The bill was sponsored in the House by state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier of Pittsfield, who also addressed the committee. Other sponsors included Western Massachusetts legislators Smitty Pignatelli, Adam G. Hinds, Brian M. Ashe, Natalie M. Blais and others across the state from Worcester to Middlesex counties.
The bill legislatively creates a Historic Automobile Highway for Route 20 along the original 1926 alignments of the highway, Farr said.
In his testimony, Farr said that Historic Route 20, which begins in Boston and ends in Newport, Oregon, crosses 12 states and is recognized by the Federal Highway Administration as the longest highway in America at 3,365 miles long.
In Massachusetts, Historic Route 20 was part of the Boston Post Road taken by George Washington and Henry Knox during the Revolution. The Jacob’s Ladder Trail portion of the highway in the Berkshires was also the first over mountain highway in the country built specifically for the automobile, and was the main highway connecting Boston and Albany.
Farr told legislators that a historic highway designation in Massachusetts would raise the profile of the communities the route travels, and offer economic and tourism opportunities at no cost or restrictions to the state. The legislation would allow each community along the highway to take ownership of its location through signage that is already erected at the start of the route in Kenmore Square and in several other communities in the state.
Farr said efforts in other states are considering similar designations for Highway 20, and this legislation would connect those communities. The bill will now be discussed in committee, and then voted upon.
Farr has been promoting Historic Route 20 since 2010 when he embarked on his first road trip along the entire stretch, which took 14 days. The 1,800 photographs that he snapped along the way turned into a book, and then in 2012, a non-profit organization seeking to raise the profile and promote tourism along America’s longest highway.
Farr will also be opening a Historic Route 20 Visitor’s Center in Chester, in the former Charlie’s Garage on Route 20, which has been made possible through an anonymous gift of $25,000.
He said the donation will pay for renovation of the space, including the construction of two ADA compliant public restrooms, furnishings, supplies, internet and utilities. The Visitor Center will highlight the six Gateway Hilltowns, the Jacob's Ladder Scenic Byway and Historic Route 20. Farr said he expects to open the visitor’s center by January, 2020.
For more information on the Historic U.S. Route 20 Association visit historicus20.com.