The Lieutenant William F. Callahan Jr. Tunnel (colloquially Callahan Tunnel) is a road tunnel under

Boston Harbor Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, located adjacent to Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the Northeastern United States. History 17th century Since its dis ...

between the North End and

East Boston East Boston, nicknamed Eastie, is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, which was annexed by the city of Boston in 1836. Neighboring communities include Winthrop, Massachusetts, Winthrop, Revere, Mas ...

. It carries northbound

Massachusetts Route 1A Route 1A is a north–south state highway in Massachusetts, United States. It is an alternate route to U.S. 1 with three signed sections and two unsigned sections where the highway is concurrent with its parent. Due to the reconfiguration o ...

, forming a

one-way pair A one-way pair, one-way couple, or couplet refers to that portion of a bi-directional traffic facilitysuch as a road, bus, streetcar, or light rail linewhere its opposing flows exist as two independent and roughly parallel facilities. Descriptio ...

with the

Sumner Tunnel The Sumner Tunnel is a road tunnel in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It carries traffic under Boston Harbor in one direction, from Logan International Airport and Route 1A in East Boston. The tunnel originally deposited traffic at the ...

. Opened in 1961 to complement the Sumner Tunnel, it carried all northbound traffic under the harbor until the

Ted Williams Tunnel The Ted Williams Tunnel is a highway tunnel in Boston, Massachusetts. The third in the city to travel under Boston Harbor, with the Sumner Tunnel and the Callahan Tunnel, it carries the final segment of Interstate 90 (the Massachusetts Turnpi ...

opened in the 1990s as part of the

Big Dig The Big Dig was a megaproject in Boston that rerouted the then elevated Central Artery of Interstate 93 that cut across Boston into the O'Neill Tunnel and built the Ted Williams Tunnel to extend Massachusetts Turnpike, Interstate 90 to Logan I ...

History

The tunnel was opened in 1961 to complement the

. The under-construction tunnel had been named in February 1960 after William F. Callahan Jr. – the son of Turnpike chairman William F. Callahan – who was killed in Italy during World War II. A toll plaza was located at the East Boston end of the tunnel. On May 2, 1983, one-way tolling was implemented in the Sumner and Callahan tunnels and on the

Tobin Bridge The Maurice J. Tobin Memorial Bridge (formerly the Mystic River Bridge) is a cantilever bridge, cantilever truss bridge that spans more than from Charlestown, Boston, Boston to Chelsea, Massachusetts, Chelsea over the Mystic River in Massach ...

. The Callahan Tunnel toll plaza was removed, while tolls on the Sumner Tunnel doubled to 60 cents. Repairs to the tunnel were made in the early 1990s. The

project, which replaced the elevated

Central Artery The Central Artery (officially the John F. Fitzgerald Expressway) is the concurrent section of Interstate 93, US 1 and Route 3 through Downtown Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The modern-day Artery, built as part of the Big Dig from ...

with a tunnel, modified the western approaches to the tunnel. Access from northbound I-93 was closed in January 2003 after a ramp from I-93 to the

opened. A new ramp from New Chardon Street opened in March 2003. When the northbound lanes of the Central Artery tunnel opened later that month, they did not include a ramp to the Callahan Tunnel. The original ramp from North Street closed in November 2003, leaving access to the Callahan Tunnel only from New Chardon Street and southbound I-93. A major overhaul began in December 2013, which completely replaced the deck, curbs, and wall panels; and cleaned and repaired its ceiling and vent systems (above the ceiling and below the deck). It was planned for three phases: complete closure from December 27, 2013 to March 12, 2014 during deck and curb replacement; closures 11pm-5am from March 13, 2014 to late August 2014 for wall panel replacement; and final work until November 2014. McCourt Construction of South Boston was awarded the $19.3 million contract in August. During closures, Logan-bound traffic was diverted into the

, and

South via Revere or East Boston. In 2016, cashless tolling systems were installed in both directions – entering the Sumner Tunnel and exiting the Callahan Tunnel – as part of a plan to modernize toll collection the Boston area. As of 2016, a

toll Toll may refer to: Transportation * Toll (fee) a fee charged for the use of a road or waterway ** Toll road, a type of road which for which payment is required for passage ** Road pricing, the modern practice of charging for road use ** Road to ...

of $1.50 is charged for non-commercial two-axle vehicles with a Massachusetts E-ZPass, while non-Massachusetts E-ZPass holders are charged $1.75. Vehicles without E-ZPass are charged $2.05 through MassDOT's Pay By Plate MA program. For residents of certain Boston ZIP codes, a discount is in effect using an

E-ZPass E-ZPass Interagency Group (E-ZPass Group trade name and E-ZPass product brand) is an electronic toll collection system used on toll roads, toll bridges, and toll tunnels in the eastern half of the United States. The group itself is composed of ...

transponder, costing $0.20.

References

External links

{{Crossings navbox , structure = Crossings , place =

, bridge = Callahan Tunnel , bridge signs = MA Route 1A

, upstream =

, upstream signs = MA Route 1A

, downstream =

East Boston Tunnel The Blue Line is a rapid transit line in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, one of four rapid transit lines operated by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). It runs from Bowdoin station in downtown Boston under Boston Har ...

, downstream signs = MBTA

Boston Harbor Road tunnels in Massachusetts Tunnels in Boston U.S. Route 1 Interstate 93 Tunnels completed in 1961 Toll tunnels in Massachusetts