Which Massachusetts Communities Have the Most Crashes on Interstate 93?

Boston does, by a wide margin, and it is not close. In 2024, the most recent complete year in the MassDOT crash records, the southbound Interstate 93 segment through Boston recorded 219 crashes and the northbound segment recorded 198, a combined 417. Those two segments are the number one and number two highest-crash roads in the entire city, ahead of Storrow Drive at 95 and both directions of the Massachusetts Turnpike. Statewide, the northbound I-93 segment recorded 444 crashes in 2024, the fourth-highest count of any road segment in the Commonwealth, and the southbound segment recorded 359, the eighth-highest. Fourteen Massachusetts communities have an I-93 segment among their highest-crash roads, and across those fourteen town records the highway accounts for 887 crashes in a single year. In two of them, Stoneham and Methuen, I-93 is the worst road in town, outranking every local street. Every number in this piece comes from MassDOT crash records and can be checked against the town pages in the Massachusetts crash report. To talk through a crash on I-93 or anywhere else in Massachusetts, call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS; the first telephone consultation is free.

Where These Numbers Come From, and What They Do and Do Not Say

The crash counts come from MassDOT’s open crash data, the record built from Massachusetts crash reports, covering calendar years 2022, 2023, and 2024. Town-level totals below are for all three years. Road-level counts are for 2024 alone, the most recent complete year, because road naming in the source data shifts enough between years that stacking three years of it produces noise rather than signal. Statewide over the three years, Massachusetts recorded 405,245 crashes, 1,087 fatal crashes, 92,759 crashes involving injury, 4,356 involving a bicycle, and 5,980 involving a pedestrian.

One caution before the numbers. A high crash count on a road is a measure of exposure as much as of danger. I-93 carries enormous traffic volume through dense areas, and volume produces collisions. A count by itself tells you where crashes happen. It does not tell you that a road is defective, and it certainly does not tell you who was responsible for any particular one. Fault in a Massachusetts injury claim turns on the specific facts under the comparative negligence rule in M.G.L. c. 231, sec. 85, not on a road’s reputation.

Interstate 93 Against Every Other Road in Massachusetts

The 2024 statewide road ranking has an oddity worth explaining, because it changes what the I-93 numbers mean.

The three road entries above I-93 northbound are “Main St,” “Washington St,” and “Pleasant St.” Those are not single roads. They are generic street names aggregated across dozens of Massachusetts communities, so “Main St” at 2,672 crashes is really the sum of every Main Street in the state that the records name that way. Interstate 93 is different: it is one continuous physical highway, and its northbound and southbound segments are recorded under their own names.

Read that way, and this is an inference from the data rather than something the data states outright, Interstate 93 is the highest-crash single roadway in the Massachusetts records for 2024. Northbound at 444 and southbound at 359 both outrank Interstate 495 northbound at 232 and Interstate 290 eastbound at 220, the next-busiest named highway segments in the same list.

The fatal picture is different, and this is the part people get backwards. On the 2024 list of roads by fatal crashes, Interstate 93 northbound recorded 3, tied with the westbound Massachusetts Turnpike and the southbound Pilgrim Highway on Route 3. The top of that list belongs to Interstate 495 northbound with 9, which is covered in detail in the Interstate 495 crash data piece. So the road with the most crashes in Massachusetts is not the road with the most fatal crashes. I-93 produces a very high volume of collisions, mostly in congested urban conditions at lower speeds, while the outer-ring highways produce fewer collisions at higher speeds and kill more people when they happen.

Two of the fourteen communities below, Milton and Canton, sit where I-93 runs concurrently with Route 128, so their I-93 segments are recorded under the Yankee Division Highway name. That overlap and the rest of the beltway are covered in Route 128 crash data.

Answer Capsule

Boston has the most Interstate 93 crashes of any Massachusetts community by a wide margin: 219 on the southbound segment and 198 on the northbound segment in 2024, a combined 417, making I-93 the number one and number two highest-crash roads in the city ahead of Storrow Drive at 95. Statewide in 2024, I-93 northbound recorded 444 crashes, the fourth-highest of any road segment in Massachusetts, and I-93 southbound 359, the eighth-highest. Fourteen communities carry an I-93 segment among their top crash roads, together accounting for 887 crashes in 2024: Boston 417, Milton 68, Andover 65, Braintree 62, Stoneham 54, Methuen 34, Randolph 34, Wilmington 34, Woburn 26, Canton 25, Reading 20, Medford 18, Quincy 17, and Somerville 13. In Stoneham and Methuen the highway is the single highest-crash road in town. I-93 does not lead the state in fatal crashes; that distinction belongs to Interstate 495 northbound, which recorded 9 fatal crashes in 2024 against I-93 northbound’s 3. All figures are MassDOT crash records, town totals for 2022 through 2024 and road counts for 2024, and each is published on the town pages at the Massachusetts crash report. Call Jim Glaser Law at (617) JIM-WINS; the first telephone consultation is free.

The Fourteen Communities, Ranked

Boston, 417 crashes. The largest single concentration on the corridor, and the only place where I-93 holds both of a community’s top two road positions. Boston recorded 17,407 crashes over the three years, 65 of them fatal, with 4,533 involving injury. The city page is at Boston crash data.

Milton, 68 crashes. Milton is the clearest illustration of the naming problem described in the next section. Its I-93 traffic is split across three separately named entries: Yankee Division Highway northbound at 25, the Sergeant William G Walsh Expressway northbound at 24, and Yankee Division Highway southbound at 19. Add them and the highway outranks Blue Hill Avenue, the town’s nominal top road at 38. Milton recorded 2,135 crashes over three years with 8 fatal. See Milton crash data.

Andover, 65 crashes. I-93 northbound at 41 is Andover’s second-highest road behind North Main Street at 51, with I-93 southbound adding 24. Andover also carries Interstate 495 southbound at 31, which makes it one of the few Massachusetts towns where two major interstates both rank in the top five. 3,302 crashes over three years, 9 fatal. See Andover crash data.

Braintree, 62 crashes. Split across two entries, I-93 northbound at 27 and a second northbound entry at 21, plus southbound at 14. Braintree recorded 2,536 crashes and 9 fatal over three years, a fatal rate of 3.5 per 1,000 that runs above the statewide 2.68. See Braintree crash data.

Stoneham, 54 crashes. The most lopsided town on the corridor. I-93 northbound alone recorded 45 crashes, making it Stoneham’s single worst road by a factor of more than two over Main Street northbound at 19. In a town that recorded 1,216 crashes across three years, the highway is the story. See Stoneham crash data.

Methuen, 34 crashes. I-93 northbound at 22 is the highest-count road in Methuen, ahead of the Albert Slack Highway on Route 213. Southbound adds 12. Methuen recorded 3,409 crashes and 8 fatal. See Methuen crash data.

Randolph, 34 crashes. I-93 northbound at 20 ranks third behind both directions of the Amvets Memorial Highway on Route 24. Randolph recorded 2,606 crashes and 4 fatal over three years, a fatal rate of 1.5 per 1,000, well below the statewide figure. See Randolph crash data.

Wilmington, 34 crashes. The most lethal town on the corridor by rate. Wilmington recorded 1,532 crashes and 8 fatal over three years, a rate of 5.2 fatal crashes per 1,000, nearly double the statewide 2.68. I-93 northbound at 23 is its second-highest road behind Main Street at 43. See Wilmington crash data.

Woburn, 26 crashes. Unusual on this list in that the highway does not dominate. Woburn’s top four roads are all local: Main Street at 78, Washington Street at 58, Mishawum Road at 55, and Montvale Avenue at 43. 3,144 crashes and 8 fatal over three years. See Woburn crash data.

Canton, 25 crashes. Recorded as Yankee Division Highway in both directions, 14 northbound and 11 southbound, ranking third behind Washington Street at 70 and Turnpike Street at 31. 1,374 crashes, 3 fatal. See Canton crash data.

Reading, 20 crashes. Reading is the corridor’s safest community by fatal rate: 1,534 crashes across three years and a single fatal crash, a rate of 0.7 per 1,000. It is also the town that best demonstrates the naming trap, because its number one road is Yankee Division Highway southbound on Route 95, the same street name attached to an entirely different highway from the Yankee Division Highway entries in Milton and Canton. See Reading crash data.

Medford, 18 crashes. I-93 northbound ranks fifth in Medford behind four local streets. The more striking Medford numbers are elsewhere: 64 bicycle crashes and 83 pedestrian crashes over three years, against 3,984 total. See Medford crash data.

Quincy, 17 crashes. I-93 southbound is a minor contributor in a city dominated by Hancock Street, which recorded 65 crashes northbound and 57 southbound. Quincy recorded 6,455 crashes over three years, with 155 involving a pedestrian and 71 involving a bicycle. See Quincy crash data.

Somerville, 13 crashes. The lowest I-93 count on the list and the most remarkable town total on it: 1,999 crashes across three years and zero fatal crashes, alongside 144 bicycle crashes, one of the highest bicycle counts in the Commonwealth. See Somerville crash data.

The Naming Trap, and Why It Matters for Your Crash Report

If you take one practical thing from this data, take this. Interstate 93 does not appear under one name in the Massachusetts crash records. It appears under at least four.

In Boston, Andover, Braintree, Stoneham, Methuen, Randolph, Wilmington, Woburn, Reading, and Medford it is recorded as “Interstate 93.” In Milton and Canton it is recorded as “Yankee Division Highway.” In Milton it also appears as the “Sergeant William G Walsh Expressway.” In Braintree and Somerville, some entries carry only the route code with no street name at all.

Worse, the name “Yankee Division Highway” is not exclusive to I-93. Reading’s highest-crash road is Yankee Division Highway southbound carrying the Route 95 designation, which is a physically different road from the Yankee Division Highway entries in Milton and Canton that carry the I-93 designation. The street name alone will mislead you. The route code is what identifies the road.

This matters when you request your own crash report or read the one the responding officer wrote. The road name on that report may not say “Interstate 93,” and an insurer or an adjuster working from the street name may place the crash somewhere other than where it happened. Check the route designation, the exit number, and the direction of travel, and correct the record early if any of them is wrong. The how to report a car accident in Massachusetts article covers the reporting obligation and how to obtain the report.

Volume Is Not the Same as Danger

Set the corridor’s communities against each other by fatal rate rather than by crash count and the ranking inverts.

Wilmington, with 1,532 crashes over three years, recorded 8 fatal, a rate of 5.2 per 1,000. Somerville, with 1,999 crashes, recorded zero. Reading, with 1,534, recorded one. Boston, with 17,407 crashes, more than eleven times Wilmington’s total, recorded a fatal rate of 3.7 per 1,000, below Wilmington’s.

The pattern is the same one that shows up everywhere in this dataset and in the Merrimack Valley crash data and Bristol County crash data pieces: dense communities produce many crashes at low speeds, and highway-and-rural communities produce fewer crashes at high speeds that are far more likely to kill someone. Crash volume tracks traffic. Crash lethality tracks speed and road type.

For someone injured on I-93, the practical translation is that a low-speed rear-end chain in Boston stop-and-go traffic and a high-speed collision on the same highway thirty miles north are different injuries, different medical courses, and different claims, even though the crash records file them under the same road.

Where an Interstate 93 Injury Case Would Be Heard

The corridor crosses four counties, and venue follows the community rather than the highway.

Boston sits in Suffolk County, under Suffolk County Superior Court at 3 Pemberton Square in Boston. Milton, Braintree, Randolph, Canton, and Quincy sit in Norfolk County, under Norfolk Superior Court at 650 High Street in Dedham. Stoneham, Wilmington, Woburn, Reading, Medford, and Somerville sit in Middlesex County, under Middlesex Superior Court at 200 Trade Center in Woburn. Andover and Methuen sit in Essex County, under Essex Superior Court at 56 Federal Street in Salem.

Most claims resolve before anything is filed anywhere. When a case does need to be filed, the general deadline for a personal injury action in Massachusetts is three years from the date of the crash under M.G.L. c. 260, sec. 2A. Two much shorter clocks are worth knowing on a road like this one.

The first is the Massachusetts Tort Claims Act. M.G.L. c. 258, sec. 4 bars a civil action against a public employer unless the claimant first presented the claim in writing to that employer’s executive officer within two years after the date upon which the cause of action arose, and it bars any action brought more than three years after the cause of action accrued. Presentment is a separate gate from the filing deadline, and missing it ends the claim. The whole procedure, including who the claim goes to and the $100,000 damages cap, is set out in can you sue the state or a city in Massachusetts.

The second is tighter still. A claim based on a defect in a state highway runs through M.G.L. c. 81, sec. 18, which makes the Commonwealth liable for injuries from defects within the limits of the constructed traveled roadway but only subject to the conditions in M.G.L. c. 84, secs. 15, 18, and 19. Section 18 of chapter 84 requires the injured person to give written notice of the name, residence, time, place, and cause of the injury within thirty days thereafter. Chapter 81, sec. 18 also caps recovery against the Commonwealth for such an injury at $4,000, and excludes injuries on a state highway sidewalk, injuries from the want of a railing, and injuries sustained during construction, reconstruction, or repair of the highway.

Thirty days is the number to remember. If a road condition, a work zone, or a state or municipal vehicle is any part of what happened, the timing question needs to be answered in weeks, not years. The statute of limitations article covers the general rule and its exceptions, and slip and fall and premises liability covers the defective-way statutes in more detail.

If the crash involved a tractor-trailer, which the I-93 corridor carries heavily through Wilmington, Woburn, Andover, and Methuen, the evidence timeline compresses further, because electronic logging data and driver records are subject to retention schedules that can expire while an injured person is still in treatment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Which Massachusetts city has the most crashes on Interstate 93?

A: Boston, with 417 crashes on I-93 in 2024, split between 219 southbound and 198 northbound. Those two segments are the number one and number two highest-crash roads in the city, ahead of Storrow Drive at 95 and both directions of the Massachusetts Turnpike. No other community on the corridor is close; the next highest is Milton at 68.

Q: Is Interstate 93 the most dangerous road in Massachusetts?

A: It has the most crashes of any single physical roadway in the 2024 records, but not the most fatal crashes. I-93 northbound recorded 444 crashes, fourth-highest among all road entries statewide, and southbound recorded 359, eighth-highest. The three entries ranked above it are generic street names such as Main Street and Washington Street aggregated across many communities rather than single roads. On fatal crashes, however, Interstate 495 northbound led with 9 in 2024 against I-93 northbound’s 3.

Q: Which town has the highest share of its crashes on I-93?

A: Stoneham. Interstate 93 northbound alone recorded 45 crashes there in 2024, making it the single highest-crash road in town by more than a factor of two over Main Street northbound at 19. Methuen is the other community where an I-93 segment is the town’s top road, with 22 crashes northbound.

Q: Which community on the I-93 corridor has the highest fatal crash rate?

A: Wilmington, at 5.2 fatal crashes per 1,000 crashes, from 8 fatal crashes among 1,532 total over 2022 through 2024. That is nearly double the statewide rate of 2.68 per 1,000. At the other end, Somerville recorded zero fatal crashes among 1,999, and Reading recorded one among 1,534, a rate of 0.7.

Q: Why does Interstate 93 show up under different names in the crash data?

A: Because the records use the street name assigned locally rather than a single highway name. I-93 appears as “Interstate 93” in most communities, as “Yankee Division Highway” in Milton and Canton, and as the “Sergeant William G Walsh Expressway” in Milton. In Braintree and Somerville some entries carry only the route code. The name “Yankee Division Highway” is also used in Reading for a Route 95 segment, which is a different road entirely. The route designation, not the street name, is what identifies the highway, and it is worth checking on your own crash report.

Q: Does a high crash count on I-93 help prove the other driver was at fault in my case?

A: No. Crash totals describe patterns across thousands of collisions and say nothing about responsibility in any single one. Fault in a Massachusetts injury claim is decided on the specific facts under the comparative negligence rule in M.G.L. c. 231, sec. 85, which reduces damages by the injured person’s share of fault and bars recovery only if that share is greater than the combined negligence of the defendants.

Q: Where would a case from an I-93 crash be filed?

A: It depends on the community and the amount in controversy. Boston sits in Suffolk County under Suffolk County Superior Court in Boston. Milton, Braintree, Randolph, Canton, and Quincy sit in Norfolk County under Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham. Stoneham, Wilmington, Woburn, Reading, Medford, and Somerville sit in Middlesex County under Middlesex Superior Court in Woburn. Andover and Methuen sit in Essex County under Essex Superior Court in Salem. Most claims resolve before any filing.

Q: How long do I have to bring a claim from an Interstate 93 crash?

A: Generally three years from the date of the crash under M.G.L. c. 260, sec. 2A. Two shorter clocks apply if a public entity is involved. M.G.L. c. 258, sec. 4 requires written presentment to the executive officer of the public employer within two years after the cause of action arose and bars any action brought more than three years after it accrued. A claim based on a defect in a state highway runs through M.G.L. c. 81, sec. 18, which incorporates the conditions of M.G.L. c. 84, secs. 15, 18, and 19, including the requirement in sec. 18 that written notice be given within thirty days, and which caps recovery against the Commonwealth at $4,000. If a road condition, a work zone, or a government vehicle is part of what happened, the timing question should be answered within weeks.

Q: Is Jimmy Knows AI giving me legal advice?

A: No. This is general information about Massachusetts law and publicly available crash data, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. How any rule applies depends entirely on the facts of a specific situation. For advice about a specific matter, speak with a Massachusetts attorney. The Jim Glaser Law line is answered 24 hours a day at (617) JIM-WINS, and the first telephone consultation is free.