An update: Our actual GPX track (via Strava) is available at this link   Upon post ride reflection, I would consider this change from Readville to Hull to better reflect the original old route 128. See my Reflection at: https://biking-old-128.blogspot.com/2026/08/completed-ride-on-august-5-2026.html  === Here are links to two GPX files I created using Google Maps and https://mapstogpx.com/ . You are free to access and download these files.  Gloucester to Waltham Center and Waltham Center to Hull  (after the trip, I'll also make available the actual GPX file from the ride itself) I used the GPX file to create Komoot routes. When I ride with Komoot, I download the save routes to my smartphone and use a Bluetooth ear bud for audio navigation (I keep the phone in my jacket pocket or pannier).  The saved routes in Komoot are: Gloucester to Waltham Center and Waltham Center to Hull Komoot indicates (elevation profile, milage) that the first half, Gloucester to W...

 To learn more about this history of Route 128, I recommend the following to get you started: Wikipedia: Massachusetts Route 128 David Kruh: Building Route 128 YouTube Video & Presentation "Building Route 128" and the video / presentation by David Kruh is (for me) a definitive look into the origins of the Rt 128. I used both, along with descriptions in the Wikipedia article to chose the roads selected for the bicycle route that I think come closest to the pre 1940 route. Update ... I purchased the book (used) for $5 and it's excellent.

This is something I thought about for some time. Except for a short stint in Charlestown, since living in Massachusetts I've lived in the Rt 128 corridor. First in Woburn, then Wakefield and Gloucester. I feel I know the full personality of 128 from Gloucester to the Mass Pike, and I've travel the full distance to Canton hundreds of times. Especially during my Wakefield days, I often jumped off today's Rt 128 to take local roads when the traffic was bad, or when I just needed a different perspective. Over time I learned that the roads I would take through Waltham, Lexington, Woburn, and Stoneham were part of an older, marked, Route 128 that predated the current limited access highway. I wanted to learn more. I'm not the first to research this ... there are many resources that present the history of Route 128. I'll include them in this blog in their own post.  This summer,  in a single day, I will bicycle the pre highway Route 128. The route has morphed over the year...