Route Description
Route 2A begins at the rotary intersection of Route 2 at Interstate 91 in Greenfield. It passes through downtown Greenfield before reconnecting to its parent route just west of the Greenfield-Gill town line. After a 12.6-mile silent concurrency, Route 2A leaves its parent road once more, passing through Orange and Athol. In Athol it passes the former northern terminus of Route 21, which was truncated to Belchertown after the creation of the Quabbin Reservoir. From Phillipston through Westminster, Route 2A weaves around its parent route, crossing it a total of six times with five exits of access off of Route 2. In Fitchburg the road is shared with several other routes as it passes through the northern half of town. Once in Lunenburg it has another short concurrency with Route 13 just north of the former Whalom Park before crossing into Middlesex County at Shirley.
In Shirley, Route 2 passes north of Fort Devens into Ayer before heading into Littleton before crossing Interstate 495 at Exit 30. It then turns south through Acton and into Concord before Route 2A rejoins its parent route once more. As a silent concurrency it passes south of the historic center of town and north of Walden Pond before splitting again. Route 2A then passes through the Minuteman National Historical Park along the Great Road, the route taken by British troops between the Battles of Lexington and Concord. It then leaves the park, intersecting with I-95/Route 128 at Exits 30 A-B. The road passes south of Lexington's town center before winding into Arlington. In Arlington, the road begins a concurrency with U.S. Route 3 which eventually joins the route to Massachusetts Avenue. After US 3 leaves Mass Ave. at the Alewife Brook Parkway, Route 2A continues through the city of Cambridge, passing through Harvard Yard and by MIT. It intersects the junction of US 3 and Massachusetts Route 3 at Memorial Drive before crossing the Harvard Bridge (also known as the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge) before crossing into Boston, finally ending at Route 2 and U.S. Route 20 at Commonwealth Avenue.
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