Just checked Supercharge.info and came away with this: For those not familiar with the area: The Market Basket has a "cafe" with prepared foods that you can sit in, or sandwiches/salads to go as well. You've got Panera and other standard "mall eats" during business hours. 110 Grill (standard American bar and grill) just opened, as well as Starbucks, Dunkin, Denny's, etc etc all within walking distance, as well as movie theater and a good Chinese restaurant as well (Chopsticks). Oh, and it's convenient to Rt 2 and 190. Being a local (could you tell? lol) this is probably the best spot in Leominster they could have chosen.
Interesting in that it's not on a major travel route. Certainly a major commute route, though. Beautiful for you from Ayer. For now it'll be the main emergency SC for us Metro-NWers (as in "$&!?$, forgot to plug in last night"), being only 13 miles from 495. I'm still hoping for something more directly off 495, though there's nothing on the "coming soon" map. I'll certainly check it out!
Can't have a supercharger without a Panera, now can we... I used to go to the 110 in Hudson, MA a lot before moving to NH. I give it 2 thumbs up!
Rt 2 is definitely a "leafer" route in the fall. Maybe they've used Model 3 reservation data to place this one?
Great to see. RT 2 is certainly an important east/west route in northern mass even if its not a major interstate. As ModelNforNerd said this is a great spot in Leominster. And for anyone who is not local, no it is not pronounced "leo" "minster" try "lemonster"
Leominster might see some business from owners driving up from CT/NY towards NH/ME. When driving north out of Worcester, we'll frequently take 190N - 2E - 495N vs. going 290E - 495N. It's slightly more of a dogleg, so the route does add on a couple of miles. When heading towards Leominster we estimate we still save time during some busy weekends. We've seen our nav paint some nasty tie ups on the 290E- 495N route. Then there's always a benefit available for drivers who will consider opting out of the Auburn SC. Bypassing Auburn will mean hitting Leominster with slightly less SOC. The initial charge rate will be a little faster, possibly shortening the minutes needed to charge to reach the next destination.
I was trying to figure out the routes it would serve since most longer-distance traffic would be sent by Supercharge.info on different routes. But North of Boston, MA to Amherst, MA or Boston, MA to the forest in Southwest Vermont would go through Leominster, MA. I was wondering about that. I didn't think it would be given other cities. For reference, the English city is pronounced "lemster".
Leominster, MA Interstates: None* US Numbered Highways (<=5mi): None To: Hooksett, NH (MA-2,I-495,US-3,NH-ET,I-293,I-93) - 67.1 miles To: Seabrook, NH (MA-2,I-495,I-95,NH-107) - 59.6 miles To: Dedham, MA (MA-2,I-95,local) - 45.7 miles To: Sagamore, MA (MA-2,MA-70,MA-117,I-495,MA-25,US-6,local) - 96.4 miles To: Auburn, MA (MA-2,I-190,I-290) - 27.6 miles To: Brattleboro, VT (MA-2,local,MA-10,I-91) - 62.5 miles To: West Lebanon, NH (MA-2,MA/NH-12,NH/VT-123,US-5,I-91,I-89,NH-12A) - 107 miles It's a Supercharger. * Close to north end of MA-I-190 spur
For me, it will be the "Oh S-" Supercharger.....meaning, if I have a long trip scheduled and forget to range charge at home, or if we're already on a long trip and headed home, I know I can put a little foot into it and not worry so much about not making it back (especially in winter).
If you're headed out to the Mohawk Trail to check out the leaves in the fall, this is a perfect spot. Also works if you're headed to the Berkshires on a busy weekend and don't want to deal w/the Pike. Also, adds a non-highway North/South waypoint to the White Mountains and Lakes. If 495/3/93 turn red on your Nav (as they usually do), you can now top off in Leominster and use 13 or 31 to sneak into NH and pick up 3 north of Nashua. and for the record, it's "Lemon-stuh".
It can be. This time of year, 495 from Rt 2 all the way to the junction w/95 is usually slammed. Then 95 from the 495 junction all the way up to Old Orchard gets slammed....depending on where you're headed, sometimes it's easier to sneak up into NH this way and cut across on 101 to get towards the coast.
This location makes trips to Wachusett viable from the east coast. You can get pretty close not to making a round trip back, especially when consumption climbs to 500Wh/mi in the snow. Although frankly Chelmsford area would have been better.
Another trick - Littleton rt 119 exit, head west, turn right on Beaver Brook road to 225. A few back roads to 40 east takes you to 3 in North Chelmsford. Friends who lived in Nashua used this for the commute home from 495 when the 3/495 junction got bad. I knew that route like the back of my hand, years ago when I rented a share in a ski house in Mt Holly, VT (near Okemo). Rt 2->140->12. 140 bypasses downtown Firchburg. Take 12 through Keene all the way to 91 exit 5. One exit north to 103. Chelmsford would be great, but for those with a Chademo adapter, there's a free Chargepoint Chademo/CCS at the Lowell Hannaford's on Rt 38 at the Tewksbury line, right off 495 Exit 38. I've used it a bunch of times for a quick boost on trips to Boston and home without time or opportunity for destination charging - Hannaford Supermarket | Lowell, MA | Electric Car Charging Station | PlugShare
Snuck over to Market Basket today for steak and steamers....snapped a few pics. Also, there was a green S60 parked nearby. So I wasn't the only one scouting today. as for the work, they dug their trench from the next parking lot over and into the worksite. Now they're working on the trench and underground wiring for the SC's themselves. I'm guessing the cabinets, etc are still in the trailer. didn't look like they were working today.
...and in case anyone asks, I shot these in between the wire of the fence. I did not enter the area. Looks like an 8 port system. Two near the control boxes, and three on either side towards Panera and the mall.