Steve:
The only way to get through Boston in a reasonably safe manner, is to go through early on a Sunday morning. The good people are in church and the others are sleeping off their Sat. night binges. Even I-495 north is a bear and you need to be watchful. Especially on a Thurs. or Fri. when some are hurrying to get to their summer places in Maine.
Having driving over that area too many times to count, it is the area we have had our closest calls to catastrophe. Only Fred's excellent skills behind the wheel have saved us. Since we are getting more and more skittish about it, we will now fly and motel it when we need to get our kids/grandkids fixes.
As for the comment about the on-ramps, it is true. Had a friend whose kids took drivers' ed in Mass. They were told to ignore the yield signs coming onto the Interstates, or they would never get onto it. Some great advice????? We had one kid come on, going at least 60, cut across the 3 lanes to directly in front of us and then the other traffic in that same lane slowed. That kid, along with his 3 other passengers almost bought it...... We came within inches, before the traffic picked up speed again. Fred and I were both shaking 40 miles later when we hit the Maine border. Whew!
Anyway, my 2 cents worth......
Daisy