Massachusetts Route 17

{{Short description|State highway in Massachusetts, US}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{Infobox road

|state=MA

|type=MA

|route=17

|map=

|map_custom=

|map_notes=

|length_mi=

|length_ref=

|length_round=2

|established=

|decommissioned=yes

|history=1930s in Berkshire County
1950s in Essex County

|maint=Massachusetts DPW

|direction_a=

|direction_b=

|terminus_a=

|junction=

|terminus_b=

|counties=

|previous_type=MA

|previous_route=16

|next_type=MA

|next_route=18

}}

There have been two state highways designated Route 17 in Massachusetts:

• The first Route 17 extended from Great Barrington to the New York state line in the 1930s,{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/48547931/highway-flood-repair-work-planned/ |title=Highway Flood Repair Work Planned |newspaper=The Berkshire Eagle |location=Pittsfield, Massachusetts |page=15 |date=April 17, 1936 |accessdate=April 12, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}} and was renumbered as Route 23 in 1939.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/48548249/twenty-changes-in-numbered-highway/ |title=Twenty Changes In Numbered Highway Routes In This State |newspaper=North Adams Transcript |location=North Adams, Massachusetts |page=2 |date=April 25, 1939 |accessdate=April 12, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}}
• The second Route 17 was a portion of U.S. Route 1 in the 1950s. This was due to the U.S. Highway being moved to a freeway from Danvers to Salisbury at the New Hampshire border. The former U.S. Route 1 segment was designated as Route 17 to the state line and NH 17 for a short distance into Seabrook, New Hampshire. The freeway was later designated as Interstate 95, and Route 17 and NH 17 were restored to being U.S. Route 1. The Route 17 designation was in use by June 1956 and out of use by July 1959.{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/48495015/mt-ann-park-reservation-in-west/ |title=Mt. Ann Park Reservation in West Gloucester |newspaper=The Boston Globe |page=92 |date=June 3, 1956 |accessdate=April 11, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}}{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/48496555/shunpike-to-real-castle-built-on-a/ |title=Shunpike to Real Castle Built on a Mountain Top |first=Jean |last=O'Brien Erickson |newspaper=The Boston Globe |page=45 |date=July 5, 1959 |accessdate=April 11, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}}