Wilbur Cross Highway
The Wilbur Cross Highway is the designation for a freeway beginning at Wethersfield, running along a portion of Connecticut Route 15 and U.S. Route 5 to East Hartford, Connecticut, and then continuing northeast as a section of Interstate 84, part of which is also cosigned as U.S. Route 6. The freeway ends at a junction with the tolled Massachusetts Turnpike in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. The entire route was formerly signed as Route 15.
Wilbur Cross Highway | |
|---|---|
 Map of northern Connecticut with Wilbur Cross Highway highlighted in red | |
| Route information | |
| Length | 46.41 mi[1][2] (74.69 km) |
| Existed | 1940–present |
| Component highways |   US 5 / Route 15 from Wethersfield, CT to East Hartford, CT I-84 from East Hartford, CT to Sturbridge, MA US 6 from East Hartford, CT to Manchester, CT |
| Major junctions | |
| South end | US 5 / Route 15 / Berlin Turnpike in Wethersfield, CT |
 I-91 in Hartford, CT Route 2 in East Hartford, CT I-84 / US 6 in East Hartford, CT I-384 in East Hartford, CT I-291 in Manchester, CT | |
| North end |  I-90 / Mass Pike in Sturbridge, MA |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| States | Connecticut, Massachusetts |
| Counties | CT: Hartford, Tolland, Windham MA: Hampden, Worcester |
| Highway system | |
| |
Route description
Route 15 and U.S. Route 5
The Wilbur Cross Highway begins as a Y-interchange with the Berlin Turnpike in Wethersfield. South of here, Route 15 and U.S. Route 5 (US 5) continue south along the turnpike. The highway proceeds in a northeasterly direction and has an interchange with Route 99 (Old Route 9) before entering Hartford and reaching interchanges with Interstate 91 (I-91) and the Hartford–Brainard Airport access road. The highway then crosses the Connecticut River by way of the Charter Oak Bridge, curving to a more east-west direction, before merging into the median of I-84 in East Hartford.
Interstate 84
US 6 is cosigned with I-84 on the Wilbur Cross Highway from exit 57 in East Hartford to exit 60 in Manchester. I-84 intersects one of the remnants of an abandoned project, I-384, as part of a three-mile (4.8 km) series of complex interchanges in Manchester including the end of the US 6 concurrency at exit 60, and a connection to the only built as originally planned portion of I-291 at exit 61.
Beyond Manchester, I-84 climbs steadily from the Connecticut River Valley and passes through the Tolland County towns of Vernon, Tolland, and Willington. After briefly entering the Windham County town of Ashford, it reenters Tolland County in the town of Union. After exit 74 (Route 171), I-84 crosses the Massachusetts state line. All lanes eventually enter into Sturbridge, but the westbound lanes pass briefly through the town of Holland before entering Sturbridge. Eight miles (13 km) later, I-84 reaches its eastern terminus at the Massachusetts Turnpike (I-90).
History
The highway was built in the 1940s, before the Interstate Highway era, as a continuation of the Wilbur Cross Parkway, which itself is a continuation of the Merritt Parkway – all of which were once signed Route 15. Originally, the parkways were to span continuously from Greenwich to Union, but with the opening of Interstate 91, the planned segment between Meriden and Hartford was never built, and Route 15 was instead routed along the Berlin Turnpike.
In 1958, the highway north of the Charter Oak Bridge was cosigned as I-84, as part of the interstate highway's planned route through Connecticut. In 1968, this designation was moved to a proposed highway from Hartford to Providence, and the then-cosigned portion with Route 15 was renumbered to I-86. The Route 15 designation remained cosigned with I-86 section south of the Massachusetts border until October 1, 1980, when it was truncated to its current northern terminus at exit 57 of I-84. The I-84 designation was restored in 1984 when the planned highway to Providence was cancelled.
From 1948 to 1982, US 44 was signed along the highway from current exit 60 to current exit 69.
Charter Oak Bridge
The Charter Oak Bridge, which carries the highway across the Connecticut River, has been operational since 1942. Due to the bridge's failing condition and the clogging on the nearby Bissell and Founders Bridges in the late 1980s, the Charter Oak Bridge and approach was completely rebuilt in 1991 to its current form.
Exit list
Exit numbers correspond to those of Route 15 and Interstate 84. Old exit numbers correspond to when the I-84 was signed as Route 15.
| State | County | Location | mi[1] | km | Old exit | New exit | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Connecticut | Hartford | Wethersfield | 0.00 | 0.00 | – |  US 5 south / Route 15 south (Berlin Turnpike) | Southern terminus of US 5 / Route 15 concurrency; continues south as the Berlin Turnpike | |
| 1.76 | 2.83 | 85 |  Route 99 south – Wethersfield, Rocky Hill | |||||
| Hartford | 2.16– 3.42 | 3.48– 5.50 | 86-89 |    I-91 / Brainard Road / Airport Road to I-84 west – New Haven, New York City, Hartford, Springfield | Signed as exits 86 (I-91 south), 87 (Brainard) and 89 (I-91 north); no southbound access to I-91 north; exits 35B-36 on I-91 | |||
| Connecticut River | 4.01 | 6.45 | Charter Oak Bridge | |||||
| East Hartford | 4.06 | 6.53 | 90 |  US 5 north (Main Street) / Route 2 / East River Drive – Norwich | Northern terminus of US 5 concurrency; no southbound signage for Route 2 | |||
| 4.85 | 7.81 | 91 | Silver Lane (SR 502) | Northbound exit and southbound entrance | ||||
| 5.64 | 9.08 | 57 |  I-84 west (Yankee Expressway) to I-91 north – Hartford Route 15 ends | Northern terminus of Route 15; western terminus of I-84 concurrency; westbound exit and eastbound entrance | ||||
| 5.95 | 9.58 | – | Silver Lane | Westbound exit from Restricted Lane | ||||
| 58 | Roberts Street (Route 518) / Silver Lane (Route 502 / Burnside Avenue – East Hartford | |||||||
| 91 | Forbes Street | Closed to make way for construction exit 59 | ||||||
| 7.23– 7.70 | 11.64– 12.39 | 59 |  I-384 east – Providence | Includes eastbound exit and westbound entrance to Restricted Lanes | ||||
| Manchester | 8.59 | 13.82 | 92 | 60 |   US 6 east / US 44 (Middle Turnpike West) / Burnside Avenue – Manchester, East Hartford | US 6 continues east; westbound exit shares a ramp with exit 62 | ||
| 8.38– 8.97 | 13.49– 14.44 | 61 | I-291 west – South Windsor, Windsor | Eastern terminus of I-291 | ||||
| 9.56 | 15.39 | 93 | 62 | Buckland Street – South Windsor, Manchester | ||||
| 12.40 | 19.96 | 94 | 63 |   Route 30 / Route 83 – Manchester, South Windsor | ||||
| Tolland | Vernon | 13.31 | 21.42 | 95 | 64 | Route 30 / Route 83 – Vernon, Rockville, Talcottville | ||
| 13.81 | 22.23 | – | I-84 west (Restricted Lanes) | Eastern terminus of Restricted lanes | ||||
| 14.01 | 22.55 | 96 | 65 | Route 30 – Vernon Center | Eastbound exit shared a ramp with exit 64 | |||
| 15.75 | 25.35 | 97 | 66 | Tunnel Road (SR 541) – Vernon, Bolton | ||||
| 17.91– 18.26 | 28.82– 29.39 | 98 | 67 |  Route 31 – Rockville, Coventry | ||||
| Tolland | 21.66 | 34.86 | 99 | 68 |  Route 195 – Tolland, Mansfield, Storrs | Access to the University of Connecticut | ||
| 24.63 | 39.64 | 100 | 69 |   Route 74 to US 44 – Willington, Tolland, Rockville, Putnam | ||||
| Willington | 26.13 | 42.05 | 101 | 70 |  Route 32 – Stafford Springs, Willington, Mansfield, Willimantic | |||
| 28.28– 28.86 | 45.51– 46.45 | 102 | 71 |  Route 320 south (Ruby Road) – Willington | Northern terminus of Route 320 | |||
| Windham–Tolland county line | Ashford–Union town line | 32.66 | 52.56 | 104 | 72 |  Route 89 – Stafford Springs, Westford, Ashford | ||
| Tolland | Union | 34.08 | 54.85 | 105 | 73 |  Route 190 – Union, Stafford Springs | ||
| 37.99– 38.55 | 61.14– 62.04 | 106 | 74 |  Route 171 / Holland Road – Union, Holland, Mass | ||||
| 38.70 | 62.28 | Connecticut–Massachusetts state line | ||||||
| Massachusetts | Hampden | Holland | 38.99 | 62.75 | – | Mashapaug Road | Westbound entrance only; former Route 15 | |
| Worcester | Sturbridge | 41.95 | 67.51 | 1 | 3 | Mashapaug Road – Southbridge, Sturbridge | Former Route 15 | |
| 43.78 | 70.46 | 2 | 5 |  To Route 131 – Sturbridge, Southbridge | Signed for Old Sturbridge Village | |||
| 45.25– 45.57 | 72.82– 73.34 | 3 | 6 |  US 20 – Worcester, Palmer | Signed as exits 6A (east) and 6B (west) | |||
| 46.41 | 74.69 | – | I-90 / Mass Pike – Springfield, Albany NY, Worcester, Boston | Eastern terminus of I-84; exit 78 (old exit 9) on I-90 / Mass Pike | ||||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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References
- State of Connecticut Department of Transportation (2012). "2012 Traffic Volumes, State Maintained Highway Network" (PDF). Retrieved January 27, 2020.
- "Massachusetts Route Log Application - Route Selection Page". Archived from the original on 2014-08-26. Retrieved 2016-09-15.