New England Interstate Routes

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Not to be confused with the Interstate Highway System.

1922 list

The New England Interstate Routes were an interstate system of marked numbered routes in New England, as well as New York east of the Hudson River. The routes were marked by a yellow rectangular shield with black numbers and border. Many shields were painted on telephone poles. The routes were approved by the highway departments of the six New England states in April 1922.^[1]

Prior to the New England Interstate Routes, through routes were mainly marked with colored bands on telephone poles. These were assigned by direction (red for east-west, blue for north-south and yellow for imtermediate or diagonal routes). The Massachusetts Highway Commission convinced the rest of southern New England and New York to use this system in 1915 (New Hampshire and Vermont already had their own schemes, and Maine also opted out), and it was the main system until 1922.^[2]

The New England Interstate system, while limited to New England, was designed for expansion to the whole country. One- and two-digit numbers were assigned to major interstate routes, with three-digit routes for state routes (marked in a rectangle, with the state abbreviation below the number). In general, odd numbers ran east-west and even numbers ran north-south. The main exception was Route 1, which was to run along the Atlantic coast from Florida to Calais, Maine. A few of the major auto trails were not to be assigned numbers, instead being marked with letters - for instance, L for the Lincoln Highway and R for the Roosevelt International Highway.^[1]

In 1926, the routes were supplanted by the national United States Numbered Highways. Except for Route 1, which became U.S. Route 1, the old numbers were not used, since the U.S. Highway system uses odd numbers for north-south routes and even numbers for east-west routes. However, most of the routes that did not become U.S. Routes kept (and still have) their numbers as state highways.

[edit] List of routes

New England Route	Current Routes	Endpoints
Route 1		New York, NY to Calais, ME (towards Saint John, New Brunswick)
Route 1A		Westerly, RI to Providence, RI
Route 2		New Haven, CT (Route 1) to Derby Line, VT (towards Sherbrooke, Quebec)
Route 2A		West Burke, VT to Derby, VT
Route 3		Bedford, NY (Route 22) to Provincetown, MA
Route 4		New York, NY to Highgate Springs, VT (towards Montreal, Quebec) Not signed as Route 4 in New York (see Route 22).
Route 5		Albany, NY to Boston, MA (Routes 1 - 6 - 7 - 28)
Route 6		Orleans, MA (Route 3) to Colebrook, NH (Route 26)
Route 6A		Kingston, MA to Quincy, MA
Route 6A		Franklin, NH to Plymouth, NH
Route 6B		Cambridge, MA to Lowell, MA
Route 7		Troy, NY to Boston, MA (Routes 1 - 5 - 6 - 28)
Route 8		Stratford, CT (Route 1) to Wilmington, VT (Route 9)
Route 9		Troy, NY to Wells, ME (Route 1)
Route 10		Old Saybrook, CT (Route 1) to Littleton, NH (Route 18)
Route 11		Manchester, VT (Route 4) to Biddeford, ME (Route 1)
Route 12		New London, CT (Route 1) to Derby, VT (Route 2)
Route 12A		Randolph, VT to Northfield, VT
Route 12B		Hardwick, VT to Coventry, VT
Route 13		Whitehall, NY to White River Junction, VT (Routes 2 - 14)
Route 14		Burlington, VT (Routes 4 - 15 - 30) to White River Junction, VT (Routes 2 - 13)
Route 15		Burlington, VT (Routes 4 - 14 - 30) to Houlton, ME (towards Fredericton, New Brunswick)
Route 16		Portsmouth, NH (Route 1) to Errol, NH (Route 26)
Route 17		Hudson, NY to Westerly, RI (Route 1) Not signed as Route 17 in New York (see Route 23).
Route 18		Portland, ME (Routes 1 - 25 - 26) to Montpelier, VT (Routes 12 - 14 - 25)
Route 19		Bethlehem, NH (Route 10 - 18) to Brunswick, ME (Route 1) In the 1922 plan but was never signed.
Route 20		Brunswick, ME (Route 1) to Jackman, ME (towards Quebec City, Quebec)
Route 21		Poughkeepsie, NY to Amenia, NY (Route 4 - 22) Not an official New England route designation but numbered by New York to be consistent with the system.
Route 22		New York, NY (Route 1) to Hillsdale, NY (Route 23) Not an official New England route designation but numbered by New York to be consistent with the system. The section from Manhattan to Amenia was part of Route 4.
Route 23		Hudson, NY to South Egremont, MA (Route 4) Not an official New England route designation but numbered by New York to be consistent with the system. This segment was planned to be part of Route 17.
Route 24		Calais, ME to Madawaska, ME 1922 plan was routed Portland, ME to Greenville, ME
Route 25		Montpelier, VT (Routes 12 - 14 - 18) to Portland, ME (Routes 1 - 18 - 26)
Route 25A		West Topsham, VT to Bradford, VT
Route 26		Portland, ME (Routes 1 - 18 - 25) to Colebrook, NH (Route 6)
Route 28		Buzzards Bay, MA (Route 3) to Ossipee, NH (Route 16)
Route 30		Granville, NY to Alburgh, VT
Route 30A		Fair Haven, VT to Vergennes, VT
Route 32		Groton, CT (Route 1) to Newport, NH (Route 11)
Route 32A		Bradford, NH to Hopkinton, NH