Wilbur Cross Parkway

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The Wilbur Cross Parkway is a limited access highway in Connecticut, comprising the portion of Route 15 between Milford and Meriden. It is named after the former governor of the state, Wilbur Lucius Cross. It is the nearly-universal habit of local residents to describe the entire length of Route 15 as the Merritt Parkway, which often confuses visitors and new residents since most maps label the parts of Route 15 by their official names.

The parkway is two lanes in each direction and is known for the beauty and variety of its bridges, with no two being exactly the same. It also passes through a tunnel under West Rock near New Haven, which is the only road tunnel through a natural obstacle in Connecticut. Many of the trees along the parkway were planted by its designer. South of Milford, Route 15 is known as the Merritt Parkway. North of Meriden it ceases to be a limited-access highway, and is known as the Berlin Turnpike. Just north of the Housatonic River bridge it connects to the Connecticut Turnpike (Interstate 95) and US 1 (Boston Post Road) via the 3-mile Milford Parkway.

The Wilbur Cross Parkway had two toll barriers until 1988; these were located in Milford and Wallingford.

On the parkway, there are three service stations.

The tunnel under West Rock is lighted solely using low pressure sodium vapor lamps, rare for the United States.

[edit] Exit list

Note: Exit numbers and mileposts continue those of the Merritt Parkway

Town Exit # Mile Destinations Notes
Stratford/Milford line 37.5 Wilbur Cross Parkway ends — Road continues as the Merritt Parkway
Sikorsky Memorial Bridge (Housatonic River crossing)
Milford 54 37.8 To Interstate 95, U.S. Route 1Milford, New London Milford Parkway
55A 38.4 Wheelers Farms Road Southbound exit is unsuffixed.
55B 38.5 Wolf Harbor Road Northbound exit only.
Orange 56 41.5 Route 121 — Orange
57 42.8 Route 34 (east) — New Haven, Orange Single cloverleaf interchange.
58 Route 34 (west) — Derby
New Haven 59 46.7 Route 63, Route 69Woodbridge, New Haven
47.1 West Rock Tunnel
Hamden 60 50.2 Route 10 — Hamden, New Haven
61 51.6 Whitney Avenue — Hamden, New Haven Split southbound into 61 and 62 (not the same interchange as northbound 62).
Hamden/North Haven line 62 52.0 Dixwell Avenue Northbound exit only.
North Haven 63 53.3 Route 22 — North Haven
Wallingford 64 58.4 Wallingford Quinnipiac Street to U.S. Route 5
65 58.7 Route 150Yalesville
66 61.1 U.S. Route 5 — Wallingford, Meriden
Meriden 63.1 ConnDOT Maintenance Facility Unnumbered exit to Miller Avenue.
67S 64.1 Interstate 91 (south) — New Haven, New York City Southbound junction only.
67 64.3 East Main Street To downtown Meriden; To Route 66.
Northbound exit ramp is 0.3 miles earlier.
Southbound exit ramp is 0.6 miles later (signed as Exit 67W).
68N-E 64.7 Interstate 91 (north), Route 66 (east) — Hartford, Middletown Northbound junction only.
68W 65.2 Interstate 691 (west) — Meriden, Waterbury Northbound junction only.
Exit ramp is 0.3 miles earlier.
66.9 U.S. Route 5 US 5 joins northbound and leaves southbound.
Soutbound junction only.
Limited access ends.
Meriden/Berlin line 68.0 Wilbur Cross Parkway ends — Road continues as the Berlin Turnpike


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