New England road marking system

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"New England Interstates" redirects here. For the modern freeways, see Interstate Highway System.

1922 list

The New England road marking system was an interstate system of marked numbered routes in New England. 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 road marking system, 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 intermediate 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 road marking 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, several of 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. While some of the routes that did not become U.S. Routes were disbanded in the 1930s, many of these other routes still have their numbers today, although the unified signage is no longer used.

[edit] List of routes

New England Route	Current routes	Endpoints
Route 1	US 1	NY/CT state line (NY 1 towards New York City) to Calais, ME (towards Saint John, NB)
Route 1A	Route 3 (RI)	Westerly, RI to Providence, RI
Route 2	US 5	New Haven, CT (Route 1) to Derby Line, VT (Route 5 towards Sherbrooke, QC)
Route 2A	VT 5A	West Burke, VT to Derby, VT
Route 3	US 6	NY/CT state line (towards Bedford, NY) to Provincetown, MA
Route 4	US 7	NY/CT state line (NY 21 towards Amenia, NY) to Highgate Springs, VT (Route 7 towards Montreal, QC)
Route 5	US 20	NY/MA state line (NY 5 towards Albany, NY) to Boston, MA (Routes 1 - 6 - 7 - 28)
Route 6	US 3; Route 3 (MA)	Orleans, MA (Route 3) to Colebrook, NH (Route 26)
Route 6A	Route 3A (MA)	Kingston, MA to Quincy, MA
Route 6A	NH 3A	Franklin, NH to Plymouth, NH
Route 6B	Route 38 (MA)	Cambridge, MA to Lowell, MA
Route 7	Route 2 (MA)	NY/MA state line (NY 7 towards Troy, NY) to Boston, MA (Routes 1 - 5 - 6 - 28)
Route 8	Route 8 (CT); Route 8 (MA); VT 8	Stratford, CT (Route 1) to Wilmington, VT (Route 9)
Route 9	VT 9; NH 9; SR 9 (ME)	NY/VT state line (NY 9 towards Troy, NY) to Wells, ME (Route 1)
Route 10	Route 9 (CT); Route 10 (CT); Route 10 (MA); NH 10	Old Saybrook, CT (Route 1) to Littleton, NH (Route 18)
Route 11	VT 11; NH 11; SR 11 (ME); SR 111 (ME)	Manchester, VT (Route 4) to Biddeford, ME (Route 1)
Route 12	Route 32 (CT); Route 12 (CT); Route 12 (MA); VT 12	New London, CT (Route 1) to Derby, VT (Route 2)
Route 12A	VT 12A	Randolph, VT to Northfield, VT
Route 12B	VT 14	Hardwick, VT to Coventry, VT
Route 13	US 4	Whitehall, NY to White River Junction, VT (Routes 2 - 14)
Route 14	VT 14; US 2	Burlington, VT (Routes 4 - 15 - 30) to White River Junction, VT (Routes 2 - 13)
Route 15	VT 15; US 2	Burlington, VT (Routes 4 - 14 - 30) to Houlton, ME (towards Fredericton, NB)
Route 16	NH 16	Portsmouth, NH (Route 1) to Errol, NH (Route 26)
Route 17	Route 23 (MA); US 7; US 44; Route 2 (CT)	NY/MA state line (NY 23 towards Hudson, NY) to Westerly, RI (Route 1)
Route 18	US 2; VT 18; NH 18; US 302	Portland, ME (Routes 1 - 25 - 26) to Montpelier, VT (Routes 12 - 14 - 25)
Route 19	US 302; SR 11 (ME); SR 196 (ME)	Bethlehem, NH (Route 10 - 18) to Brunswick, ME (Route 1) In the 1922 plan but was never signed.^{[citation needed]}
Route 20	US 201	Brunswick, ME (Route 1) to Jackman, ME (towards Quebec City, QC)
Route 24	US 1	Calais, ME to Madawaska, ME 1922 plan was routed Portland, ME to Greenville, ME
Route 25	US 302; NH 25; SR 25 (ME)	Montpelier, VT (Routes 12 - 14 - 18) to Portland, ME (Routes 1 - 18 - 26)
Route 25A	VT 25	West Topsham, VT to Bradford, VT
Route 26	SR 26 (ME); NH 26; VT 26	Portland, ME (Routes 1 - 18 - 25) to Colebrook, NH (Route 6)
Route 28	Route 28 (MA); NH 28	Buzzards Bay, MA (Route 3) to Ossipee, NH (Route 16)
Route 30	VT 30; US 7; US 2	NY/VT state line (towards Granville, NY) to Alburgh, VT
Route 30A	VT 22A	Fair Haven, VT to Vergennes, VT
Route 32	Route 12 (CT); Route 32 (CT); Route 32 (MA); NH 32	Groton, CT (Route 1) to Newport, NH (Route 11)
Route 32A	US 202; NH 103	Bradford, NH to Hopkinton, NH