Wilbur Cross Highway

Wilbur Cross Highway
Route information
Existed: 1940 – present
Major junctions
South end: Route 314 in Wethersfiled
  I-91 in Hartford
Route 2 in E. Hartford
North end: I-84 / US 6 in E. Hartford
Highway system

Routes in Connecticut
Special Service Roads • State Roads

The Wilbur Cross Highway is the designation for the portion of old Route 15 from Wethersfield in Connecticut, through Hartford and Manchester, to the Massachusetts Turnpike in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. The highway was built in the 1940s before the Interstate Highway era. When I-84 from Hartford to Sturbridge (then known as I-86) was commissioned in 1970, it was routed along and co-signed with the Wilbur Cross Highway from East Hartford to the state line. In 1980, the planned extension of I-84 to Providence was cancelled and I-84 was then routed along the Wilbur Cross Highway instead. At the same time, Route 15 was truncated to end at I-84. The Wilbur Cross Highway was originally built as a continuation of the Merritt Parkway and Wilbur Cross Parkway, but with the opening of Interstate 91, the planned segment between Meriden and Hartford was never built, and Connecticut Route 15 was instead routed along the Berlin Turnpike.

Contents

Route description

History

Exit list

This is the list of exits for the Wilbur Cross Highway section of Route 15. Exit numbers and mileposts are those of Route 15. See the article on Interstate 84 for exits along the I-84 alignment.

Town # Mile Destinations Notes
Freeway ends — US 5 / Route 15 continues along the Berlin Turnpike
Wethersfield 77.9 Route 314 (Berlin Turnpike)
To Maple Avenue		 Northbound junction only.
85 79.8 Route 99 – Wethersfield, Rocky Hill
Hartford 86 80.4 I-91 south – Rocky Hill, Meriden Northbound junction only.
Exit ramp is 0.2 miles (0.32 km) earlier.
87 80.6 Brainard Road, Airport Road — Brainard Airport Alternate exit to I-91 south.
89 81.3 NB: I-91 north to I-84 – Hartford, Windsor Locks
SB: I-91 south – Wethersfield		 Southbound junction is signed as exit 86.
Connecticut River crossing — Charter Oak Bridge
E. Hartford 90 82.5 US 5 north (Main St.) / E. River Dr.
Route 2 – Norwich, Hartford		 US 5 leaves northbound and joins southbound.
Access to Route 2 is from northbound only.
91 83.0 Silver Lane Northbound exit only.
Unsigned SR 502.
92 W–E 83.5 W: I-84 / US 6 west – Hartford, West Hartford

E: I-84 / US 6 east – Vernon, Manchester
Route 15 merges into eastbound I-84 / US 6
Wilbur Cross Highway continues as I-84 / US 6 (Exits 57-74 in Connecticut and Exits 1-3 in Massachusetts)

References