Connecticut Route 15

Route 15 marker

Route 15

Route information

Maintained by ConnDOT

Length:

83.53 mi (134.43 km)

Existed:

1932 (relocated 1948) – present

Restrictions:

No commercial vehicles, trailers, towed vehicles, buses, or hearses on Merritt and Wilbur Cross Parkways^[1]

Major junctions

South end:

NY 120A / Hutchinson River Parkway in Rye Brook

US 7 in Norwalk

Route 8 in Trumbull

I‑91 / I‑691 in Meriden

Route 9 in Berlin

Route 2 in East Hartford

North end:

I‑84 / US 6 in East Hartford

Location

Counties:

Fairfield, New Haven, Hartford

Highway system

Routes in Connecticut

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Route 14

Route 16

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Route 15 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Connecticut that runs 83.53 miles (134.43 km) from a connection with New York's Hutchinson River Parkway in Greenwich, Connecticut to its northern terminus intersecting with Interstate 84 in East Hartford, Connecticut. Route 15 consists of four distinct sections: the Merritt Parkway, the Wilbur Cross Parkway, the Berlin Turnpike, and part of the Wilbur Cross Highway. The unified designation was applied to these separate highways in 1948 to provide a continuous through route from New York to Massachusetts.

Route description

From the New York border eastward to the Housatonic River, Route 15 is a landscaped limited-access parkway known formally as the Merritt Parkway (37.27 miles). It crosses the Housatonic River on the Igor I. Sikorsky Memorial Bridge. East of the Housatonic, Route 15 remains a limited-access parkway and becomes the Wilbur Cross Parkway (29.46 miles), running in a northeasterly direction from Milford to Meriden. In Meriden, Route 15 becomes a four-lane divided highway with stoplights and at-grade intersections that runs northward to Wethersfield and is known as the Berlin Turnpike (11.21 miles). From Wethersfield until its terminus in East Hartford, Route 15 runs along the Wilbur Cross Highway (5.59 miles). It crosses the Connecticut River on the Charter Oak Bridge between Hartford and East Hartford and terminates at an interchange with I-84 in East Hartford.^[2]

There are vehicle restrictions on the Merritt and Wilbur Cross Parkways (e.g., no trucks).^[1]

History

The Route 15 designation was created as part of the 1932 state highway renumbering and originally ran from New Haven through Middletown, East Hartford and Stafford Springs to the Massachusetts state line in Union. The original route used the pre-expressway alignment of modern Route 17 to Glastonbury, Main Street to East Hartford center, U.S. Route 5 to the junction with Route 30, then modern Route 30 to Stafford, then modern Route 190 to Union, and modern Route 171 to the Massachusetts state line.^[3]

In 1943, a newly constructed two-lane highway (now the Wilbur Cross Highway) between Tolland and Union was opened to traffic. Route 15 was relocated on this new highway and the former Route 15 between Route 74 and Route 190 (then part of Route 20) was redesignated as Route 30. By 1948, the rest of the old two-lane Wilbur Cross Highway to East Hartford had also opened, connecting to the Charter Oak Bridge and the Hartford Bypass. In 1948, the State Highway Department decided to relocate Route 15 to a series of roadways, namely the Merritt Parkway, Wilbur Cross Parkway, Berlin Turnpike, Hartford Bypass, Charter Oak Bridge, and the new Wilbur Cross Highway, creating a modern, high-speed throughway from the New York state line to the Massachusetts state line. The Route 15 designation was applied to the previously unnumbered parkways from Greenwich to Meriden, then overlaid with U.S. Route 5 through East Hartford, then designated on the southern half of the Wilbur Cross Highway to Tolland, connecting with the portion previously designated as Route 15 five years before. The former Route 15 between South Windsor and Tolland was reassigned as an extension of Route 30, and the former Route 15 between New Haven and Glastonbury became redesignated as Route 17.^[3]^[4]

In 1948, a portion of the Wilbur Cross Parkway between Route 34 and Whitney Avenue had still been under construction. Route 15 was temporarily routed along Route 34, Sherman Avenue (former Routes 5 and 10), Henry Street/Munson Street/Hillside Place/Edwards Street (former Route 5), and Whitney Avenue (former Route 10A). By 1949, the Wilbur Cross Parkway was completed and the temporary Route 15 designation was removed from the surface streets. Further improvements in the Wilbur Cross Highway took place over the next several years and the road became a four-lane divided highway by 1954. In 1958, most of the Wilbur Cross Highway was designated as I-86 and further upgrades to the road were implemented. Route 15 and I-86 overlapped from the current 15/84 junction in East Hartford to the Massachusetts state line. In 1984, the overlap was removed, truncating Route 15 to its current northern end, while at the same time I-86 was redesignated as I-84.^[4]

Exit list

County	Location	mi	km	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Fairfield	Greenwich	0.00	0.00	–	Hutchinson River Parkway south – New York City	New York state line, exit numbering roughly continues south
		0.09	0.14	27	NY 120A (King Street) – Armonk
		3.59	5.78	28	Round Hill Road – Greenwich	To Greenwich business district
		4.70	7.56	29	Lake Avenue – Greenwich
		5.60	9.01	31	North Street – Greenwich	To Greenwich business district
	Stamford	8.90	14.32	33	Den Road – Stamford
		9.50	15.29	34	Route 104 (Long Ridge Rd.) – Stamford, Long Ridge	To downtown Stamford and University of Connecticut (Stamford campus)
		10.70	17.22	35	Route 137 (High Ridge Rd.) – Stamford, High Ridge
	New Canaan	13.20	21.24	36	Route 106 (Old Stamford Rd.) – New Canaan, Springdale
	New Canaan	14.10	22.69	37	Route 124 – New Canaan, Darien
	Norwalk	15.90	25.59	38	Route 123 (New Canaan Ave.) – New Canaan, Norwalk	access to Norwalk Community College
		17.30	27.84	39	US 7 to I‑95 – Norwalk, Danbury	Split into exits 39A (south) and 39B (north); Northbound exits and southbound entrances; interchange redesign in proposal stage^[5]
		17.60	28.32	40	Main Avenue – Norwalk	Unsigned SR 719
	Westport	20.60	33.15	41	Route 33 – Westport, Wilton
	Westport	21.60	34.76	42	Route 57 – Westport, Weston
	Fairfield	27.00	43.45	44	Route 58 – Fairfield, Redding	To Fairfield business district and Fairfield University
	Fairfield	28.50	45.87	46	Route 59 – Fairfield, Easton	General Electric Headquarters
	Trumbull	29.20	46.99	47	Park Avenue – Trumbull	access to the University of Bridgeport and Sacred Heart University
		30.60	49.25	48	Route 111 (Main St.) – Long Hill, Monroe	Single-point urban interchange
		32.20	51.82	49	Route 25 – Bridgeport, Danbury	Split into exits 49N (north) and 49S (south) northbound
		32.80	52.79	50	Route 127 – Trumbull	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		33.70	54.23	51	Route 108 (Nichols Ave.) – Trumbull, Stratford	Northbound exit and southbound entrance only
		34.10	54.88	52	Route 8 – Bridgeport, Waterbury	Split into exits 52N (north) and 52S (south); no northbound access to Route 8 southbound; use Exit 51
	Stratford	36.90	59.38	53	Route 110 – Stratford, Shelton
Housatonic River		37.50	60.35	Igor I. Sikorsky Memorial Bridge North end of Merritt Parkway, south end of Wilbur Cross Parkway
New Haven	Milford	37.8	60.8	54	To I‑95 / US 1 – Milford, New London	Milford Parkway
		38.4	61.8	55A	Wheelers Farms Road	Signed as exit 55 southbound
		38.50	61.96	55B	Wolf Harbor Road	Northbound exit only
	Orange	41.50	66.79	56	Route 121 – Orange
		42.80	68.88	57	Route 34 east – New Haven
		43.20	69.52	58	Route 34 west – Derby
	New Haven	46.70	75.16	59	Route 63 / Route 69 – Woodbridge, New Haven
	New Haven	47.10	75.80	Heroes Tunnel
	Hamden	50.20	80.79	60	Route 10 – Hamden, New Haven
		51.60	83.04	61	Whitney Avenue – Hamden, New Haven
		51.00	82.08	61A	Dixwell Avenue – Hamden	Northbound exit only
		52.50	84.49	62	Route 40 – Hamden, North Haven	Proposed interchange
	North Haven	53.30	85.78	63	Route 22 – North Haven
	Wallingford	58.40	93.99	64	S. Turnpike Rd., Quinnipiac St. – Wallingford
		58.70	94.47	65	Route 150 – Yalesville
		61.10	98.33	66	US 5 – Wallingford, Meriden
	Meriden	63.10	101.55	–	ConnDOT Maintenance Facility	Via Miller Avenue; Northbound exit and entrance
		64.10	103.16	67S	I‑91 south – New Haven, N.Y. City	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		64.30	103.48	67	E. Main St. – Downtown Meriden	Joint exit with I-91
		64.70	104.12	68 N-E	I‑91 north / Route 66 east – Hartford, Middletown	Northbound exit and southbound entrance, split into exits 68N (I-91) and 68E (Route 66)
		65.20	104.93	68W	I‑691 west – Meriden, Waterbury	No southbound exit
		66.70	107.34	–	US 5 south (North Broad Street) to Route 66 – Meriden	Southern terminus of concurrency with US 5; Limited access ends North end of Wilbur Cross Parkway, south end of Berlin Turnpike
Hartford	Berlin	71.58	115.20	–	Route 9 / Route 372 – East Berlin, Middletown, New Britain	Full interchange
		71.95	115.79	–	Worthington Ridge Road (SR 572)
		72.76	117.10	–	Route 160 east – Rocky Hill
	Newington	74.26	119.51	–	Route 173 north – West Hartford
		74.88	120.51	–	Route 176 west – Newington
		76.27	122.74	–	Route 287 west – Newington	Western end of CT 287 overlap
		76.34	122.86	–	Route 287 east – Wethersfield	Eastern end of CT 287 overlap
	Wethersfield	76.97	123.87	–	Route 175 – Newington, New Britain, Wethersfield
		77.9	125.4	–	Route 314 (Berlin Turnpike) to Maple Avenue	Route 15 leaves the Berlin Turnpike, south end of the Wilbur Cross Highway
		79.8	128.4	85	Route 99 south – Wethersfield, Rocky Hill
	Hartford	80.4	129.4	86	I‑91 south – New Haven, N.Y. City	South end of I-91 overlap
	Hartford	81.3	130.8	89	I‑91 north to I‑84 west – Hartford, Springfield	North end of I-91 overlap
	Connecticut River	82.5	132.8	Charter Oak Bridge
	East Hartford	83.0	133.6	90	US 5 north (Main Street) / East River Drive Route 2 – Norwich, Hartford	US 5 leaves northbound and joins southbound. Access to Route 2 is from northbound only.
		84.5	136.0	91	Silver Lane	Northbound exit only Unsigned SR 502
		85.1	137.0	–	I‑84 / US 6 east – Boston	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Concurrency terminus Incomplete access Unopened