Everett Turnpike

Everett Turnpike
Central New Hampshire Turnpike
Map of southern New Hampshire with Everett Turnpike highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by NHDOT Bureau of Turnpikes
Length:	39.867 mi[1] (64.160 km)
Existed:	c. 1955 – present
Major junctions
South end:	US 3 in Tyngsborough, MA
	I‑293 / NH 101 in Bedford I‑93 in Hooksett I‑89 in Bow
North end:	I‑93 / NH 9 in Concord
Location
Counties:	Hillsborough, Merrimack
Highway system
New Hampshire Highway System Interstate U.S. State Turnpikes

The Frederick E. Everett Turnpike, also called the Central New Hampshire Turnpike, is a toll road in New Hampshire, USA, running 44 miles (71 km) from the Massachusetts border at Nashua north to Concord. The Everett Turnpike is named for Frederick Elwin Everett, the first Commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Transportation.^[2]

The turnpike is part of the New Hampshire Turnpike System, and is operated by the New Hampshire Department of Transportation's Bureau of Turnpikes.

Route description

Much of the turnpike's length has been overlapped by other numbered routes. Portions of the road are shared with U.S. Route 3, Interstate 93, and Interstate 293. The southern portion of the turnpike, in Nashua, is posted as U.S. Route 3, serving as an extension of the US-3 freeway (Northwest Expressway) from Burlington, Massachusetts. North of Exit 7 in Nashua, the turnpike runs by itself and has no number, but parallels US-3, which is a toll-free local road variously known as Concord Street (within the city of Nashua) and the Daniel Webster Highway (within Merrimack and Bedford). Approaching Bedford in the Manchester area, the turnpike is joined by I-293 which splits off from a concurrency with NH Route 101. At Exit 4 (exits are numbered for I-293 on this stretch), NH Route 3A joins the freeway, and the concurrency passes through Manchester, near the downtown area of the city. Upon passing Manchester, Route 3A splits off at Exit 7, I-293's last northbound exit. The freeway passes into Hooksett, and I-293 ends at an interchange with I-93. The Everett Turnpike ceases to be signed at this interchange, but joins I-93 northbound and continues towards Concord, interchanging with the southern terminus of Interstate 89 along the way. No definitive northern terminus for the turnpike exists as far as signage is concerned. This endpoint was originally at a traffic circle next to downtown Concord that has since been replaced by Exit 14 with New Hampshire Route 9.

There are two mainline toll plazas on the turnpike, in Bedford and Hooksett. The Bedford mainline toll plaza, located between Exit 12 and I-293, replaced the Merrimack toll plaza (formerly located at what is now Exit 11) in the early 1990s. Ramp tolls also exist in Merrimack (at Exits 10 and 11) and Hooksett (the on/off-ramps to I-93 Exit 11/N.H. Route 3-A). E-ZPass readers were installed in all toll locations in 2005. A "Welcome Center" exists in Nashua (just off Exit 6), and major rest areas combined with state-run liquor stores are located on either side of the highway in Hooksett just north of the mainline toll plaza, which is located on I-93 at Exit 11. On July 18, 2014, the Exit 12 ramp tolls in Merrimack were removed.

The proposed (but mostly unbuilt) Circumferential Highway around the east side of Nashua is defined as part of the turnpike.^[3] Henri A. Burque Highway, the surface road that U.S. Route 3 uses to get between exit 7 of the turnpike and the Daniel Webster Highway in northern Nashua, is also part of it.^[1]

Signage issues

The northern end of I-293 as viewed from I-93 northbound. The Everett Turnpike joins I-93 North at this interchange, but signage does not indicate this.

Though the Turnpike continues north to Concord, it is not signed north of the I-293 merge in Hooksett. Traveling on I-93 North, the exit for I-293 is signed as I-293/Everett Turnpike South, while the mainline is signed solely as I-93 North (as a toll highway). Traveling on I-293 North, Everett Turnpike signage stops at the merge, with I-93 North signed by itself. No indications of the northern terminus exist on I-93 in either direction. The first reassurance of the Turnpike southbound is after exiting onto I-293. No indications of the Turnpike exist on any intersecting highways north of the merge, including Interstate 89.

Mileage posts on the Turnpike are only posted from the Massachusetts state line to the interchange with I-293 and Route 101. North of this interchange, only mileposts of the respective Interstate highways are posted.

In 2010, the signs were fixed.

History

Prior to the September 11, 2001 attacks, exit 4 in Nashua was signed as "East Dunstable Road / FAA Center." The "FAA Center" signage was removed at the request of the Federal Aviation Administration.

Exit list

County	Location	mi[1]	km	Old exit [4][5][3][6][7]	New exit	Destinations	Notes
Hillsborough	Nashua	0.00	0.00			US 3 south	Continuation into Massachusetts
		0.50	0.80		1	Spit Brook Road – South Nashua
		1.49	2.40		2	To NH 3A / Daniel Webster Highway – Hudson	Circumferential Highway; signed as exit 1A from northbound collector–distributor lane
		2.59	4.17	1	3	Daniel Webster Highway – South Nashua	Southbound exit and northbound entrance only; originally exit 1
		3.18	5.12		4	East Dunstable Road
		4.69	7.55	2	5	NH 111 to NH 111A	Signed as exits 5E (east) and 5W (west); originally exit 2
		5.13	8.26	5E-A	5A	Simon Street	Northbound exit only, formerly signed as Exit 5E-A
		6.22	10.01		6	NH 130 (Broad Street) – Hollis
		6.74	10.85		7	US 3 north / NH 101A – Nashua, Downtown, Amherst, Milford	Northern terminus of US 3 concurrency; signed as exits 7E (east) and 7W (west)
		7.66	12.33	7W	8	NH 101A west – Amherst, Milford	Locally known as Somerset Parkway
			Exit 9 does not exist
	Merrimack	9.83	15.82		10	To US 3 / Industrial Drive	Toll barriers on northbound exit and southbound entrance ramps
		11.10	17.86	8	11	To US 3 – Merrimack	Toll barriers on northbound exit and southbound entrance ramps
		14.94	24.04		12	To US 3 / Bedford Road	Northbound exit and southbound entrance only. No longer tolled.
	Bedford				13	Manchester Airport Access Road	Interchange opened in 2011
				Bedford toll plaza
		19.39	31.21	10	—	I‑293 south / NH 101 to US 3 / NH 114 – Portsmouth, Exeter, Bedford, Milford	Southern terminus of I-293 concurrency; exit numbers follow I-293; originally exit 5
	Manchester	21.22	34.15	6	4	US 3 (Second Street, Queen City Avenue) / NH 3A south / NH 114A – Manchester	Southern terminus of NH 3 concurrency
		21.96	35.34		5	Granite Street – West Manchester
		23.27	37.45	7	6	Amoskeag Street, Goffstown Road	Originally exit 7
		24.25	39.03		7	NH 3A north – Hooksett	Northbound exit and southbound entrance only; northern terminus of NH 3A concurrency
Merrimack	Hooksett	27.18	43.74		—	I‑93 south / I‑293 ends – Salem, Boston	Northern terminus of I-293 concurrency, southern terminus of I-93 concurrency; exit numbers follow I-93
				Hooksett toll plaza
		29.52	47.51	8	11	To NH 3A – Hooksett	Toll barrier between interchange and NH 3A; originally exit 8
	Bow	36.24	58.32		—	I‑89 north – Lebanon, White River Junction, VT	Originally exit 9
	Concord	36.91	59.40		12	NH 3A (S. Main Street) – Bow Junction	Signed as exits 12N (north) and 12S (south)
		38.08	61.28		13	US 3 (Manchester Street) – Downtown
		39.20	63.09		14	NH 9 (Loudon Road) – State Offices
						I‑93 north – Plymouth	Everett Turnpike ends; continuation past NH 9
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access       Tolled

See also

• New Hampshire Highway System

References

Route map: Bing

• Steve Anderson's BostonRoads.com: F.E. Everett Turnpike (US 3, I-293, and I-93)