New Hampshire Route 101

New Hampshire Route 101
Map of southern New Hampshire with NH 101 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by NHDOT
Length:	95.189 mi[1] (153.192 km)
Major junctions
West end:	NH 9 / NH 10 / NH 12 in Keene
	US 202 in Peterborough US 3 in Manchester I‑93 / I‑293 in Manchester NH 125 in Epping I‑95 in Hampton US 1 in Hampton
East end:	NH 1A in Hampton Beach
Location
Counties:	Cheshire, Hillsborough, Rockingham
Highway system
New Hampshire Highway System Interstate U.S. State Turnpikes ← NH 97 NH 101C → ← NH 49 NH 51 NH 63 → ← NH 101D NH 101E NH 102 →

New Hampshire Route 101 is a state-maintained highway in southern New Hampshire extending from Keene to Hampton Beach. It is the major east–west highway in the southern portion of the state.

The western terminus of NH 101 is in Keene at the junction with New Hampshire Routes 9, 10 and 12. The eastern terminus is in Hampton Beach at the junction with Ocean Boulevard (NH 1A). The total length of NH 101 is 95.189 miles (153.192 km). However, the New Hampshire Department of Transportation has installed mileposts on the freeway section east of Interstate 93 that begin at mile 100.

NH 101 travels through the following municipalities (west to east): Keene, Marlborough, Dublin, Peterborough, Temple, Wilton, Milford, Amherst, Bedford, Manchester, Auburn, Candia, Raymond, Epping, Brentwood, Exeter, Stratham, and Hampton.

Between Exeter and Hampton, NH 101 is known as the Exeter–Hampton Expressway.

Route description

NH 101 at NH 12 in Keene

NH 101 is a two-lane surface road from its western terminus in Keene to the western terminus of New Hampshire Route 101A in Milford. From there, NH 101 splits off to the south and becomes a two-lane limited-access highway that bypasses Milford and Amherst, becoming a two-lane surface road just north of Amherst. At the eastern terminus of New Hampshire Route 114 in Bedford, NH 101 becomes a four-lane limited-access highway. It expands to six lanes upon merging with Interstate 293 in Manchester, and eight lanes upon merging with Interstate 93. East of I-93, NH 101 narrows to four lanes. The route remains a four-lane expressway until exit 12 (Interstate 95) in Hampton, where NH 101 becomes a two-lane freeway at exit 13. At an interchange with U.S. Route 1, it becomes a two-lane surface road to its terminus in Hampton Beach.

History

Most of the eastern section of NH 101 was originally going to be part of the cancelled New England East–West Highway from Albany, New York, to Portsmouth. Because of the cancellation, NH 101 remained a two-lane freeway until the mid-1990s. This highly traveled road had numerous accidents, prominently advertised on large signs at the start of the two-lane freeway segment between exits 5 and 6 in Raymond, which read, "XX Highway Deaths next XX miles." Locally, this road was known as the Highway of Death for the unusually high number of accidents and the sign advertising.^[2] In the mid-1990s, the two-lane freeway segment was dualized over much of the swampland it traversed in Rockingham County, creating a full divided controlled access freeway between Manchester and I-95. The old Highway of Death nickname and the signs have disappeared from use.

In 1991, an overpass was constructed over North Road in Brentwood near the Rockingham County Jail Farm for the future routing of NH 101. However, the NH 101 expressway was not built in this area until 2000, giving the bridge the nickname the Overpass to Nowhere.

NH 101 between New Hampshire Route 108 in Stratham, just east of the Exeter town line, to New Hampshire Route 1A in Hampton Beach was at its construction named the Exeter-Hampton Expressway, which was marked with seemingly unique round shields featuring the highway's name and was later designated New Hampshire Route 51 during the 1980s until 1994.

NH 101/US 202 in Peterborough

During this time, NH 101 exited the expressway at NH 108 (exit 11) and formed a concurrency with NH 108 north to the community of Stratham. After traversing a traffic circle, NH 101 split from NH 108 and followed the current alignment of New Hampshire Route 33 into downtown Portsmouth, where NH 101 terminated at U.S. Route 1.

On NH 51, there were two traffic lights located on the limited access two-lane highway: the east-end lights at the terminus of New Hampshire Route 88 southeast of exit 11 and the west-end lights west of the Newfields (then-New Hampshire Route 85) exit with what is now New Hampshire Route 27. While NH 88 was rerouted on a new stretch of road to intersect with NH 108 just south of the NH 101/108 SPUI interchange at exit 11, the Newfields exit was upgraded to a full diamond interchange. NH 27 west of Stratham was formerly NH 101 prior to the completion of the four-lane bypass.

In the fall of 1994, the eastern terminus of NH 101 was shifted eight miles (13 km) south from Portsmouth to its current terminus in Hampton Beach, replacing NH 51 along the Super-2 between Exeter and Hampton Beach. Old NH 101 between Stratham and downtown Portsmouth became NH 33 and the NH 51 designation was eliminated.

Future

New Hampshire 101 has long been proposed as a part of the greater East–West Highway, which would provide upgraded freeway connections across the three Northern New England states (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont). Some early proposals suggested that the route be part of the Interstate Highway System as Interstate 92, but these were rejected. More recent proposals suggested that the entire route could be part of a privately-maintained toll road.

Major intersections

County	Location[1][3]	mi[1][3]	km	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Cheshire	Keene	0.000	0.000		NH 9 / NH 10 north / NH 12 north (Franklin Pierce Highway) – Brattleboro VT, Concord, Walpole	Western terminus of NH 101
		0.459	0.739		NH 10 south (Winchester Street) – Winchester	Eastern end of concurrency with NH 10
		1.240	1.996		NH 12 south (Main Street / Lower Main Street) – Troy	Eastern end of concurrency with NH 12
	Marlborough	5.362	8.629		NH 124 east (Jaffrey Road) – Jaffrey	Western terminus of NH 124
	Dublin	15.626	25.148		NH 137 (Brush Brook Road) – Hancock, Jaffrey
Hillsborough	Peterborough	20.094	32.338		US 202 west (Grove Street) – Jaffrey	Western end of concurrency with US 202
		20.290	32.654		US 202 east / NH 123 north (Granite Street) – Hancock, Concord	Eastern end of concurrency with US 202; western end of concurrency with NH 123
		21.154	34.044		NH 123 south (Elm Hill Road) – Sharon, New Ipswich	Eastern end of concurrency with NH 123
	Temple	25.812	41.540		NH 45 south (Senator Tobey Highway) – Temple, Greenville	Northern terminus of NH 45
	Wilton	30.743	49.476		NH 31 south (Greenville Road) – Greenville, Mason, New Ipswich	Western end of concurrency with NH 31
		32.737	52.685		NH 31 north (Island Street) – Wilton, Greenfield	Eastern end of concurrency with NH 31
	Milford	34.794	55.996		NH 101A east (Elm Street) – Milford	Western terminus of NH 101A
		38.349	61.717		NH 13 (South Street) – Milford, Brookline	Interchange
		39.997	64.369		NH 101A (Nashua Street) – Milford, Nashua	Interchange
	Amherst	41.110	66.160		NH 122 (Ponemah Road)	Interchange; eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		42.974	69.160		NH 122 (Baboosic Lake Road) – Amherst	Interchange
	Bedford	52.419	84.360		NH 114 north / Boynton Street – Goffstown	At-grade intersection; western end of limited-access segment; southern terminus of NH 114
		53.847	86.658	–	To US 3 (Kilton Road)
		54.119	87.096	–	Everett Turnpike / I‑293 north – Merrimack, Nashua, Manchester, Concord	Exit 3 on I-293; western end of concurrency with I-293
	Manchester	55.160	88.771	2	NH 3A (Brown Avenue) – Litchfield	Serves Manchester–Boston Regional Airport
		55.787	89.780	1	NH 28 (South Willow Street) – Mall of New Hampshire
		57.972	93.297	–	I‑93 south / I‑293 – Boston	Southern terminus of I-293; western end of concurrency with I-93
		58.900	94.790	6	To NH 28A (Hanover Street / Candia Road)
		59.275	95.394	–	I‑93 north – Concord	Exit 7 on I-93; eastern end of concurrency with I-93
		60.994	98.160	1	NH 28 Bypass (Londonderry Turnpike) to I‑93 – Auburn, Hooksett
Rockingham	Auburn	62.521	100.618	2	To NH 121 / Hooksett Road – Auburn, Candia
	Candia	65.980	106.185	3	NH 43 north (Old Candia Road) – Candia, Deerfield	Trumpet interchange; southern terminus of NH 43
	Raymond	71.979	115.839	4	Old Manchester Road – Raymond	Local traffic only
		73.875	118.890	5	NH 107 (Freetown Road) to NH 102 / NH 156 – Raymond, Fremont
	Epping	76.021	122.344	6	Depot Road / Beede Hill Road
		78.288	125.992	7	NH 125 (Calef Highway) – Epping, Kingston
	Brentwood	80.479	129.518	8	To NH 27 (North Road)
	Exeter	83.586	134.519	9	NH 27 (Epping Road) – Exeter
		85.101	136.957	10	NH 85 (Newfields Road) – Exeter, Newfields
	Stratham	86.236	138.783	11	NH 108 (Portsmouth Avenue) to NH 33 / NH 88 – Stratham, Exeter
	Exeter	88.942	143.138	12	NH 111 (North Hampton Road) – Exeter, North Hampton
	Hampton	90.566	145.752	–	I‑95 (Blue Star Turnpike) – Portsmouth, Boston	Trumpet interchange; exit 2 on I-95 Hampton Exit 2 toll plaza (Class 1 vehicles: $0.75 cash / $0.53 EZ-Pass)
		91.276	146.894	13	NH 27 (Exeter Road) – Hampton
		92.884	149.482	–	US 1 (Lafayette Road) – Hampton, Seabrook
		93.731	150.845	Eastern end of limited-access segment
		95.189	153.192		NH 1A (Ocean Boulevard) – Hampton Beach
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access       Tolled

Suffixed routes

New Hampshire Route 101A

New Hampshire Route 101A (abbreviated NH 101A) is a 13.819-mile-long (22.240 km) east–west highway in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, connecting Milford and Nashua. It also runs through Merrimack and Amherst, and very briefly touches Hollis.

The western terminus of NH 101A is in western Milford at the intersection with NH 101. The eastern terminus is in the center of Nashua, when it meets New Hampshire Route 111 at the Merrimack River. Most of it is two lanes in each direction, sometimes with a central turning lane.

Route 101A is quite busy by southern New Hampshire standards, with traffic ranging from 26,000 vehicles per weekday in Nashua to 9,000 in western Milford.

The road carries a number of names. In Milford it is Elm Street and then Nashua Street; in Amherst and Merrimack it is the Milford Road or, more commonly, just 101A; in Nashua it is Amherst Street, then Canal Street and finally Bridge Street.

New Hampshire Route 101B

New Hampshire Route 101B was a designation once held by two separate state highways in New Hampshire. Although the two segments did not directly connect, they were linked at the time by their parent route, New Hampshire Route 101.

Western segment

The western segment of NH 101B was a roughly 8.5-mile-long (13.7 km) east–west road in the Manchester area. The western terminus of the route was at U.S. Route 3 and New Hampshire Route 28 in Hooksett, the current western terminus of New Hampshire Route 27. The eastern terminus was at NH 101 near Candia.

All of the western segment of NH 101B was renumbered NH 27 at an unknown time.^[4]

Eastern segment

The eastern segment of NH 101B was a short east–west road in downtown Portsmouth. The western terminus was at the intersection of Islington Street and Middle Road, where NH 101, which followed the present alignment of New Hampshire Route 33 into Portsmouth, departed the routing of NH 33 and followed Islington Street to U.S. Route 1. NH 101B continued east on Middle Road and South Street, following the modern alignment of NH 33 to the present eastern terminus of NH 33 at US 1. At US 1, NH 101B continued east on South Street, running along the local street to its eastern terminus at New Hampshire Route 1B.

Prior to 1971, NH 101B from Islington Street east to US 1 became NH 101 while Islington Street and the portion of NH101B east of US 1 reverted to city maintenance. This section of NH 101 was renumbered to NH 33 in 1994.^[4]

New Hampshire Route 101C

New Hampshire Route 101C ran from NH 108 east along what is now NH 27 to NH 1A in Hampton Beach.

New Hampshire Route 101D

The portion of NH 111 between New Hampshire Route 27 in Hampton and NH 1A in Hampton Beach was once designated New Hampshire Route 101D.^[4]

New Hampshire Route 101E

New Hampshire Route 101E is a short stretch of urban road 2.357 miles (3.793 km) in length in Hampton, Rockingham County, New Hampshire. This road connects Lafayette Road (U.S. Route 1) with Ocean Boulevard (New Hampshire Route 1A). NH 101E is locally named Winnacunnet Road. Oddly, this highway has never connected with NH 101, its "parent", or any of its spurs. The entire route is maintained by the town of Hampton.

NH 101E is very poorly signed. There exists one sign on southbound U.S. Route 1 using an old state-highway logo (without the Old Man of the Mountain), and green guide signs at the eastern terminus at NH 1A, but along the road itself, there is no signage to indicate the route's number. It is not known as "Route 101E" to local residents; they refer to it as "Winnacunnet Road."

References

• Steve Anderson's BostonRoads.com: NH 101 Expressway

External links