New England Interstate Routes

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1922 list

The New England Interstate Routes were an interstate system of marked numbered routes in New England, as well as New York east of the Hudson River. 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.Motor Sign Uniformity, New York Times, April 16, 1922

Prior to the New England Interstate Routes, 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 imtermediate 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.[US-5: A Highway to History]

The New England Interstate 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.

In 1926, 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. However, most of the routes that did not become U.S. Routes kept (and still have) their numbers as state highways.

List of routes

• Route 1: New York, NY to Calais, ME (towards Saint John, Canada)
• *Route 1A: Westerly, RI to Providence, RI
• Route 2: New Haven, CT (Route 1) to Derby Line, VT (towards Sherbrooke, Canada)
• *Route 2A: West Burke, VT to Derby, VT
• Route 3: Bedford, NY (Route 22) to Provincetown, MA
• Route 4: New York, NY to Highgate Springs, VT (towards Montreal, Canada)
• Route 5: Albany, NY to Boston, MA (Routes 1 - 6 - 7 - 28)
• Route 6: Orleans, MA (Route 3) to Colebrook, NH (Route 26)
• *Route 6A: Kingston, MA to Quincy, MA
• *Route 6A: Franklin, NH to Plymouth, NH
• *Route 6B: Cambridge, MA to Lowell, MA
• Route 7: Troy, NY to Boston, MA (Routes 1 - 5 - 6 - 28)
• Route 8: Stratford, CT (Route 1) to Wilmington, VT (Route 9)
• Route 9: Troy, NY to Wells, ME (Route 1)
• Route 10: Old Saybrook, CT (Route 1) to Littleton, NH (Route 18)
• Route 11: Manchester, VT (Route 4) to Biddeford, ME (Route 1)
• Route 12: New London, CT (Route 1) to Derby, VT (Route 2)
• *Route 12A: Randolph, VT to Northfield, VT
• *Route 12B: Hardwick, VT to Coventry, VT
• Route 13: Whitehall, NY to White River Junction, VT (Routes 2 - 14)
• Route 14: Burlington, VT (Routes 4 - 15 - 30) to White River Junction, VT (Routes 2 - 13)
• Route 15: Burlington, VT (Routes 4 - 14 - 30) to Houlton, ME (towards Fredericton, Canada)
• Route 16: Portsmouth, NH (Route 1) to Errol, NH (Route 26)
• Route 17: Hudson, NY to Pawcatuck, CT (Route 1)
• Route 18: Portland, ME (Routes 1 - 25 - 26) to Montpelier, VT (Routes 12 - 14 - 25)
• Route 20: Brunswick, ME (Route 1) to Jackman, ME (towards Quebec City, Canada)
• Route 22: New York, NY to Hillsdale, NY (Route 23)
• Route 23: Hudson, NY to Great Barrington, MA (Routes 4 - 17)
• Route 24: Houlton, ME (Route 15) to Fort Kent, Maine (towards Riviere-du-Loup, Canada)
• Route 25: Montpelier, VT (Routes 12 - 14 - 18) to Portland, ME (Routes 1 - 18 - 26)
• *Route 25A: West Topsham, VT to Bradford, VT
• Route 26: Portland, ME (Routes 1 - 18 - 25) to Colebrook, NH (Route 6)
• Route 28: Sagamore, MA (Route 6) to Manchester, NH (Route 6)
• Route 30: Granville, NY to Alburgh, VT
• *Route 30A: Fair Haven, VT to Vergennes, VT
• Route 32: Groton, CT (Route 1) to Newport, NH (Route 11)
• *Route 32A: Bradford, NH to Hopkinton, NH

References