Wilbur Cross Highway

Wilbur Cross Highway
Map of northern Connecticut with Wilbur Cross Highway highlighted in red
Route information
Length	46.41 mi[1][2] (74.69 km)
Existed	1940–present
Component highways	US 5 / Route 15 from Wethersfield, CT to East Hartford, CT I-84 from East Hartford, CT to Sturbridge, MA
Major junctions
South end	Route 314 in Wethersfield, CT
	I-91 in Hartford, CT Route 2 in East Hartford, CT I-84 / US 6 in East Hartford
North end	I‑90 in Sturbridge, MA
Location
Counties	CT: Hartford, Tolland, Windham MA: Hampden, Worcester
Highway system
Routes in Connecticut Interstate U.S. State SSR SR

The Wilbur Cross Highway is the designation for the portion of Connecticut Route 15 from Wethersfield to East Hartford, and for the section of I-84 from East Hartford to the Massachusetts Turnpike in Sturbridge, Massachusetts formerly numbered as CT/MA 15.

Route description

The signs for the intersection of CT 15/US 5 and I-91

After splitting from I-84 in East Hartford, the WCH continues in a southwesterly direction to the Charter Oak Bridge. After crossing the Connecticut River it intersects I-91 in southern Hartford. It then changes to a southerly direction and intersects with the Hartford–Brainard Airport access road. After leaving I-91, it reverts to a southwesterly direction and intersects with Route 99 (Old Route 9). After that it merges with the Berlin Turnpike, at which the highway ends.

History

The highway was built in the 1940s before the Interstate Highway era as a continuation of the Wilbur Cross Parkway, itself a continuation of the Merritt Parkway. Originally, the parkways were to span continuously from Greenwich to Union, 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.^[3][4] In 1958, the East Hartford-Union portion of the parkway, as well as an extension to the Massachusetts Turnpike was cosigned as I-84 as part of its planned route through Connecticut. In 1968, the I-84 designation east of East Hartford was given to the proposed highway to Providence, and the portion from East Hartford to Sturbridge was renumbered to I-86. The CT 15 designation remained cosigned on the I-86 section to the MA line until October 1, 1980, when it was truncated back to its current northern terminus at I-84 Exit 57. In 1984, the planned extension of I-84 to Providence was cancelled and the I-84 designation returned to its original East Hartford-Sturbridge route. US 6 is also signed along the highway from the I-84/CT 15 junction to Exit 60. From 1948 to 1982, US 44 was signed along the highway from current Exit 60 to current Exit 69.

Exit list

Exit numbers correspond to those of Route 15 and Interstate 84. Old exit numbers correspond to when the I-84 was signed as Route 15.

State	County	Location	mi	km	Old exit	New exit	Destinations	Notes
Connecticut	Hartford	Wethersfield	0.00	0.00		–	US 5 south / Route 15 south (Berlin Turnpike)	Continues south as Berlin Turnpike
			1.92	3.09		85	Route 99 south – Wethersfield, Rocky Hill
		Hartford	2.50	4.02		86	I-91 south – New Haven, New York City	Exits 28-29 on I-91
			2.89	4.65		87	Brainard Road / Airport Road / I-91 south – Brainard Airport	No northbound signage for I-91; exit 27 on I-81
			3.38	5.44		89	I-91 north to I-84 west – Hartford, Springfield	Northbound exit and southbound entrance; exit 28 on I-91
		Connecticut River	3.67– 4.32	5.91– 6.95	Charter Oak Bridge
		East Hartford	4.86	7.82		90	US 5 north (Main Street) to Route 2 / East River Drive – Norwich	North end of US 5 concurrency; no southbound signage for Route 2
			5.08	8.18		91	Silver Lane (SR 502)	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
			5.64	9.08		57	I-84 west (US 6 west) to I-91 north – Hartford	Eastern terminus of Route 15; westbound exit and eastbound entrance
			6.01	9.67		–	Silver Lane	Westbound exit from Restricted Lane
						58	Roberts Street (Route 518) / Silver Lane (Route 502 / Burnside Avenue – East Hartford
					91		Forbes Street	Closed to make way for construction exit 59
			7.23– 9.41	11.64– 15.14		59	I-384 east – Providence	Includes eastbound exit and westbound entrance to Restricted Lanes
		Manchester	8.85	14.24	92	60	US 6 east / US 44 (Middle Turnpike West) / Burnside Avenue – Manchester, East Hartford	Eastern end of US 6 overlap; westbound exit shares a ramp with exit 62
			8.97– 9.83	14.44– 15.82		61	I-291 west – South Windsor, Windsor	Interchange opened in 1994
			10.64	17.12	93	62	Buckland Street – South Windsor, Manchester
			12.40	19.96	94	63	Route 30 / Route 83 – Manchester, South Windsor
	Tolland	Vernon	13.80	22.21	95	64	Route 30 / Route 83 – Vernon, Rockville, Talcottville	Eastbound exit 65 shares a ramp with exit 64
			14.07	22.64		–	I-84 west (Restricted Lanes)	Eastern end of I-84 HOV lanes
			13.84– 14.73	22.27– 23.71	96	65	Route 30 – Vernon Center	Eastbound exit is shared with exit 64
			15.60	25.11	97	66	Tunnel Road – Vernon, Bolton
			18.08	29.10	98	67	Route 31 – Rockville, Coventry
		Tolland	21.86	35.18	99	68	Route 195 – Tolland, Mansfield, Storrs	Access to the University of Connecticut
			24.79	39.90	100	69	Route 74 to US 44 – Willington, Tolland, Rockville, Putnam
		Willington	26.38	42.45	101	70	Route 32 – Stafford Springs, Willington, Mansfield, Willimantic
			28.59	46.01	102	71	Route 320 south (Ruby Road) – Willington
	Windham–Tolland county line	Ashford–Union town line	32.85	52.87	104	72	Route 89 – Stafford Springs, Westford, Ashford
	Tolland	Union	34.21	55.06	105	73	Route 190 – Union, Stafford Springs
			38.18	61.44	106	74	Route 171 / Holland Road – Union, Holland, MA
			38.70 0.00	62.28 0.00	Connecticut–Massachusetts state line
Massachusetts	Hampden	Holland	0.29	0.47		–	Mashapaug Road	Westbound entrance only; former Route 15
	Worcester	Sturbridge	3.25	5.23		1	Mashapaug Road – Southbridge, Sturbridge	Former Route 15
			5.08	8.18		2	To Route 131 – Sturbridge, Southbridge
			6.55	10.54		3A	US 20 east – Worcester
			6.87	11.06		3B	US 20 west – Palmer
			7.50	12.07	Toll plaza
			7.71	12.41		–	I‑90 / Mass Pike – Boston, Springfield	Exit 9 on I-90
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Closed/former       Concurrency terminus       HOV only       Incomplete access       Tolled

References