U.S. Route 6 in Connecticut
U.S. Route 6 | ||||
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Route information | ||||
Maintained by ConnDOT | ||||
Length: | 116.33 mi[1] (187.21 km) | |||
Existed: | 1926 – present | |||
Major junctions | ||||
West end: | US 6 / US 202 in Southeast, NY | |||
US 7 in Danbury Route 9 in Farmington I-91 in Hartford Route 2 in East Hartford I-395 in Killingly | ||||
East end: | US 6 in Foster, RI | |||
Location | ||||
Counties: | Fairfield, New Haven, Litchfield, Hartford, Tolland, Windham | |||
Highway system | ||||
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U.S. Route 6 in Connecticut is the portion of the cross-country U.S. Route 6 within the state of Connecticut. West of Hartford, the route either closely parallels or runs along Interstate 84. I-84 has largely supplanted Route 6 as a through route in western Connecticut. East of Hartford, Route 6 serves as a primary route for travel between Hartford and Providence. The Connecticut Route 6 segments is 116.33 miles (187.21 km) long.
Route description
Western Connecticut
US 6 enters Connecticut paired with US 202 from the town of Southeast, New York just east of the village of Brewster. The concurrency runs for 3.8 miles (6.1 km) through the city of Danbury as a minor arterial road before it forms a 3.3 miles (5.3 km) 4-way concurrency with Interstate 84 and US 7 from I-84 Exit 4 to Exit 7. At Exit 7, US 7 and US 202 split to the north, while US 6 stays duplexed with I-84 for another 0.8 miles (1.3 km) before returning to surface roads at Exit 8. The route then goes through the towns of Bethel and Newtown. In Newtown, it has a 2.8 miles (4.5 km) concurrency with Route 25 before turning east toward the village of Sandy Hook, where it enters I-84 once again for 6.4 miles (10.3 km) between Newtown and Southbury (from Exits 10 to 15).
After exiting I-84 in Southbury, US 6 once again becomes a surface road, and is duplexed with Route 67 for 2.7 miles (4.3 km). It then passes through the northern Waterbury area suburbs of Woodbury, Watertown and Thomaston. US 6 has a 1.0-mile (1.6 km) overlap with the Route 8 expressway in Thomaston.
Hartford area
After leaving the Route 8 expressway, US 6 continues as an alternating 2 and 4 lane surface road through the towns of Plymouth, Bristol and Farmington. In Farmington, it once again joins I-84 at Exit 38 for 13.4 miles, passing through West Hartford, Hartford, and East Hartford. US 44 joins for 0.25 miles to cross the Connecticut River on the Bulkeley Bridge from Hartford to East Hartford. In Manchester US 6 exits I-84 at Exit 60 and once again joins US 44 for a 6.9 miles (11.1 km) concurrency through Manchester to Bolton just past the eastern terminus of I-384.
Eastern Connecticut
In Bolton, US 6 and US 44 split. US 44 follows a more northerly route while US 6 continues through Bolton, Coventry, Andover and Columbia.
The US 6 Willimantic Bypass begins in Columbia, at a four-way at-grade intersection with Route 66. The expressway starts out heading northeast and immediately crosses into Coventry. After crossing the town line, the eastbound and westbound sides of US 6 split, with a hill in between them. At the split, the eastbound side of the expressway curves and heads east. At this point, the Hop River State Park Trail passes under both sides of the expressway. Soon after, the westbound lane also curves, and the two sides of the expressway soon become parallel again. The expressway then passes over Flanders River Road about 0.25 miles (0.40 km) east. The expressway then crosses the Willimantic River and enters the town of Windham. Right after entering Windham, it overpasses the New England Central Railroad. Immediately after this, there is an interchange with Route 32. After the interchange, the expressway enters Mansfield and passes under Mansfield Avenue before encountering another interchange for Route 195. The eastbound exit and westbound entrance use Mansfield City Road, while the westbound exit accesses Route 195 via North Frontage Road and eastbound access to US 6 is from Route 195 itself. Soon after the eastbound entrance ramp joins Route 6, the expressway crosses the Natchaug River and once again enters Windham. 0.5 miles (0.80 km) after entering Windham, the US 6 Willimantic Bypass ends at an interchange with the eastern end of Route 66, whose roadway US 6 assumes east of the interchange. US 6 then continues as a surface road through the towns of Chaplin, Hampton, and Brooklyn. In Killingly, US 6 becomes a two-lane freeway in the vicinity of its junction with Interstate 395 in Killingly, part of which (0.34 miles (0.55 km)) is duplexed with Route 12. Just before the Rhode Island state line, the unsigned portion of the Connecticut Turnpike (SR 695) merges into US 6 East as it enters the town of Foster
History
Before the creation of the U.S. Highway system in 1926, most of the proposed routing in Connecticut was part of New England Interstate Route 3 (NE-3). There were two places where NE-3 and US 6 were not overlapped. NE-3 began in Bedford, New York at NY 22, entering Connecticut via modern Route 35. NE-3 continued north to Danbury via the old non-expressway alignment of U.S. Route 7. US 6, on the other hand, went east from Brewster on its current alignment, meeting with NE-3 in downtown Danbury.
Another difference in routing is between Manchester and Windham. US 6 originally used a more northern alignment via Coventry, running along present U.S. Route 44 then modern Route 31. NE-3 used current US 6 for its routing. East of Windham, the routes overlapped into Rhode Island. Between 1926 and 1932, NE-3 and US 6 were cosigned where they overlapped. NE-3 was finally deleted in 1932.
Willimantic bypass
I-84 was to be an expressway that would connect the modern Interstate 384 with the modern U.S. Route 6 Willimantic Bypass. From here, I-84 would continue to Providence. This idea was planned in the 1960s, but abandoned in 2005.
The Connecticut Department of Transportation had planned since the 1960s to upgrade the segment between Bolton and Columbia to an expressway, connecting I-384 to the existing expressway segment in Windham. However, this particular segment of Route 6 passes through an environmentally sensitive area centered around the Hop River. Construction had been planned to begin in the late 1980s, but federal, state, and local officials could not reach an agreement on a feasible route that avoided the Hop River wetlands and development within the towns of Andover, Bolton, Coventry, and Columbia. The affected towns, ConnDOT and the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection favored a northern alignment (Alternative 133B), which would avoid the town centers and nearby wetlands. The Environmental Protection Agency, Army Corps of Engineers, and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) favored a southerly alignment (Alternative 133 18/25) that would cut through residential and commercial areas as well as the Hop River's adjoining wetlands.
Despite opposition from ConnDOT, the Connecticut DEP, and affected towns, the FHWA issued a Record of Decision and the Army Corps of Engineers issued required permits for Alternative 133 18/25 (southern alignment) in 2001. State and local officials continued to press the Corps of Engineers to approve the northern alignment. Due to the impasse between state, local, and federal officials, federal funds for the bypass were withdrawn in 2003. In 2005, the Capitol Region Council of Governments and ConnDOT removed the Route 6 bypass from planning, hence ConnDOT effectively abandoned further study of the bypass in lieu of upgrading the existing road.
In 2007, ConnDOT is made safety improvements and capacity upgrades to the existing US-6 through Andover, Bolton, and Columbia.
Alternate routes
There have been several routes signed as US 6A in the state.[2] No bannered routes currently exist.
- Newtown-Southbury: original surface routing before creation of expressway later to become I-84; currently SR 816
- Plymouth-Hartford: Now US 6. At this time, the old US 6 went along Route 64 to downtown Waterbury then along Route 10 to Farmington.
- Woodbury-Willimantic: West of Meriden, this was the original alignment of US 6. When US 6 was reassigned to the former 6A from Plymouth-Farmington, this became 6A. This 6A was subsequently extended through Meriden to Willimantic along modern Route 66. An expressway upgrade was planned for this 6A. Only a portion of the highway was built and is now Interstate 691. Between Woodbury and Waterbury this section is now CT Route 64.
- Coventry-Windham: became 6A when NE-3 was deleted. Swapped with the old US 6 in 1939 and finally deleted in 1942 when 6A became Route 31.
- Danielson: old routing prior to construction of the 2-lane freeway
Junction list
All exit numbers are exit numbers for the route which Route 6 overlaps.
County | Location | mi[1] | km | Exit | Destinations | Notes | |
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Fairfield | Danbury | 0.00 | 0.00 | US 6 / US 202 west | Continuation into New York | ||
0.04 | 0.064 | Saw Mill Rd. to I-84 – Newburgh, Waterbury | Exit 1 on I-84 | ||||
1.03 | 1.66 | Milestone Rd. to I-84 – Newburgh, Waterbury | Exit 2 on I-84 | ||||
1.10 | 1.77 | Old Ridgebury Rd. to I-84 east – Waterbury | Exit 2A on I-84 | ||||
4.15 | 6.68 | 4 | I-84 west – Newburgh I-84 east / US 7 north – Waterbury, New Milford | Western/Southern terminus of I-84/US-7 overlap | |||
5.61 | 9.03 | 5 | Route 37 / Route 39 / Route 53 – Downtown Danbury, Bethel | ||||
6.25 | 10.06 | 6 | Route 37 – New Fairfield | Westbound exit/eastbound entrance only | |||
7.97 | 12.83 | 7 | US 7 north / US 202 east – Brookfield, New Milford | Northern/Eastern terminus of US-7/US-202 overlap | |||
8.26 | 13.29 | 8 | I-84 east – Waterbury | Eastern terminus of I-84 overlap | |||
Newtown | 11.45 | 18.43 | Route 25 north – Hawleyville, Brookfield, Bridgewater | Northern terminus of CT 25 overlap | |||
14.26 | 22.95 | Route 25 south – Bridgeport | Southern terminus of CT 25 overlap | ||||
15.52 | 24.98 | 10 | I-84 west – Danbury | Western terminus of I-84 overlap | |||
16.33 | 26.28 | 11 | Route 34 east to Route 25 – Derby, New Haven, Bridgeport | Access via SSR 490 | |||
New Haven | Southbury | 18.93 | 30.46 | 13 | River Rd. | Eastbound exit/westbound entrance only | |
20.40 | 32.83 | 14 | Route 172 north – South Britain | ||||
21.96– 22.19 | 35.34– 35.71 | 15 | I-84 east – Waterbury Route 67 south – Southford, Oxford, Seymour, New Haven | Eastern terminus of I-84 overlap; Southern terminus of CT 67 overlap | |||
23.76 | 38.24 | Route 67 north (Roxbury Rd.) | Northern terminus of CT 67 overlap | ||||
Litchfield | Woodbury | 25.94 | 41.75 | Route 64 east – Middlebury | |||
26.90 | 43.29 | Route 317 west – Roxbury | |||||
27.60 | 44.42 | Route 47 north – Hotchkissville, Washington | |||||
31.48 | 50.66 | Route 61 north – Bethlehem | |||||
Watertown | 34.57 | 55.64 | Route 63 – East Morris, Watertown | ||||
35.81 | 57.63 | Route 262 north – Oakville | |||||
Thomaston | 38.61 | 62.14 | Route 109 west – Morris | ||||
39.12 | 62.96 | Route 254 north – Litchfield | |||||
39.40 | 63.41 | 38 | Route 8 south – Waterbury | Southern terminus of CT 8 overlap | |||
40.39 | 65.00 | 39 | Route 8 north – Torrington | Northern terminus of CT 8 overlap | |||
40.61 | 65.36 | Route 222 north – Harwinton | |||||
Plymouth | 41.28 | 66.43 | Route 262 south – Airport | ||||
44.15 | 71.05 | Route 72 – Harwinton, Bristol | |||||
Hartford | Bristol | 46.86 | 75.41 | Route 69 south – Wolcott | Southern end of CT 69 overlap. | ||
47.25 | 76.04 | Route 69 north – Burlington | Northern end of CT 69 concurrency | ||||
48.30 | 77.73 | Route 229 south – Southington, Theme Park | |||||
Farmington | 50.95 | 82.00 | Route 177 – Plainville, Unionville | ||||
53.09 | 85.44 | Route 10 – Plainville, Avon | Grade separated; access via Scott Swamp Rd. | ||||
55.15 | 88.76 | Fienemann Rd. to I-84 west – Waterbury | Exit 37 on I-84. Junction with southern end of Birdseye Rd. (SR 549) | ||||
55.92– 56.34 | 89.99– 90.67 | 38 | I-84 west – Waterbury | WB western terminus of I-84 overlap at MP 56.01 WB, EB western terminus of I-84 overlap at MP 56.34 EB. WB I-84 traffic from US-6 uses Fienemann Rd. | |||
56.21 | 90.46 | 39 | Route 4 – Farmington | Connection is SR 508; No connection from US-6 eastbound | |||
56.91– 57.92 | 91.59– 93.21 | 39A | Route 9 south – Newington, New Britain | ||||
West Hartford | 58.19 | 93.65 | 40 | Route 71 (New Britain Ave.) – Corbins Corner | |||
59.15 | 95.19 | 41 | S. Main St. – Elmwood | ||||
59.97 | 96.51 | 42 | Trout Brook Dr. – Elmwood | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | |||
59.87– 60.32 | 96.35– 97.08 | 43 | Park Rd. – West Hartford Center | Connection is SR 501 | |||
61.09 | 98.31 | 44 | Prospect and Oakwood Aves. | ||||
Hartford | 61.85 | 99.54 | 45 | Flatbush Ave. | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance; connection is SR 504 | ||
62.37– 62.71 | 100.37– 100.92 | 46 | Sisson Ave. | Connection is SR 503 | |||
62.96 | 101.32 | 47 | Sigourney St. | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | |||
63.30– 63.69 | 101.87– 102.50 | 48A | Asylum St. | Signed as exit 48 westbound | |||
63.30 | 101.87 | 48B | Capitol Ave. | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | |||
63.91 | 102.85 | 49 | High St., Trumbull St., Ann Uccello St. – XL Center | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | |||
63.96 64.52 | 102.93 103.83 | 50 | Main Street Downtown Hartford US 44 west (Main Street) – Downtown Hartford | Western terminus of US 44 overlap | |||
64.05– 64.55 | 103.08– 103.88 | 51 | I-91 north – Springfield | Access to the Bradley International Airport | |||
64.43 | 103.69 | 52 | I-91 south – New Haven | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | |||
Connecticut River | 64.50– 64.74 | 103.80– 104.19 | Bulkeley Bridge | ||||
East Hartford | 64.87 | 104.40 | 53 | US 44 east (Connecticut Blvd.) – East Hartford | Eastern terminus of US 44 overlap; no westbound exit; also connects with East River Drive | ||
65.19 | 104.91 | 54 | Route 2 west – Downtown Hartford | HOV exit; Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | |||
65.10– 65.41 | 104.77– 105.27 | 55 | Route 2 east – Norwich, New London | ||||
65.29 | 105.07 | I-84 east (Restricted Lanes) | Western terminus of I-84 Restricted Lanes | ||||
65.29– 65.55 | 105.07– 105.49 | 56 | Governor St. – Downtown East Hartford | Connection is SR 500 | |||
66.76 | 107.44 | 57 | Route 15 south to I-91 – Charter Oak Bridge, New Haven, N.Y. City | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | |||
66.56– 67.13 | 107.12– 108.04 | 58 | Roberts St. (SR 518), Silver Ln. (SR 502), Burnside Ave. | HOV exit to Silver Lane westbound | |||
68.35 | 110.00 | 59 | I-384 east – Providence | HOV exit to I-384 eastbound. Access to I-384 from US-6 East only | |||
Manchester | 69.71– 70.09 | 112.19– 112.80 | 60 | I-84 east – Boston US 44 west | Eastern terminus of I-84 overlap; Western terminus of US 44 overlap. | ||
72.67 | 116.95 | Route 83 | |||||
Tolland | Bolton | 75.83 | 122.04 | Route 85 south – Bolton Center, Gay City State Park | |||
76.62 | 123.31 | I-384 west – Manchester, Hartford | access from US-6/44 West only. Eastbound traffic to I-384 West uses CT 85 South | ||||
76.95 | 123.84 | US 44 east – Coventry, Mansfield | Eastern terminus of US 44 overlap | ||||
Andover | 82.68 | 133.06 | Route 316 south – Andover, Hebron | ||||
83.91 | 135.04 | Route 87 south – Columbia, Norwich, Lebanon | |||||
Columbia | 87.81 | 141.32 | Route 66 – Columbia, Middletown, Willimantic | ||||
Windham | Windham | 89.72 | 144.39 | Route 32 – Stafford Springs, Willimantic | grade separated | ||
Tolland | Mansfield | 91.94 | 147.96 | Route 195 – Storrs, University of Connecticut | grade separated | ||
Windham | Windham | 93.15 | 149.91 | Route 66 west – Willimantic | |||
95.00 | 152.89 | Route 203 south – Windham, Lebanon | |||||
Chaplin | 96.96 | 156.04 | Route 198 north – Chaplin, Phoenixville, Woodstock, Putnam | Other end is named Chewnik Rd. which leads to Scotland | |||
Hampton | 101.30 | 163.03 | Route 97 – Pomfret, Scotland | ||||
Brooklyn | 107.44 | 172.91 | Route 169 – Pomfret, Canterbury | ||||
Killingly | 110.96 | 178.57 | Route 12 north – Danielson | Northern terminus of CT 12 overlap | |||
111.31 | 179.14 | Route 12 south – Plainfield | Southern terminus of CT 12 overlap | ||||
111.80 | 179.92 | I-395 – Norwich, Worcester | I-395 Exits 37W/E, cloverleaf interchange, no access US-6 WB to I-395 SB | ||||
116.04 | 186.75 | Conn. Turnpike south to I-395 – Norwich | Westbound exit/eastbound entrance | ||||
116.33 | 187.21 | US 6 east – Providence | continuation into Rhode Island | ||||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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References
- 1 2 Connecticut Department of Transportation, "Highway Log" (PDF). (1.80 MiB) as of December 31, 2014
- ↑ Oglesby, Scott. "Connecticut US 6A". Connecticut Roads. Kurumi. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to U.S. Route 6 in Connecticut. |
U.S. Route 6 | ||
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