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 US 6 from East Hartford, CT to Manchester, CT
Major junctions
South end	US 5 / Route 15 / Berlin Turnpike in Wethersfield, CT
Major intersections	I-91 in Hartford, CT US 5 / Route 2 in East Hartford, CT I-84 / US 6 in East Hartford, CT I-384 in East Hartford, CT I-291 in Manchester, CT
North end	I-90 / Mass Pike in Sturbridge, MA
Location
Country	United States
States	Connecticut, Massachusetts
Counties	CT: Hartford, Tolland, Windham MA: Hampden, Worcester
Highway system
Connecticut State Highway System Interstate US State SSR SR Scenic
Massachusetts State Highway System Interstate US State

The Wilbur Cross Highway is a freeway running along a portion of Connecticut Route 15 and U.S. Route 5 from Wethersfield to East Hartford, Connecticut, and then continuing northeast as a section of Interstate 84, part of which is also cosigned as U.S. Route 6. The freeway ends at a junction with the tolled Massachusetts Turnpike in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. The entire route was formerly signed as Route 15.

Route description

Route 15 and U.S. Route 5

The Wilbur Cross Highway begins as a Y-interchange with the Berlin Turnpike in Wethersfield. South of here, Route 15 and U.S. Route 5 (US 5) continue south along the turnpike. The highway proceeds in a northeasterly direction and has an interchange with Route 99 (Old Route 9) before entering Hartford and reaching interchanges with Interstate 91 (I-91) and the Hartford–Brainard Airport access road. The highway then crosses the Connecticut River by way of the Charter Oak Bridge, curving to a more east-west direction, before merging into the median of I-84 in East Hartford.

Interstate 84

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US 6 is cosigned with I-84 on the Wilbur Cross Highway from exit 57 in East Hartford to exit 60 in Manchester. I-84 intersects one of the remnants of an abandoned project, I-384, as part of a three-mile (4.8 km) series of complex interchanges in Manchester including the end of the US 6 concurrency at exit 60, and a connection to the only built as originally planned portion of I-291 at exit 61.

Beyond Manchester, I-84 climbs steadily from the Connecticut River Valley and passes through the Tolland County towns of Vernon, Tolland, and Willington. After briefly entering the Windham County town of Ashford, it reenters Tolland County in the town of Union. After exit 74 (Route 171), I-84 crosses the Massachusetts state line. All lanes eventually enter into Sturbridge, but the westbound lanes pass briefly through the town of Holland before entering Sturbridge. Eight miles (13 km) later, I-84 reaches its eastern terminus at the Massachusetts Turnpike (I-90).

History

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The highway was built in the 1940s, before the Interstate Highway era, as a continuation of the Wilbur Cross Parkway, which itself is a continuation of the Merritt Parkway – all of which were once signed Route 15. 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 Route 15 was instead routed along the Berlin Turnpike.^{[ citation needed]}

In 1958, the highway north of the Charter Oak Bridge was cosigned as I-84, as part of the interstate highway's planned route through Connecticut. In 1968, this designation was moved to a proposed highway from Hartford to Providence, and the then-cosigned portion with Route 15 was renumbered to I-86. The Route 15 designation remained cosigned with I-86 section south of the Massachusetts border until October 1, 1980, when it was truncated to its current northern terminus at exit 57 of I-84. The I-84 designation was restored in 1984 when the planned highway to Providence was cancelled.

From 1948 to 1982, US 44 was signed along the highway from current exit 60 to current exit 69.

Charter Oak Bridge

The Charter Oak Bridge, which carries the highway across the Connecticut River, has been operational since 1942. Due to the bridge's failing condition and the clogging on the nearby Bissell and Founders Bridges in the late 1980s, the Charter Oak Bridge and approach was completely rebuilt in 1991 to its current form.^{[ citation needed]}

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 [1]	km	Old exit	New exit	Destinations	Notes
Connecticut	Hartford	Wethersfield	0.00	0.00		–	US 5 south / Route 15 south ( Berlin Turnpike)	Southern terminus of US 5 / Route 15 concurrency; continues south as the Berlin Turnpike
			1.76	2.83		85	Route 99 south – Wethersfield, Rocky Hill	Northern terminus of Route 99
		Hartford	2.16– 3.42	3.48– 5.50		86-89	I-91 / Brainard Road / Airport Road to I-84 west – New Haven, New York City, Springfield	Signed as exits 86 (I-91 south), 87 (Brainard) and 89 (I-91 north); no southbound access to I-91 north; exits 35B-36 on I-91
		Connecticut River	4.01	6.45	Charter Oak Bridge
		East Hartford	4.06	6.53		90	US 5 north (Main Street) / Route 2 / East River Drive – Norwich	Northern terminus of US 5 concurrency; no southbound access to Route 2
			4.85	7.81		91	Silver Lane ( SR 502)	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
			5.64	9.08		57	I-84 west (Yankee Expressway) to I-91 north – Hartford Route 15 ends	Northern terminus of Route 15; western terminus of I-84 concurrency; westbound exit and eastbound entrance
			5.95	9.58		–	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– 7.70	11.64– 12.39		59	I-384 east – Providence	Includes eastbound exit and westbound entrance to Restricted Lanes
		Manchester	8.59	13.82	92	60	US 6 east / US 44 (Middle Turnpike West) / Burnside Avenue – Manchester, East Hartford	US 6 continues east; westbound exit shares a ramp with exit 62
			8.38– 8.97	13.49– 14.44		61	I-291 west – South Windsor, Windsor	Eastern terminus of I-291
			9.56	15.39	93	62	Buckland Street – South Windsor, Manchester
			12.40	19.96	94	63	Route 30 / Route 83 – Manchester, South Windsor
	Tolland	Vernon	13.31	21.42	95	64	Route 30 / Route 83 – Vernon, Rockville, Talcottville
			13.81	22.23		–	I-84 west (Restricted Lanes)	Eastern terminus of Restricted lanes
			14.01	22.55	96	65	Route 30 – Vernon Center	Eastbound exit shared a ramp with exit 64
			15.75	25.35	97	66	Tunnel Road (SR 541) – Vernon, Bolton
			17.91– 18.26	28.82– 29.39	98	67	Route 31 – Rockville, Coventry
		Tolland	21.66	34.86	99	68	Route 195 – Tolland, Mansfield, Storrs	Access to the University of Connecticut
			24.63	39.64	100	69	Route 74 to US 44 – Willington, Tolland, Rockville, Putnam
		Willington	26.13	42.05	101	70	Route 32 – Stafford Springs, Willington, Mansfield, Willimantic
			28.28– 28.86	45.51– 46.45	102	71	Route 320 south (Ruby Road) – Willington	Northern terminus of Route 320
	Windham– Tolland county line	Ashford– Union town line	32.66	52.56	104	72	Route 89 – Stafford Springs, Westford, Ashford
	Tolland	Union	34.08	54.85	105	73	Route 190 – Union, Stafford Springs
			37.99– 38.55	61.14– 62.04	106	74	Route 171 / Holland Road – Union, Holland, Mass
				38.70	62.28	Connecticut– Massachusetts state line
Massachusetts	Hampden	Holland	38.99	62.75		–	Mashapaug Road	Westbound entrance only; former Route 15
	Worcester	Sturbridge	41.95	67.51	1	3	Mashapaug Road – Southbridge, Sturbridge	Former Route 15
			43.78	70.46	2	5	To Route 131 – Sturbridge, Southbridge	Signed for Old Sturbridge Village
			45.25– 45.57	72.82– 73.34	3	6	US 20 – Charlton, Palmer	Signed as exits 6A (east) and 6B (west)
			46.41	74.69		–	I-90 / Mass Pike – Springfield, Albany NY, Worcester, Boston	Eastern terminus of I-84; exit 78 (old exit 9) on I-90 / Mass Pike
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Closed/former        Electronic toll collection        HOV only        Incomplete access        Route transition

References