Decided on Interstate 89 south to check out the Barre Connectors first, both of which appear as freeways on maps sometimes, but really are expressway-like roads with no private driveways. Vermont 62 spurs east from Exit 7 into northern Barre, complete with a connector leading to U.S. 302. The connector splits with Vermont 62 via a partial interchange north of the signalized intersection with Fisher and Airport Roads. The road otherwise ends at a traffic light with the U.S. 302 junction at Vermont 14.

Vermont 14 follows Maple Avenue through Barre to junction U.S. 302 (Main Street) and the Barre Connector (Vermont 62). Sign bridges are posted in all four directions leading into the intersection. Vermont 14 south joins U.S. 302 east briefly before turning southwest to South Barre. Vermont 62 begins and ascends westward toward Edward J. Knapp State Airport and junction Interstate 89.

Further south, Vermont 63 spurs east from the Exit 6 trumpet interchange to Vermont 14 at South Barre. This connector carries less traffic and has only two at-grade intersections. Both connectors see end shields on the southbound Interstate 89 on-ramps.

Vermont 63 travels a less busy route between Vermont 14 (South Barre Road) and Interstate 89 (Exit 6). Unlike Vermont 62 to the north, Vermont 63 sees no traffic signals (just a set of flashers at Miller Road). This shield assembly and Interstate 89 trailblazer lies west of that intersection.

Continuing southward, we took Interstate 91 to Brattleboro where we encountered a construction induced traffic jam prompting us to depart the freeway for parallel U.S. 5. While along the route, we discovered an original 18×24″ Interstate 91 Vermont trailblazer along northbound. Also the day we were there saw a parade or some sort in downtown, prompting yet another detour for Vermont 9 west to Bennington.

As mentioned before, Interstate 91 provides a scenic and rustic ride through Vermont’s Connecticut River Valley between Massachusetts and St. Johnsberry. Several high-level bridges pass above tributaries leading into the Connecticut, such as this span over the Williams River. Photo looks west from the parallel U.S. 5 Williams River bridge.

U.S. 5 and Vermont 9 merge at a roundabout east of the Exit 3 trumpet interchange with Interstate 91. Vermont 9 enters the Brattleboro area as New Hampshire 9 from Keene. A large steel arch bridge spans the Connecticut River along Multi-state Route 9. Parallel to the bridge is a smaller abandoned steel arch bridge.

Vermont 9 carried us westward across the mountains into the southwest Vermont town of Bennington. The state highway travels a narrow and slow moving corridor through town, intersect U.S. 7 in the process. U.S. 7 travels a freeway that dumps traffic right into downtown. A bypass for one or both of the routes is needed too.

A recent addition to the U.S. 7 freeway is the Vermont 279 super-two expressway leading southwest to New York state. The completion of Vermont 279 orphaned the trumpet interchange with the North East Road connector, leaving abandoned ramps at the U.S. 7 freeway’s south end. Instead a new trumpet interchange joins the east end with Vermont 279 nearby. Vermont 279 otherwise provides a north bypass route of Vermont 9 between New York 7 and U.S. 7. New York 7 joins southern Vermont with Albany’s Capital District.

U.S. 7 southbound at the Exit 1 trumpet interchange with Vermont 279. Vermont 279 spurs westward, meeting Vermont 67A via a folded-diamond interchange nearby. Historic Vermont 7A also travels nearby on a parallel alignment to U.S. 7. Access to that route is provided directly at U.S. 7 across from Kocher Drive or from U.S. 7 Exit 2. The shield includes the banner “Historic”.

Our next stop was Albany and a tour of the area freeways. Albany is represents several opportunities for road exploration with many partially built freeways and cancelled projects. First on our list of things to investigate was the South Mall Arterial, a freeway joining the Dunn Memorial Bridge with the Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza. A portion of the freeway actually passes underneath the capital complex through a set of tunnels. This freeway otherwise links with Interstate 787 and the town of Rensselaer east of the Hudson River. Planned extensions were never built on both ends. Westward, the South Mall Arterial was to join the unconstructed Mid-Crosstown Arterial (U.S. 9) freeway from the north; eastward, the Dunn Memorial Bridge was to join the unconstructed South Mall Expressway southeast to Interstate 90.

Traveling northbound on the South Mall Arterial from the massive “Circle stack” interchange with Interstate 787. U.S. 20 travels the freeway initially before departing via the Pearl Street off-ramp onto New York 32. The freeway otherwise continues on its own to the capital complex.

One heck of a drop off the south end of the Dunn Memorial Bridge! These stubs were built prematurely as the South Mall Expressway never reached fruition.

We poked around for an increasingly rare Interstate 787 New York shield and found two entries underneath the “circle stack” interchange complex. With that accomplished, we ventured northward and explored what was built of the Mid-Crosstown Arterial, a short freeway carrying U.S. 9 north and south from Interstate 90. That section was all that was constructed of a planned north-south freeway between the New York Thruway (Interstate 87) and Interstate 90. A four-level symmetrical stack joins the Mid-Crosstown Arterial with Interstate 90 at Exit 6.

Driving south on U.S. 9, the Mid-Crosstown Arterial near the Northern Boulevard overpass. A concrete stub exists ahead for the unconstructed southward extension to the equally unbuilt North Mall Expressway (Mall Arterial). U.S. 9 continues south along Johnson Boulevard and Clinton Avenue, surface streets through Albany’s working class neighborhoods.

Traveling west along Interstate 90, next on our agenda was New York 85, the Crosstown Arterial. New York 85 represents a full freeway leading south from Interstate 90 Exit 2 to Blessing Road south of the Interstate 87 underpass. Like the Mid-Crosstown Arterial and South Mall Expressway, the current Crosstown Aerial represents only part of what was originally envisioned. The north end of the route ties into Interstate 90 at a trumpet interchange. A planned extension would have continued the route northward to the unconstructed Interstate 687, had Interstate 687 been built. With that project scrapped, so was the New York 85 connection.

Entering the trumpet interchange with Interstate 90 along New York 85 (Crosstown Arterial) northbound. An end shield resides at the eastbound off-ramp.

Southward, road work is underway to extend the four-lane section of New York 85 across the New York Thruway onto a new bypass of the Slingerlands community. A $15.3 million project, work entails the upgrading or building of new roadway along a 1.5-mile long corridor from New York 85 west at Blessing Road to the Cherry Avenue Extension (New York 140). That is the first of two projects expected to be completed during summer 2008. A second project will extend the new four-lane New York 85 west to an existing four-lane New York 85 to the west. That project is unfunded at this time. Design elements of the initial project involves the construction of roundabouts at Blessing Road, Maher Road, and New York 140.

Speaking of Interstate 687, that route represents an unbuilt connector between Interstate 90 Exit 5A and Interstate 87 (Adirondack Northway) Exit 4. A trumpet interchange was built at the planned south end before funding dried up on the remainder of the route. Albany Shaker Road (Albany County 151) roughly parallels the Interstate 687 route today.

Another exploration stop took us to the south end of the Adirondack Northway, the unnumbered freeway spur leading south from the congested Interstate 87 & 90 directional cloverleaf interchange. The route provides ramps to Crossgates Road and a partially used interchange with U.S. 20 (Western Avenue). All I can find on the planned continuation of this freeway is a reference to the South Albany Expressway in the New York 910F (Fuller Road) article. It mentions a planned freeway paralleling Interstate 87 south from the Northway to the south end of Interstate 787.

What a great place to go roadding, Albany! See Chris Jordan’s Capital Highways for more on the Albany area roads and bridges. Much of the historical information cited here was derived from his web site.

Driving south, Interstate 87 took us to Kingston where stopped to drive Interstate 587 again and explore a few other local roads such as the U.S. 209 freeway. The work present in 2005 along Interstate 587 is done, and now construction barrels are no more along the short route. Otherwise U.S. 209 follows a freeway northeast from its junction with New York 28 west of I-587. The connection between New York 28 and Interstate 87/587 is not a full freeway however, as a traffic light with a shopping center resides between the two junctions.

Further south, construction is underway at the toll plaza adjacent to the Interstate 87 and New York 17/Future Interstate 86 interchange (Exit 16). It appears that a toll plaza expansion to accommodate open road tolling may be underway, but no project information is available online. A nearby project involves the reconstruction and upgrading of New York 17 into full freeway standards between Hancock and the Sullivan County line. Completion of that is planned for 2010.

A few other notes from the rest of the drive: Several of the older button copy signs along Interstate 78 leading west toward Pennsylvania have been replaced. Most of Pennsylvania 309′s non-freeway portions are targeted enforcement zones. It appears that PennDOT is finally upgrading the Fort Washington Expressway (Pennsylvania 309) to modern standards. For years on-ramps to the freeway greeted motorists with stop signs at the end of the ramps! Additionally the interchange between Pennsylvania 309 and Interstate 276 (Pennsylvania Turnpike) is receiving much needed upgrades!

Sources:

1. “NYSDOT Awards Contract For Slingerlands Bypass Construction.” NYSDOT Press Release, February 21, 2007.
2. Capital Highways – The highways and bridges of New York’s Capital Region

MassHighway uses large diagrammatical signs regularly along its freeways for interchange elements such as loop ramps and in this instance, a collector/distributor roadway. This particular sign resides along Interstate 95 northbound ahead of the trumpet interchange with U.S. 3 (Exits 32A/B). The c/d roadway serves not only interests to the U.S. 3 freeway north, but also to the nearby folded-diamond interchange with Middlesex Turnpike. Note that U.S. 3 south joins Interstate 95 north to make the jump from its freeway onto its original alignment on Cambridge Street (Exit 33).

Interstate 93 north carried us back to the Loop Connector (Massachusetts 213) east to Interstate 495 north. Interstate 495′s northernmost extent includes just four lanes and the lightest amount of traffic that we saw. Though that is an understatement, it was a welcome concept given the overall Massachusetts’ and Southern New England traffic woes.

I neglected to go to the east end of New Hampshire 101 and Atlantic Coast in 2005, so we decided to make that a stop this year. New Hampshire 101 appears as a freeway with an interchange with U.S. 1 on some maps. This is gravely incorrect, as the highway narrows to two lanes across tidal marshes west of Hampton Beach before partitioning into a one-way one-lane street couplet in the town itself. State maintenance ends near the couplet partition no less.

U.S. 1 (Ocean Boulevard) northbound at the westbound beginning of New Hampshire 101 (Church Street) in Hampton Beach. Church Street carries one lane of N.H. 101 west to the confluence with Highland Avenue (N.H. 101 east). From there New Hampshire 101 crosses marshland to a signalized intersection with Landing Road. After that at-grade intersection, the New Hampshire 101 freeway begins as a super-two expressway.

Hampton Beach was shrouded in some late morning low cloudiness this day, but was bustling with tourists and beach goers none the less. Densely built beach cottages line U.S. 1 southbound and the adjoining narrow street grid. U.S. 1 otherwise constitutes a divided highway with parallel parking slots in its median through here. Sand on the adjacent beach is more orange than anything else. Overall, we thought it was a quaint place, that worthy of a return visit…

New Hampshire 101 took us west to Manchester. The freeway is much less traveled then its Massachusetts counterparts and offers a direct link between the coast and mountains with Interstates 93 and 89. The corridor historically is that of Interstate 92, though the freeway itself was not fully completed until the early 2000s.

In Manchester, finding a stand-alone Interstate shield or reassurance marker of any kind can be quite a task. That is, as mentioned in yesterday’s blog post, overlapped routes are signed in a green box. This makes it next to impossible to find a single Interstate 293 shield as the Manchester loop shares pavement with the F.E. Everett Turnpike, New Hampshire 101, and New Hampshire 3A along its routing. Otherwise construction is still present at the Granite Street diamond interchange and Interstate 293 north to Amoskeag Street. Crews are essentially modernizing the highway through there.

Classic button copy overheads on U.S. 3 (Hooksett Road) southbound at its split with New Hampshire 28. New Hampshire 28 follows the one-way street couplet of Beech Street (south) and Maple Street (north) between U.S. 3 and Willow Street. U.S. 3 meanwhile turns west on Webster Street to Elm Street south and the Manchester central business district.

We poked around downtown Manchester from Bridge Street east and U.S. 3 north. For a small city, there appears to be many entertainment spots, including a full scale arena. Though other parts of Manchester remind me of Scranton…

Leaving Manchester, Interstate 93 briefly becomes the F.E. Everett Turnpike on the drive to junction Interstate 89 and Concord. Concord, the state capital, is similar to Montpelier with a dense downtown and its overall layout.

Looking west at the New Hampshire State Capital Complex from U.S. 3-202 & New Hampshire 9 (Main Street).

Construction involving the repaving of Interstate 89 hampered us and all other northbound drivers over the course of the first three miles leaving Interstate 93. I was once told that DOT’s in northern New England repave their freeways every two to three years. As we would later discover on Interstate 89 between White River Junction and Barre, repaving was underway in Vermont as well.

Interstate 89 parallels U.S. 202 west from Concord before veering northwest to Lebanon. A bulk of the traffic departs via U.S. 202 en route to Henniker and Keene, leaving Interstate 89 to the mountains. Pictured here is the Interstate 89 north & New Hampshire 10 west approach to eastern Lebanon.

Interstate 91 northeast of Interstate 89 is one of the more beautiful freeways in the northeast. The difference between it and Interstate 89 northwest of Montpelier is that there is less traffic, which anymore is becoming an increasing problem in Vermont with the influx of vacationers. Jay Hogan, formerly of New England Turnpikes, wrote earlier this year that VTrans was undertaking a sign replacement project along Interstate 91 leading north from White River Junction. The results of that project were clear in the form of a complete sign overhaul along the route between Interstate 89 and one exit south of Interstate 93. Crews were in the process of replacing signs at St. Johnsbury of both Interstates 91 and 93 that week no less. Further north, original signs are still in use, some of which have lost all of their green and now appear gray…

One of the many hills along Interstate 91 between White River Junction and St. Johnsbury. Breathtaking vistas into the parallel Connecticut River Valley are afforded to the east periodically. This view looks at the freeway south of Exit 17.

Original guide sign along Interstate 91 northbound proclaiming the highest elevation along the entire route (1,856 feet).

Our final stop before heading west across the Green Mountains to Lake Champlain took us to Newport and Derby Line, Vermont. Interstate 91 defaults into the Canadian Port of Entry, ahead of Quebec Autoroute 55. A connector street stems west along the Canadian border to U.S. 5 at its northern end, which is another Port of Entry. The next town south along U.S. 5 is Newport.

Vermont 191, which appears as a freeway on some maps, provides access to Interstate 91 from Newport. Like the “Interstate Access Road” in St. Albans, Vermont 191 is a controlled access surface road connecting the parent freeway with the nearby town. Vermont 191 ends at a stop light with junction U.S. 5 & Vermont 105 and sees a few at-grade intersections along the way. Thus it is not a freeway, nor even an expressway.

U.S. 5 north & Vermont 105 east (Causeway) at junction Vermont 191. Vermont 191 spurs east to Western Avenue, Crawford Farm Road, Citizens Road, and the Exit 27 partial-cloverleaf interchange with Interstate 91. The traffic light between the two highways is permanently set to flash caution for U.S. 5 & Vermont 105.

Further south, cloverleaf ramps between Interstates 95 and 495 are being slightly altered to improve their curvature. It is amazing to us as to how many full cloverleaf interchanges remain in service between two Interstates, let alone freeways of any kind. It reminds me of the interchanges I experienced in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area..

Interstate 495, for as long as the highway is, carries six lanes throughout most of its length. It is a testament to the far reaching suburbs of Boston and the increasing weekend beach and mountain-bound traffic to have that much capacity on a freeway so far from the city center. Unfortunately the only modern interchange along the route that comes to mind is the Exit 23C directional to Simarano Drive at Marlborough, officially known as Joseph A. Ferrecchia Connector Road.

Finding a state-named Interstate shield in either Massachusetts or New Hampshire is next to impossible, but thanks to our friend Jake, we were able to locate this 18″ wooden trailblazer for Interstate 495 in Upton.

One stop along the northward drive along Interstate 495 took us into the city of Lowell via the Lowell Connector. Once upon a time this freeway spur received the designation Business Spur Interstate 495 (one junction shield still remains). Nowadays it is simply signed as the “Lowell Connector” or “To Interstate 495 & U.S. 3″. A complex series of loop and directional ramps join both the Lowell Connector and the U.S. 3 freeway with Interstate 495 via Exits 35A-B-C. Spurring north from U.S. 3 just south of Interstate 495, the six-lane freeway even receives its own set of sequential exit numbers.

Nearing the northern end of the Lowell Connector at the partition between Exits 5B (Massachusetts 3A north) and 5C (Central Lowell via Gorham Street). “Road Ends” signs are a bit misleading in our opinion. Having seen them as far south as Rhode Island and as far north as Essex Junction, Vermont, they are somewhat standard in the New England states.

Continuing northeast on Interstate 495, the freeway next meets Interstate 93 near Lawrence. Lawrence, Lowell’s sister city if you will, has its own connector in the form of the Loop Connector. Like the Lowell Connector, the Loop Connector also has its own sets of exit numbers but receives the designation Massachusetts 213. Massachusetts 213 carries four overall lanes as it joins Interstate 495 to the east with Interstate 93 to the west.

After encircling Lawrence, we headed back south along Interstate 93 to Interstate 95 & Massachusetts 128. Unfortunately the junction between these two busy and pivotal roadways is facilitated by a full-cloverleaf interchange. A much better interchange lies to the north between Interstate 93 and Commerce Way (Exit 37C) in the form of a tri-level stack. Thank the completion of the Anderson RTC (Commuter Rail Station) for that high-speed connection, but what is being considered for junction Interstate 93 and 95? The Interstate 93 / 95 Interchange Transportation Study recommendations involve constructing directional ramps, perhaps as flyovers, from Interstate 95 north onto Interstate 93 north and Interstate 95 south onto Interstate 93 south. Cost estimates range between $160 and $249 million on the two preferred alternates mentioned in the study. No time table is set on this project, but the sooner, the better considering the single-lane ramps between the two Interstates.

Back in downtown Boston, the view above the Interstate 93 Big Dig from Causeway Street looking south. The green swath represents the location of the former Fitzgerald Expressway. Interstate 93 sinks into the tunnel from the Zakim Bridge over the Charles River behind this scene adjacent to the TD Banknorth Garden, home of the NBA Boston Celtics.

A short distance east of the Interstate 93 Zakim Bridge is the Massachusetts 99 Charles River Bridge. Massachusetts 99 on an expressway-style alignment between the central business district and Massachusetts 16. Rotary interchanges and others join the multi-lane divided highway with primary cross streets in lieu of large at-grade intersections.

Massachusetts 99′s urban expressway features a cut and cover tunnel among its features through north Boston. The tunnel exists just south of the Sullivan Square rotary at Mishawum Street.

The Mystic River draw bridge went up as we approached along Massachusetts 99 northbound. Time spent waiting for the single leaf bascule to raise allowed for this view of the distance U.S. 1 Tobin Bridge.

Interstate 95 carried us northward into New Hampshire and southern Maine. EZ Pass lanes are now in operation along the New Hampshire Turnpike, a change from our 2005 trip. Additionally the eight-lane toll road was resurfaced recently. The turnpike collects tolls adjacent to the New Hampshire 101 interchange (Exit 2). Those departing or entering from N.H. 101 are levied 50 cents. All others must pay $1.00. Interstate 95 becomes a freeway highway south of Exit 1 (New Hampshire 286) and north of Exit 3 (New Hampshire 33).

We exited Interstate 95 north just shy of the Maine Turnpike beginning (Exit 7) and doubled back south along U.S. 1 and U.S. 1 Bypass through Kittery. With beach traffic quite fierce, this was the better route across the Piscataqua River. Interesting enough, the Maine Welcome Center along Interstate 95 northbound provides access to and from parallel U.S. 1.

U.S. 1 Bypass spans the Piscataqua River across this two-lane lift bridge. The route was the first connection between the Maine and New Hampshire Turnpikes. Still serving as a viable through route. U.S. 1 Bypass splits from U.S. 1 near the Exit 3 interchange with Interstate 95 in Maine en route to the Portsmouth Circle with U.S. 4 in New Hampshire.

Venturing northwest, we followed the Spaulding Turnpike beyond its split with U.S. 4 to Dover and Rochester. A pair of 50 cent toll plazas lie along the tolled sections of the highway. North of Exit 12, the four-lane divided highway narrows into a super-two expressway.

A handful of classic button copy signs remain in use along the Spaulding Turnpike at Rochester. The two lane section includes a striped center line laden with rumble strips. U.S. 202 incidentally is signed as east-west through much of New Hampshire.

Since the Spaulding Turnpike is co-signed with another route throughout its entire length, NHDOT places reassurance markers in a green box along with the corresponding routes. This is standard practice for route overlaps in the Granite State. Just north of the Exit 18 folded-diamond interchange with New Hampshire 125 is the end sign for the Spaulding Turnpike. New Hampshire 16 continues northward as the primary route into the White Mountains from Portsmouth and points south.