Early expressways in Waterbury, CT

[kurumi]

New page with some aerial photos and other info: http://www.kurumi.com/roads/ct/waterbury-ex.html

Waterbury doesn't have as much highway history as Hartford or New Haven, and it's harder to find. There are a few interesting things beyond the I-84/CT-8 mixmaster:

* the first "expressway" opened in 1949, and is still open... as part of CT 69
* the first bit of 4-lane divided highway, a short viaduct, opened more than 70 years ago, but has no traces left
* early I-84 crossed over itself near Brass Mill Commons (the Scovill brass factory at the time) and the layout was gnarly and hazardous

I'll have another page soon on a 1963 transportation study that proposed three loop routes for Waterbury. Not freeways (expressways) but four-lane divided highways with medians. Routes 68, 63, 67, 188, and (future) 262 would have been pressed into service. And Route 69 would have been relocated.

[relaxok]

Was historical US-6 the same route as 84 EW on either side and through Waterbury?  As in, was it the same alignment (roughly) and was it elevated or was it city level and through traffic lights etc?

[kurumi]

US 6 never went through Waterbury, but US 6A was at city level to begin with (below). The expressway was SR 925 (not signposted) until it became part of I-84 -- so US 6A never was signed on that section of expressway. The path of I-84 deviates from old US 6A through most of the area.

In the 1940s, the one thru route was US 6A, following these streets right through the city center:
    * Chase Parkway (some of this is gone) leading in from today's Route 64
    * Freight Street and Meadow Street
    * West Main Street and East Main Street
    * Meriden Road leading to today's Route 322