 U.S. Route 5 | ||||
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 US 5 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained byCTDOT | ||||
| Length | 54.59 mi[1] (87.85 km) | |||
| Existed | 1926–present | |||
| History | Designated Route 2 in 1922 | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| South end |  I-91 inNew Haven | |||
| Major intersections |
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| North end |  US 5 at theMassachusetts state line | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Connecticut | |||
| Counties | New Haven,Hartford | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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U.S. Route 5 (US 5), a north–southUnited States Numbered Highway that is generally paralleled byInterstate 91 (I-91), begins at the city ofNew Haven inConnecticut and heads north through westernMassachusetts and easternVermont to the international border withCanada. Within Connecticut, US 5 proceeds north from New Haven and passes throughMeriden andHartford towardSpringfield, Massachusetts.
US 5 begins at exit 5 of I-91 northeast ofDowntown New Haven, heading north through the suburbs of New Haven. It crosses theQuinnipiac River inNorth Haven, shifting eastward to a different road. US 5 continues north through the town ofWallingford before entering the city ofMeriden. North of Meriden, it becomes a four-lanearterial road known as theBerlin Turnpike, where a long overlap withRoute 15 also begins. US 5 continues through the southern suburbs ofHartford along the Berlin Turnpike, shifting just south of the city line to theWilbur Cross Highway, afreeway. The Wilbur Cross Highway bypassesDowntown Hartford and crosses theConnecticut River on theCharter Oak Bridge intoEast Hartford. From here, US 5 exits the Wilbur Cross Highway and runs along a four-lane, divided surface road toSouth Windsor before returning to a two-lane road the rest of the way to the Massachusetts state line inEnfield.
US 5 roughly follows the route used by theUpper Post Road, an early colonial highway for transporting mail betweenNew York City andBoston. The route was first improved in 1798 as theHartford and New Haven Turnpike, which ran in a nearly straight line between the court houses of New Haven and Hartford. In 1922, the Upper Boston Post Road corridor was designated as Route 2 of theNew England road marking system, crossing to the east of the Connecticut River in Hartford before continuing north to the Massachusetts state line. In 1926, Route 2 was redesignated as US 5. Several realignments have been made in the cities of New Haven and Hartford with the opening of several expressways in these areas. Because it is closely paralleled by I-91 between New Haven and Hartford, US 5 serves mainly as a secondary route today.
US 5 begins on State Street at exit 5 ofI-91 inNew Haven. State Street continues southwest into downtown as a local, unnumbered street. US 5 starts out as an undivided four-lane road, becoming two lanes just before crossing intoHamden. State Street continues north through Hamden and the industrial section ofNorth Haven, closely paralleling the Amtrak railroad tracks on the west side of theQuinnipiac River. It has an interchange withRoute 40 in this area. US 5 then turns right at the intersection with Bishop Street in North Haven and crosses the Quinnipiac River, the railroad tracks, and I-91 (at exit 11) overlapped withRoute 22 on a four-lane wide road.[1][2]
The bridge ends at a four-way intersection where US 5 turns left on Washington Avenue, Route 22 continues straight on Clintonville Road, andRoute 103 begins on the right along Washington Avenue. The four-lane Washington Avenue runs through the commercial areas of North Haven still paralleling the railroad tracks, crosses under I-91 (at exit 12) and continues intoWallingford as South Colony Street. At the town line isWharton Brook State Park, just north ofSR 702, a short freeway that provides access to I-91. South Colony Street narrows to two lanes withinWallingford Center.[1][2]
After crossing Center Street (Route 150) nearWallingford station, the road becomes North Colony Street and heads out of the town center. The road crossesRoute 68 at aone-quadrant interchange about two miles (3.2 km) later, followed by a series of junctions about half a mile (0.80 km) apart each: an interchange with theWilbur Cross Parkway (at exit 66), a split to the left whereRoute 71 begins and a merge from the left where Route 150 ends.[1][2]
At the merge with Route 150 just before the town line, US 5 then follows South Broad Street (the alignment of the old Hartford and New Haven Turnpike) into the city ofMeriden. South Broad Street becomes Broad Street after the intersection with Hall Avenue as it passes by the eastern part of the city, avoiding the downtown area. Past Olive Street, the road becomes divided with a wide grassy median. At the north end of the divided section, it has an intersection with East Main Street, the main east–west business route through the city. About 0.7 miles (1.1 km) north of East Main Street, US 5 has an interchange withI-691 (at exit 8). At the intersection with Brittania Street, the road becomes North Broad Street, which climbs up on a slope as it meets with the north end of the Wilbur Cross Parkway. The northbound roadway overpasses the parkway and then merges onto it from the right. This is the beginning of a 15-mile (24 km) overlap withRoute 15. Southbound at the beginning of the parkway, US 5 is signed as an exit (with no number) from the main roadway. North Broad Street continues north from the merge as a divided four-lane surface road for another 1.1 miles (1.8 km) up to theBerlin town line, where the road becomes theBerlin Turnpike.[1][2]
US 5 and Route 15 run for 10 miles (16 km) along the Berlin Turnpike within the towns of Berlin,Newington, andWethersfield. The Berlin Turnpike is mostly a four-lane arterial road with some six-lane sections and is the alignment of the old Hartford and New Haven Turnpike. In Berlin, it has an interchange with theRoute 9 freeway. In Wethersfield, Route 5 and Route 15 leave the Berlin Turnpike to travel along theWilbur Cross Highway, a freeway bypass along the south of Downtown Hartford. The Wilbur Cross Highway runs through Wethersfield and Hartford, then crosses theConnecticut River intoEast Hartford on theCharter Oak Bridge. Just prior to the river crossing in Hartford, the Wilbur Cross Highway runs parallel to and interconnects withI-91 near the vicinity ofHartford–Brainard Airport. Just after the crossing, US 5 exits from the Wilbur Cross Highway on exit 90, ending the long overlap with Route 15. US 5 continues north to East Hartford center along Main Street.[1][3]
From East Hartford northward to the Massachusetts state line, US 5 runs along the east bank of the Connecticut River. Main Street in East Hartford is mostly a four-lane divided surface road. It crosses underI-84 about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) north of the split with Route 15 with access to the westbound direction only. Main Street continues through the town center, intersecting (and briefly overlapping)US 44. North of the town center, US 5 leaves Main Street to go on Ellington Road (via a short segment of King Street) until theSouth Windsor town line, where the road becomes known as John Fitch Boulevard (a four-lane arterial road). About half a mile (0.80 km) further north, US 5 has an interchange withI-291 (at exit 4) that also includes access toRoute 30, the main road to the South Windsor town center. John Fitch Boulevard continues through the rest of South Windsor, passing through the village of East Windsor Hill near the East Windsor town line.[1][4]
After crossing into the town ofEast Windsor, the roadway becomes two lanes wide with auxiliary left turn lanes and is known as South Main Street. It intersects withRoute 191 (Phelps Street), which leads to the East Windsor town center. About half a mile (0.80 km) north of this junction, US 5 leaves Main Street to go on Prospect Hill Road, bypassing the Warehouse Point area. There is also a partial interchange with I-91 in this area (at exit 44). Just south of the Enfield town line, US 5 intersects withRoute 140, which crosses the Connecticut River into the town ofWindsor Locks andBradley International Airport.[1][4]
InEnfield, the road becomes known as King Street, crossing over I-91 with a full interchange (exit 46). As it approaches the town center, the road becomes known as Enfield Street. It has a grade-separated intersection withRoute 190 in this area. Just before going across the state line, US 5 crosses over I-91 again (at exit 49) and becomes Longmeadow Street as it enters the town ofLongmeadow, Massachusetts.[1][4]
TheUpper Post Road was established in 1673 betweenNew York City andBoston via New Haven, Hartford,Springfield, andWorcester. From New Haven to Hartford, it ran at various times viaMiddletown (now roughlyRoute 17 andRoute 99) and viaMeriden (now very roughly US 5). North of Hartford, the road remained on the west side of theConnecticut River, following the general path of presentRoute 159.[5]
Along this route between New Haven and Hartford, theHartford and New Haven Turnpike was chartered in 1798 and opened in 1799, beginning at Grove Street in New Haven and leaving on Whitney Avenue, passing via Meriden andBerlin, and entering Hartford on Maple Avenue. This was one of the first turnpikes to be built on a straight line rather than along existing roads.[6]
In the 1910s, Connecticut and Massachusetts adopted a system of marking major roads by colors. The route from New Haven to Springfield, crossing the Connecticut River at Hartford, was marked with blue bands, signifying a major north–south route. This route crossed theQuinnipiac River in New Haven, heading north along an old road (nowRoute 103 and US 5) toTracy, crossing the turnpike and running through downtown Meriden on Old Colony Road, Cook Avenue, and Colony Street. It then used the turnpike alignment fromLamentation State Park into Hartford. FromEast Hartford north to Springfield, another older road was used.[7]
When theNew England road marking system was adopted in 1922,Route 2 was assigned to a route from New Haven north via Hartford and Springfield towardSherbrooke, Quebec. This route followed the older blue-banded route from New Haven north to Hartford. At Hartford, Route 2 crossed the Connecticut River on theBulkeley Bridge and ran north from East Hartford to Springfield on the east side of the river.[8][9]
US 5 was designated in 1926 along the Route 2 alignment.[10] Between 1926 and 1932, US 5 and Route 2 were cosigned throughout the length of the route.[11] In the1932 state highway renumbering, the Route 2 designation was removed, leaving only the US 5 designation. Only a small number of changes have been made since then, the most prominent being in the cities of New Haven and Hartford.
US 5 initially used Temple Street, Whitney Avenue, Edwards Street, and upper State Street in New Haven, beginning atUS 1 (Chapel Street).[12] By the 1940s, it had been moved onto a bypass of the downtown area, consisting of Edwards Street, Hillside Place, Munson Street, Henry Street, Sherman Avenue, Winthrop Avenue, and Davenport Avenue, ending at US 1 west of downtown. At the time, it still crossed the river on Middletown Avenue; the route leaving to the north on State Street was signed as an alternate route.[13] The main and alternate routes were swapped by the mid-1950s, and US 5 was sent down East Street to US 1. (The alternate is now Route 103.) The old bypass became extensions ofRoute 80 andRoute 10[14] but is now unnumbered. The final changes truncated US 5 to I-91 when I-91 opened in 1966 in New Haven[15] and relocated US 5 to the newRoute 22 connector across I-91 inNorth Haven in 1973, leaving the old route on Broadway as unsigned State Road 729.[16]
In Hartford, the original alignment of US 5 entered the city on Maple Avenue and made its way to theBulkeley Bridge via Main Street, Central Row, and Columbus Boulevard.[12] The route was shifted slightly eastward to Wyllys Street and Columbus Boulevard by 1941.[17] The opening of theCharter Oak Bridge andHartford Bypass on September 5, 1942[18] led to US 5 bypassing downtown Hartford on its current alignment;US 5 Alternate, an alternate route on the west side of the Connecticut River to Springfield, was extended south along Main Street to the beginning of the bypass.[19]
In the early 1940s, several sections of US 5 in the Hartford area were upgraded to four-lane boulevards. The Berlin Turnpike segment was reconstructed as a four-lane expressway, with several segments also straightened out. In East Hartford and South Windsor, a new four-lane expressway, John Fitch Boulevard, was also constructed. Both of these roadways opened in 1942.[20] In 1948,Route 15 was designated on the Berlin Turnpike and Hartford Bypass segments of US 5 in order to connect theMerritt Parkway andWilbur Cross Parkway to theWilbur Cross Highway, providing a continuous high-speed route between New York and Massachusetts.[21]
Many sections of various state highways in Connecticut have commemorative designations for various veterans organizations or groups, as well as military servicemembers and Connecticut state troopers killed in the line of duty. In the case of US 5, most of its non-expressway alignment except for theBerlin Turnpike has been given a commemorative designation by theConnecticut General Assembly over the years. The following segments of US 5 have such designations:
| County | Location | mi[1] | km | Exit | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Haven | New Haven | 0.00 | 0.00 |   I-91 toI-95 –New London,New York City | Southern terminus; exit 5 on I-91 (future exit 1F) | |
| North Haven | 4.66– 4.74 | 7.50– 7.63 |  Route 40 / Dixwell Avenue (SR 717 west) toI-91 –Hartford,New Haven,Mount Carmel,Cheshire | Exit 1D on Route 40 | ||
| 4.81 | 7.74 | Devine Street (SR 720) | ||||
| 5.69 | 9.16 | Broadway (SR 729) | Former US 5/Route 22 | |||
| 5.82 | 9.37 |   Route 22 west (Bishop Street) –Mount Carmel | Southern end of Route 22 concurrency | |||
| 6.21 | 9.99 |  I-91 south –New Haven | Exit 11 on I-91 (future exit 7) | |||
| 6.48 | 10.43 |    Route 22 east (Clintonville Road) /Route 103 south (Washington Avenue) –Clintonville,Montowese | Northern end of Route 22 concurrency; northern terminus of Route 103 | |||
| 7.19 | 11.57 | I-91 –Hartford,New Haven | Exit 12 on I-91 (future exit 8) | |||
| Wallingford | 9.40 | 15.13 | ToI-91 –Hartford,New Haven | Access viaSR 702 | ||
| 11.42 | 18.38 |  Route 150 –Yalesville,Northford | ||||
| 13.58 | 21.85 |  Route 68 (Church Street) –Cheshire,Durham | One-quadrant interchange | |||
| 13.96 | 22.47 |  Route 15 (Wilbur Cross Parkway) –Hartford,New Haven | Exit 66 on Wilbur Cross Parkway | |||
| 14.42 | 23.21 |   Route 71 north (Old Colony Road) –Meriden | Southern terminus of Route 71; former US 5A | |||
| 14.88 | 23.95 | Route 150 south (Broad Street) –Yalesville | Northern terminus of Route 150 | |||
| Meriden | 17.81 | 28.66 |   I-691 toI-84 /I-91 –Middletown,Waterbury | Exit 2A on I-691; I-691 east signed as Route 66; formerRoute 66 | ||
| 19.30 | 31.06 | Route 15 south (Wilbur Cross Parkway) toI-91 south –New Haven | Southern end of Route 15 concurrency; southbound exit and northbound entrance; interchange | |||
| Hartford | Berlin | 23.99– 24.35 | 38.61– 39.19 |   Route 9 /Route 372 –Middletown,New Britain,East Berlin | Interchange; exits 31-32 on Route 9 | |
| Worthington Ridge Road (SR 572 south) | ||||||
| 25.17 | 40.51 |  Route 160 east –Rocky Hill | Western terminus of Route 160 | |||
| Newington | 26.67 | 42.92 |  Route 173 north –West Hartford | Southern terminus of Route 173 | ||
| 27.29 | 43.92 |  Route 176 west –Newington | Eastern terminus of Route 176 | |||
| 28.68 | 46.16 |  Route 287 west –Newington | Southern end of Route 287 concurrency | |||
| 28.75 | 46.27 | Route 287 east –Wethersfield | Northern end of Route 287 concurrency | |||
| Wethersfield | 29.38 | 47.28 |  Route 175 –Newington,New Britain,Wethersfield | Interchange | ||
| 30.30 | 48.76 | Southern end of freeway section | ||||
 Route 314 east (Berlin Turnpike) to Maple Avenue | Northbound exit and southbound entrance | |||||
| 32.22 | 51.85 | 85 |  Route 99 south –Wethersfield,Rocky Hill | Northern terminus of Route 99 | ||
| Hartford | 32.80– 33.19 | 52.79– 53.41 | 86-89 |   I-91 / Brainard Road / Airport Road (SR 530 west) toI-84 west –New Haven,New York City,Springfield | No southbound access to I-91 north; signed as exits 86 (I-91 south), 87 (Brainard) and 89 (I-91 north); exits 28-29 on I-91 (future exits 35B-36) | |
| Connecticut River | 33.97– 34.62 | 54.67– 55.72 | Charter Oak Bridge | |||
| East Hartford | 34.36 | 55.30 | 90 |   Route 2 /Route 15 north (Wilbur Cross Highway) / East River Drive (SR 502) toI-84 east (US 6 east) –Norwich,Boston | Northern end of Route 15 concurrency; no southbound access to Route 2 | |
| Northern end of freeway section | ||||||
| 35.47 | 57.08 | I-84 west (US 6 west) –Hartford | Northbound exit only | |||
| 35.82 | 57.65 |   US 44 west (Connecticut Boulevard) toI-84 west (US 6 west) /I-91 north –Hartford | Southern end of US 44 concurrency | |||
| 36.18 | 58.23 | US 44 east (Burnside Avenue) –Manchester | Northern end of US 44 concurrency | |||
| South Windsor | 38.63– 38.75 | 62.17– 62.36 |   I-291 /Route 30 east (Ellington Road) toI-84 –Manchester,Windsor,Rockville,Ellington | Western terminus of Route 30; exit 2 on I-291 | ||
| 42.49 | 68.38 |  Route 194 east (Sullivan Avenue) –South Windsor,Manchester | Western terminus of Route 194 | |||
| East Windsor | 44.96 | 72.36 |  Route 191 east (Phelps Road) –Broad Brook,Melrose | Western terminus of Route 191 | ||
| 46.47 | 74.79 | Main Street (SR 510 north) | ||||
| 46.73 | 75.20 | I-91 –Hartford,Springfield | Exit 44 on I-91 (future exit 50) | |||
| 47.75 | 76.85 |  Route 140 (Bridge Street / North Road) –Bradley International Airport,Windsor Locks,Ellington,Broad Brook | ||||
| Enfield | 48.60 | 78.21 | Depot Hill Road (SR 510) | FormerRoute 20 | ||
| 49.31 | 79.36 | I-91 –Hartford,Springfield | Exit 46 on I-91 (future exit 52) | |||
| 52.04– 52.09 | 83.75– 83.83 |  Route 190 east (Hazard Avenue) toI-91 –Hazardville ToRoute 190 west (Hazard Avenue) –Suffield | Access to Route 190 west viaSR 514 | |||
| 52.61 | 84.67 |  Route 220 east (Elm Street) –East Longmeadow, MA | Western terminus of Route 220; formerRoute 190 | |||
| 54.25 | 87.31 | I-91 –Hartford,Springfield | Exit 59 on I-91 (future exit 57) | |||
| 54.59 | 87.85 | US 5 north –Longmeadow,Springfield | Continuation intoMassachusetts | |||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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 U.S. Route 5 | ||
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| Previous state: Terminus | Connecticut | Next state: Massachusetts |
