Conland–Whitehead Highway | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Conland–Whitehead Highway highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained byConnDOT | ||||
| Length | 0.67 mi (1,080 m) | |||
| Existed | 1945–present | |||
| Component highways | SR 598 (unsigned) entire length | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end | Pulaski Circle inHartford | |||
| East end |  I-91 in Hartford | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Connecticut | |||
| Counties | Hartford | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
TheWhitehead Highway (also known as theConland–Whitehead Highway, and frequently misspelled asConlin–Whitehead Highway), is a 0.67-mile-long (1.08 km)freeway inHartford, Connecticut running from Pulaski Circle east toInterstate 91 (I-91). Constructed above thePark River Conduit, the highway underwent rehabilitation from 2004 to 2005.
It is signed as "Exit 29A – Capitol Area" on I-91 and has the unsigned designation ofState Road 598 (SR 598). There are two intermediate exits (at Columbus Boulevard and Prospect Street) from the highway before its western terminus at Pulaski Circle.
The highway opened in 1945 and was initially named for Henry F. Conland, publisher of theHartford Courant and chair of a city bridge commission.[1] That December, it was renamed after Ulmont I. "Monty" Whitehead, Jr., the first resident of Hartford to die in World War II. Whitehead, a 1933 graduate of Bulkeley High School in Hartford, graduated in 1940 from the U.S. Naval Academy, where he starred in football. On December 7, 1941, Whitehead was serving at Pearl Harbor on the battleship U.S.S. Arizona, which blew up and sank in the opening minutes of the Japanese attack, killing Whitehead and 1,176 other sailors.[1] The name is frequently misspelled – even by theConnecticut Department of Transportation – as "Conlin Whitehead Highway".[2][3]
Whitehead Highway was originally to be part of Interstate 484, an auxiliary route ofI-84. The highway was to be upgraded via straightening and bridge improvements and brought through a short tunnel under the state capitol to connect to I-84 at exit 48. This would have reduced the traffic load at the intersection ofI-91 and I-84 in downtown Hartford. Today, the role of redirecting traffic from I-91 to I-84 is handled byI-691, which serves as a southern bypass of Hartford. The extension, first proposed in 1968, was cancelled in 1983 due to local opposition and a lack of funding. The route was never signed as I-484.
The entire route is inHartford,Hartford County. All exits are unnumbered.
| mi[4] | km | Destinations | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.76 | 1.22 | Pulaski Circle | Western terminus | ||
| 0.60 | 0.97 | Prospect Street / Arch Street to Main Street | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | ||
| 0.46 | 0.74 | Columbus Boulevard –Connecticut Convention Center | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | ||
| 0.00 | 0.00 |  I-91 –New Haven,Springfield, MA,Bradley International Airport | Eastern terminus; exit 37 on I-91 | ||
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | |||||
