U.S. Route 5

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U.S. Route 5
Length: 300.34 mi[1][2][3] (483.35 km)
Formed: 1926[4]
South end: I-91 in New Haven, CT
Major
junctions:		 I-84 near Hartford, CT
I-90 near Springfield, MA
US 4 in White River Junction, VT
North end: Route 143 in Stanstead, QC
United States Numbered Highways
List - Bannered - Divided - Replaced

U.S. Route 5 is a north-south United States highway running through the New England states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont. Significant cities along the route include New Haven, Connecticut; Hartford, Connecticut; and Springfield, Massachusetts. From Hartford northward to St. Johnsbury, Vermont, the road closely follows the route of the Connecticut River.

The highway's northern terminus is in Derby Line, Vermont at the Canadian border, where it continues into Quebec as Route 143, which was Route 5 until renumbered in the mid 1970s. Its southern terminus is in New Haven, Connecticut at an intersection with Interstate 91. The entire route of US 5 closely parallels Interstate 91, the northern terminus of which is also Derby Line, where it continues northward as Autoroute 55.[5]

Contents

[edit] Route description

Lengths
mi km
CT 54.59 87.85
MA 53.43 85.99
VT 192.32 309.50
Total 300.34 483.35

US 5 enters three states, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont, with the latter containing over half of US 5's total distance. Throughout nearly all of U.S. 5's entire length, it remains its own road entirely separate from Interstate 91, which has largely replaced it as a through route (and now carries most of the traffic). It is only co-signed onto I-91 for less than half of a mile in Springfield, MA, before splitting off alone again. If this had occurred in the western United States, U.S. 5 would likely have been either co-signed onto the replacing Interstate highway, or decommissioned entirely. Ironically, U.S. 5's Interstate counterpart, Interstate 5 along the west coast, has done exactly this, with the replacing and decommissioning of old U.S. Route 99.

[edit] Connecticut

Main article: U.S. Route 5 in Connecticut

US 5 begins in the city of New Haven, heading north through Hartford to Massachusetts. It generally parallels Interstate 91.

[edit] Massachusetts

US 5 stays very close to Interstate 91 in the state following along the Connecticut River. It enters the state at the town of Longmeadow on the east bank of the river going up to Springfield. In Springfield, US 5 then overlaps with Interstate 91 for about 0.5 miles (0.80 km), then separates as its own freeway crossing the Connecticut River on the South End Bridge into Agawam. The freeway portion runs for about 3.3 miles (5.3 km) up to West Springfield. From the town of Northampton up to Bernardston, US 5 overlaps Route 10 (for 26 miles). US 5 goes through the following towns listed below. Access to Interstate 91 is indicated below each town where present. Junctions with major roadways are also indicated.

  • Longmeadow
  • Springfield
    • Interstate 91 (concurrent for 0.5 miles) (Exit 1, 3)
    • begin freeway section
  • Agawam
  • West Springfield
    • US 20
    • end freeway section (3.3 miles)
    • Interstate 91 (Exit 13)
    • Interstate 90 (Massachusetts Turnpike)
  • Holyoke
    • US 202
  • Easthampton
  • Northampton
    • Interstate 91 (Exit 18, 20)
  • Hatfield
    • Interstate 91 (Exit 21, 22)
  • Whately
    • Interstate 91 (Exit 23, 24)
  • Deerfield
  • Greenfield
  • Bernardston

[edit] Vermont

US 5 stays close to Interstate 91 in Vermont, traveling along the west bank of the Connecticut River. The river is also the state line between Vermont and New Hampshire. US 5 enters the state at the town of Guilford. It passes through the counties of (from south to north) Windham, Windsor, Orange, Caledonia, and Orleans. Near the town of St. Johnsbury, the Connecticut River heads northeast while US 5 (and Interstate 91) continue northward. US 5 ends at the Canadian border in the town of Derby. The road continues into Canada as Route 143. As in Connecticut and Massachusetts, US 5 has many interchanges with Interstate 91, with a total of 22 junctions over its 192-mile (309 km) length in the state. Below is a list of major junctions:

[edit] History

Prior to the U.S. Highway system, the route was designated as New England Interstate Route 2 (NE-2), part of the New England Interstate Route system that existed between 1922 and 1927. When US 5 was first commissioned, it took over the entirety of NE-2.




[edit] Connecticut

Originally, the route began at the New Haven Green in downtown New Haven (at US 1). Between New Haven and North Haven, it originally ran east of the Quinnipiac River along modern day Middletown Avenue (part of Route 17) and Route 103 (the modern alignment was then designated as US 5A).

In Hartford, US 5 also passed by Central Row in the downtown area, entering the city via Maple Avenue and exiting on the Bulkeley Bridge with US 6.

The southern terminus of US 5 has since been realigned several times. By 1938, US 5 bypassed downtown New Haven via the Prospect Hill, Dixwell and West River neighborhoods, ending at Davenport Avenue and Columbus Avenue.[1] In the mid 1950s, US 5 was instead routed through the Mill River neighborhood ending at East Street and Forbes Avenue.[2] The modern New Haven to North Haven designation was also in place around this time. When I-91 opened in the 1967, the alignment was truncated to its current terminus at Exit 5 of I-91.

[edit] Massachusetts

The Massachusetts Highway Commission noted in 1912 that between Longmeadow and Agawam, the traffic between the Pioneer Valley and Connecticut was heavier on the east side,[6]

The western route from Hartford to West Springfield, via what is now River Road in Agawam, Massachusetts[7] and Route 159 in Connecticut, was designated US-5A.[8]

The main route, US-5 was originally designated to run on the east side of the river from Hartford and into downtown Springfield, over the Memorial Bridge, along Memorial Avenue, up a four-lane Main Street, and then to Park Street (and Park Avenue going in the opposite direction), and up what is now Elm Street, to Riverdale Street. Riverdale Street at that time followed the northern part of the current Elm Street, and ended at Witch Path.

In 1938, due to congestion in the West Springfield town center, Route 5 was moved to a newly constructed bypass from the North End Bridge to East Elm Street (the current site of McDonald's), where it continued north along the modern Elm Street and Riverdale Road.[9]

In 1941-42, a four-lane highway was built from East Elm Street to the current Elm Street fork just south of Morgan Road. The designations of both Riverdale Road and Route 5 were moved to the new more easterly route.[10]

In 1952-53, construction was started on the modern four-lane highway from the new South End Bridge in Agawam to the existing bypass at the North End Bridge. Tunnels were built under the rotaries at the Memorial and North End Bridges so Route 5 traffic and local traffic would not intersect. In 1971, the Riverdale Road portion of Route 5 was upgraded to a divided highway, with the installation of a steel median, and in 1987-88, a new lane was added to accommodate the new Riverdale Shops at Daggett Drive.[10]

The 1953 Massachusetts Department of Public Works Master Plan would have relocated U.S. 5 between Morgan Road in West Springfield and Mount Tom in Holyoke to a right-of-way similar to the current path of Interstate 91, but this was never implemented.[11]

[edit] Vermont/New Hampshire

From 1927 to 1929, US 5 was temporarily routed into New Hampshire along part of what is now New Hampshire Route 12 between North Walpole and Charlestown.[12] The US 5 degination was removed when the road opposite the Connecticut River in Vermont had been paved.[citation needed]

[edit] See also

[edit] Bannered routes

  • U.S. Route 5 Alternate (St. Johnsbury, Vermont)
  • U.S. Route 5 Alternate (Derby, Vermont)
  • U.S. Route 5 Alternate (Newport, Vermont)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Connecticut DOT Route Log
  2. ^ Executive Office of Transportation - Office of Transportation Planning Roads
  3. ^ VTrans Route Log
  4. ^ US Highways From US 1 to US 830 Robert V. Droz
  5. ^ Endpoints of US highways
  6. ^ US-5: A Highway To History
  7. ^ US-5: A Highway To History
  8. ^ US-5: A Highway To History
  9. ^ US-5: A Highway To History
  10. ^ a b US-5: A Highway To History
  11. ^ US-5: A Highway To History
  12. ^ North-South routes - US 1 to US 101 - Odd numbered highways


edit
Main U.S. Routes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38
40 41 42 43 44 45 46 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59
60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79
80 81 82 83 84 85 87 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99
101 400 412 425
Lists  U.S. Routes - Bannered - Divided - Bypassed - Portal
Browse numbered routes
< Route 4 CT US 6 >
< Route 4 MA US 6 >
< VT 4A VT VT 5A >
< NH 4A NH NH 9 >
< Route 1A N.E. Route 2A >