U.S. Route 44 in Connecticut

U.S. Route 44
Route information
Maintained by ConnDOT
Length:	106.03 mi[1] (170.64 km)
Existed:	1935 – present
Major junctions
West end:	US 44 in Amenia
	Route 8 in Winsted I-84 / US 6 / I-91 in Hartford I-384 / US 6 in Manchester Route 195 in Storrs I-395 in Putnam
East end:	US 44 at West Glocester, RI state line
Location
Counties:	Litchfield, Hartford, Tolland, Windham
Highway system
United States Numbered Highways List Bannered Divided Replaced Routes in Connecticut Interstate U.S. State SSR SR ← Route 43 Route 45 →

U.S. Route 44 (US 44) is an east–west U.S. Highway running from Salisbury to Putnam.

Route description

From the New York state line at Salisbury to the Rhode Island state line at Putnam, US 44 runs for a total of 106.03 miles (170.64 km) in Connecticut. Most of US 44 is known in the state as the Jonathan Trumbull Highway. It begins as rural arterial road in Litchfield county, going through the towns of North Canaan, Norfolk, Colebrook, Winchester, Barkhamsted, and New Hartford. It is a 2-lane road with 4-lane sections in Winchester. In Canton, US 44 is joined by US 202 and becomes a mostly 4-lane principal arterial road serving the Hartford metro area. US 44 continues through Simsbury, Avon, and W. Hartford. US 202 splits from US 44 in Avon following the route of Route 10 after overlapping for 5.3 miles (8.5 km). US 44 then enters the city of Hartford along Albany Avenue, then goes up onto I-84/US 6 to cross the Connecticut River on the Bulkeley Bridge. In E. Hartford, US 44 then returns to surface roads right after crossing the river. It becomes a 2-lane minor arterial road through Manchester, Bolton, Coventry, and Mansfield, then becomes a rural road through Willington, Ashford, Eastford, Pomfret, and Putnam. In Manchester, US 44 overlaps with US 6 for 6.9 miles (11.1 km) up to Bolton until just after the eastern terminus of I-384. This segment of US 44 up to Willington is known as the Boston Turnpike while the segment approaching Rhode Island is called Providence Pike.

History

Most of the alignment of modern US 44 in Connecticut was at one time part of an early network of turnpikes in the state during the 19th century. From the New York state line at Salisbury to the village of Lakeville, the route was the westernmost section of the Salisbury and Canaan Turnpike. Between North Canaan and New Hartford, modern US 44 was known as the Greenwoods Turnpike. The southeastward continuation of the Greenwoods road to the West Hartford-Hartford line was known as the Talcott Mountain Turnpike. From East Hartford to Eastford, the Boston Turnpike was chartered mostly along modern US 44 as the direct route from Hartford to Boston. The Boston Turnpike differed from modern US 44 by using a more direct route between Eastford and Pomfret Center along modern Route 244, while US 44 runs via the village of Abington. Past Pomfret Center, the Boston Turnpike diverged from modern US 44 heading northeast across the town of Thompson. The route through Putnam to the Rhode Island state line was a different turnpike road known as the Pomfret and Killingly Turnpike.

In 1922, the New England states designated route numbers on its main roads. Route 101 was assigned as the route used by the Pomfret and Killingly Turnpike (modern US 44) to Pomfret Center, then modern US 44 to Phoenixville via Abington (short portions of two other turnpike roads), then a road southward from Phoenixville to South Chaplin (modern Route 198), ending at New England Route 3. The direct road connecting Phoenixville to Bolton Notch was designated as Route 109. From Hartford to Bolton Notch, modern US 44 was at the time known as New England Route 3. West of Hartford, modern US 44 was designated as part of New England Route 17, which stretched in Connecticut from North Canaan to Stonington (via modern Route 2). Between the New York state line at Salisbury and North Canaan, the road was known as Route 121.

In 1926, most of New England Route 3 became U.S. Route 6. In the 1932 state highway renumbering, New England Route 17 was broken up into two newly assigned routes: modern Route 2 east of Hartford, and part of Route 101 west of Hartford. Route 101 was reconfigured in 1932 from its 1920s alignment to continue west of Phoenixville along former Route 109, then overlapping with US 6 to Hartford. Route 101 then used the western half of former New England Route 17 to North Canaan where it ended. The road from North Canaan to Salisbury was renumbered in 1932 to Route 199 to match the route number in New York at the time. In 1935, US 44 was designated and utilized Route 101 across the states of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Route 199 was also incorporated into the new route, connecting with the New York state line.

In the 1940s, US 44 was relocated along a portion of the Wilbur Cross Highway for several years with the former surface alignment becoming US 44A. The change was later reversed. US 6 was also relocated in East Hartford and Manchester to use I-84 and the overlap between US 6 and US 44 is now only between Manchester and Bolton Notch.

Major intersections

County	Location	mi[1]	km	Destinations	Notes
Litchfield	Lakeville	1.04	1.67	US 44 west – Amenia	Continuation into New York
		1.18	1.90	Route 112 east – Lime Rock
	Salisbury	3.06	4.92	Route 41 south – Sharon	West end of concurrency with Route 41
		4.73	7.61	Route 41 north – Taconic	East end of concurrency with Route 41
	North Canaan	8.88	14.29	Route 126 south – Falls Village
	Canaan	11.19	18.01	US 7 – Lime Rock, Sheffield, MA
	Norfolk	18.38	29.58	Route 272 north – North Norfolk	West end of concurrency with Route 272
		18.72	30.13	Route 272 south – South Norfolk	East end of concurrency with Route 272
		20.14	32.41	Route 182 east – Colebrook
	Winsted	26.74	43.03	Route 183 north – Colebrook	West end of concurrency with Route 183
		28.39	45.69	Route 8 north – Robertsville	West end of concurrency with Route 8
		28.85	46.43	Route 8 south – Torrington	East end of concurrency with Route 8
		28.88	46.48	Route 183 south – Torrington	East end of concurrency with Route 183
	Barkhamsted	31.96	51.43	Route 318 east – Barkhamsted
	New Hartford	34.43	55.41	Route 219 – Nepaug, Barkhamsted
Hartford	Canton	38.77	62.39	Route 179 – West Granby, Collinsville
		38.96	62.70	US 202 west – Torrington	West end of concurrency with US 202
		41.07	66.10	Route 177 south – Unionville
		42.29	68.06	Route 167 – Simsbury, Unionville
	Avon	44.28	71.26	US 202 / Route 10 north – Simsbury	East end of concurrency with US 202, west end of concurrency with Route 10
		45.02	72.45	Route 10 south – Farmington	East end of concurrency with Route 10
	West Hartford	49.29	79.32	Route 218 east – Bloomfield Route 173 south – West Hartford
	Hartford	51.03	82.12	Route 189 north – Bloomfield
		51.90	83.52	Route 187 north – Blue Hills
		53.80	86.58	I-84 west / US 6 – Waterbury	West end of concurrency with I-84 / US 6
	East Hartford	54.03	86.95	I-84 / US 6 east – Boston	East end of concurrency with I-84 / US 6
		55.05	88.59	US 5 south – Wethersfield	West end of concurrency with US 5
		55.41	89.17	US 5 north – South Windsor	East end of concurrency with US 5
	Manchester	59.15	95.19	I-84 / US 6 east – Vernon, Hartford	West end of concurrency with US 6, exit 60 on I-84
		62.01	99.80	Route 83 – Vernon, East Glastonbury
Tolland	Bolton	65.14	104.83	Route 85 – Hebron, Vernon
		66.26	106.64	I-384 west – Manchester, East Hartford
		67.73	109.00	US 6 east – Andover, Willimantic	East end of concurrency with US 6
	Coventry	69.18	111.33	Route 31 north – Rockville	West end of concurrency with Route 31
		70.28	113.10	Route 31 south – Coventry	East end of concurrency with Route 31
	Mansfield	74.02	119.12	Route 32 – Willington, Willimantic
		76.61	123.29	Route 195 – Tolland, Storrs
Windham	Ashford	81.74	131.55	Route 74 west – Willington
		82.81	133.27	Route 89 – Mount Hope, Westford
	Eastford	86.94	139.92	Route 198 – Eastford, Chaplin
	Pomfret	91.49	147.24	Route 97 – Hampton, Pomfret
		93.62	150.67	Route 101 east – Dayville
		94.12	151.47	Route 169 south – Brooklyn
		96.27	154.93	Route 97 south – Abington
	Putnam	99.93	160.82	Route 12 south – Attawaugan	West end of overlap with Route 12
		100.57	161.85	Route 12 north – Mechanicsville	East end of concurrency with Route 12
		101.40	163.19	I-395 – Thompson, Danielson	Exit 47 on I-395
		102.24	164.54	Route 21 – Killingly, Thompson
		106.03	170.64	US 44 east – West Glocester	Continuation into Rhode Island
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus

References

1. Connecticut Department of Transportation, Highway Log PDF (1.80 MiB) as of December 31, 2009

External links