Interstate 393

Interstate393 (I-393) is a 4.6-mile (7.4km) east–west auxiliary Interstate Highway extending from I-93 at Concord to Pembroke, New Hampshire. The primary purpose of the road is to bypass a densely built commercial strip on New Hampshire Route 9 (NH9) in the eastern part of Concord. Several times a year, I-393 also serves traffic to events at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. I-393 runs concurrently with US Route4 (US4) and US202 for its entire length.

Route description

I-393 begins at I-93's exit15 interchange, where US4 east leaves its concurrency with I-93 south and the I-393/US4/US202 concurrency begins. The four-lane freeway actually begins a short distance west of I-93 at the north end of Concord's Main Street where US202 turns east from US3. From there, the road then intersects Commercial Street just before the exit15 interchange. Just east of the exit15 cloverleaf is I-393's exit1 to Fort Eddy Road. This exit provides access to NHTI – Concord's Community College, which is home to the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center, an air and space science center. I-393 crosses the Merrimack River and continues east to exit2, connecting to New Hampshire's State Office Park East and the area known locally as the Concord Heights via East Side Drive (NH132). Further east is exit3, I-393's last, to NH106, which runs south past the commercial area around the Steeplegate Mall, and north to New Hampshire Motor Speedway and the Laconia region. After exit3, the road turns northward, crossing the Soucook River into Pembroke. Beyond the bridge, I-393 ends and US4 and US202 merge down to a single lane before joining NH9 and continuing eastward.

History

When I-393 was first completed c.1979, it ended at an at-grade intersection with NH9 and NH106 just west of where exit3 now stands. Exit3 and the extension beyond were completed in the late 1980s.

A feasibility study conducted in the 1980s proposed a number of alignments that would have extended I-393 beyond its eastern terminus to a new interchange (exit10) on the Spaulding Turnpike between Dover and Rochester. This project studied the possibility of creating an east–west highway between Portsmouth and Concord. After much work, it was deemed impossible and an upgrade of US4, a road which closely follows the route of the first New Hampshire turnpike from the early 1800s, was studied and completed.

The intersection of Commercial Street and US202 used to be a four-way crossing, but, in recent years, Jersey barriers have been installed and a short bypass under US202 has been constructed to prevent traffic from crossing the freeway, although the traffic lights remain. The lights on the westbound side have since been modified to become warning lights for the traffic signal at the intersection with US3.

Exit list

The entire route is in Merrimack County.