Connecticut Route 3

Route3 is a 14.45-mile-long (23.26km) route connecting Middletown to Glastonbury. It passes through the towns of Cromwell, Rocky Hill, and Wethersfield. The northernmost 3 miles (4.8km) of Route3 is a freeway that was originally intended for the cancelled Interstate491.

Route description

Route3 begins at Route66 in Middletown, and is a surface road for its first 11 miles (18km) up to Wethersfield. After crossing into Cromwell, it intersects Route372, which offers access to Route9 just east of the intersection. After overpassing Route 9, it continues north into Rocky Hill and overpasses Interstate91 without an interchange. After a brief concurrency with Route 160, it crosses into Wethersfield, where it meets the eastern end of Route 287 and crosses over Route 99. After the Silas Deane Highway (Route 99) intersection, it becomes a four-lane undivided expressway. At an interchange with Interstate91, it becomes a four-lane divided freeway crosses the Connecticut River on the William H. Putnam Memorial Bridge into Glastonbury. The freeway has one exit for Main Street (via Glastonbury Boulevard northbound and Putnam Boulevard southbound) before ending at a trumpet interchange with the Route2 expressway at the East Hartford town line.

History

1941

Route3 was established in 1941. It originally ran from West Street/Berlin Road in Cromwell, which was part of Route72 at the time (now Route372), to the Silas Deane Highway (Route99) in Wethersfield.

1958–1973 (I-491)

In late 1958, as part of the planned Interstate491 (a southeastern bypass of Hartford), a freeway from I-91 to Main Street in Glastonbury, crossing the Connecticut River on the Putnam Memorial Bridge, was opened. The Route3 designation was temporarily extended along this freeway pending completion of I-491. In 1973, I-491 was cancelled due to local opposition and the Route3 designation along this freeway segment became permanent. In the late 1980s, the freeway was extended so that it terminated at Route 2, rather than at Main Street.

1991

In 1991, when the Route9 freeway through Berlin and New Britain was completed, Route72 was truncated to end at Route9 in New Britain. The east–west portion of the old alignment of Route72 was reassigned to an extended Route372 (running along Berlin Road/West Street to end at Route99 in Cromwell). The north–south portion of old Route72 from Cromwell to Middletown (ending at Route66) was reassigned to Route3.

Junction list

Exits were given mile-based numbers in 2025 as part of a sign replacement project.

External links