U.S. ROUTE 3

'U.S. Route 3' is a north-south United States highway that runs from its southern terminus in Cambridge, Massachusetts^[2] through New Hampshire to its terminus at the Canadian border. In New Hampshire parts of US 3 are known as the Daniel Webster Highway. From Burlington, Massachusetts to Nashua, New Hampshire, US 3 is a freeway (the 6.7 miles in New Hampshire are a free portion of the Everett Turnpike). A second freeway portion exists in northern New Hampshire, where US 3 utilizes the Franconia Notch Parkway and a short segment of Interstate 93, before proceeding on two-lane roads north to the border with Canada. While the southern terminus has not changed there have been different northern termini to this route.
Massachusetts Route 3 continues beyond Boston to Cape Cod, but has never been part of US 3.

Contents

Route description

Massachusetts

New Hampshire

History

Massachusetts

Termini

See also

Related U.S. Routes

References

External links

Route description

Massachusetts

In Massachusetts, US 3's freeway portion heading from Interstate 95/Route 128 to the New Hampshire border is the only freeway left in Massachusetts utilizing the original "Exit 25 is Route 128" exit numbering system. All other freeways which once used that system have been renumbered with more conventional exit numbers.

New Hampshire

Route 3 crosses the New Hampshire-Massachusetts border, leaving the town of Tyngsborough, Massachusetts and entering the city of Nashua, New Hampshire, and becomes known as the Everett Turnpike. Route 3 leaves the Everett Turnpike at Exit 7E in Nashua and turns northeast for approximately 1.5 miles along a segment known as the Henri Burque Highway, before turning north onto Concord Street, which soon becomes known as the Daniel Webster Highway. Route 3 continues north through the town of Merrimack and into Bedford, where it becomes South River Road. Route 3 parallels Interstate 293 until it turns east, crossing the Merrimack River on Queen City Avenue approximately three-quarters of a mile north of the Bedford-Manchester line. After approximately three-quarters of a mile, Route 3 then turns north onto Elm Street in downtown Manchester. After approximately 2.2 miles on Elm Street, Route 3 turns east onto Webster Street, then joins NH Route 28 to proceed in a northeasterly direction on another segment of the Daniel Webster Highway.
In Suncook, New Hampshire, Route 28 leaves to the northeast, and Route 3 proceeds northwest towards Concord on Pembroke Street, becoming Manchester Street when it enters the Concord city limits. Route 3 traverses downtown Concord, where it is known as North and South Main Street, then follows North State Street to Fisherville Road to Village Street in Penacook before crossing the Contoocook River into Boscawen. Route 3 travels north through Boscawen, briefly joining U.S. Route 4. Route 3 parallels the Merrimack River north into Franklin.

Major cities
★ Boston, Massachusetts ★ Cambridge, Massachusetts ★ Lowell, Massachusetts ★ Nashua, New Hampshire ★ Manchester, New Hampshire ★ Concord, New Hampshire

'Miles'	'km'	'state'
241.49	388.55	New Hampshire
35.52	57.14	Massachusetts
'277.00'	'445.70'	'Total'

History

Massachusetts

Route 3 in Massachusetts (from Tyngsborough to Cambridge) closely follows the route of the early 19th Century Middlesex Canal and Middlesex Turnpike.
The modern expressway was begun around Massachusetts Route 110 at Lowell before World War II. In the 1950s, it was extended south to Route 128, and by the 1960s, it was completed north from Chelmsford to New Hampshire. In the first half of the first decade of the 21st century, the chronically congested four-lane road, largely with antiquated ramps around Lowell, was widened to six lanes (as it had been in Nashua, New Hampshire a few years previously), and many interchanges were modernized.

Termini

The southern terminus of U.S. Route 3 has always been Boston, Massachusetts. The original northern terminus (in 1926) was Colebrook, New Hampshire, but the highway was extended to West Stewartstown, New Hampshire in 1928, and to Pittsburg, New Hampshire in 1937. Colebrook was temporarily the northern terminus again from 1939 to 1940. Since 1940, the highway has run past Pittsburg to the New Hampshire-Quebec border.

See also

Related U.S. Routes

★ U.S. Route 3 Business, a loop connecting US 3 to Laconia, New Hampshire

References

1. US Highways From US 1 to US 830 Robert V. Droz.
2. The official end according to AASHTO is at US 20 across the Charles River in Boston, though current signs indicate a terminus in Cambridge at Route 2A/3.

External links

★ US 3/Northwest Expressway on Bostonroads.com

★ Route 3 construction updates [1]