Wilbur Cross Highway
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The Wilbur Cross Highway is the designation for the portion of old Route 15 from Wethersfield in Connecticut, through Hartford and Manchester, to the Massachusetts Turnpike in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. The highway was built in the 1940s before the Interstate Highway era. When I-84 from Hartford to Sturbridge (then known as I-86) was commissioned in 1970, it was routed along and co-signed with the Wilbur Cross Highway from East Hartford to the state line. In 1980, the planned extension of I-84 to Providence was cancelled and I-84 was then routed along the Wilbur Cross Highway instead. At the same time, Route 15 was truncated to end at I-84. The Wilbur Cross Highway was originally built as a continuation of the Merritt Parkway and Wilbur Cross Parkway, but with the opening of Interstate 91, the planned segment between Meriden and Hartford was never built, and Connecticut Route 15 was instead routed along the Berlin Turnpike.
[edit] Exit list
This is the list of exits for the Wilbur Cross Highway section of Route 15. Exit numbers and mileposts are those of Route 15. See the article on Interstate 84 for exits along the I-84 alignment.
| Town | Exit # | Mile | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freeway ends — Route 15/US 5 continues along the Berlin Turnpike | ||||
| Wethersfield | 77.9 |  Route 314 (Berlin Turnpike) To Maple Avenue |
Northbound junction only. | |
| 85 | 79.8 |  Route 99 — Wethersfield, Rocky Hill |
||
| Hartford | 86 | 80.4 |  Interstate 91 (south) — New Haven, New York City |
Northbound junction only. Exit ramp is 0.2 miles earlier. |
| 87 | 80.6 | Brainard Road, Airport Road — Brainard Airport | Alternate exit to I-91 south. | |
| 89 | 81.3 | NB: Interstate 91 (north) to  Interstate 84 (west) — Hartford, SpringfieldSB: Interstate 91 (south) — New Haven, New York City |
Southbound junction is signed as exit 86. | |
| Connecticut River crossing — Charter Oak Bridge | ||||
| East Hartford | 90 | 82.5 |  U.S. Route 5 (north) (Main Street), East River Drive Route 2 — Norwich |
US 5 leaves northbound and joins southbound. Access to Route 2 is from northbound only. |
| 91 | 83.0 | Silver Lane | Northbound exit only. Unsigned SR 502. |
|
| 83.5 | Route 15 merges into eastbound Interstate 84 | |||
| Wilbur Cross Highway continues as I-84 (Exits 57-74 in Connecticut and Exits 1-3 in Massachusetts) | ||||
