New England road marking system

1922 list

The New England road marking system was an interstate system of marked numbered routes in New England. The routes were marked by a yellow rectangular shield with black numbers and border. Many shields were painted on telephone poles. The routes were approved by the highway departments of the six New England states in April 1922.^[1]

Prior to the New England road marking system, through routes were mainly marked with colored bands on telephone poles. These were assigned by direction (red for east-west, blue for north-south and yellow for intermediate or diagonal routes). The Massachusetts Highway Commission convinced the rest of southern New England and New York to use this system in 1915 (New Hampshire and Vermont already had their own schemes, and Maine also opted out), and it was the main system until 1922.^[2]

The New England road marking system, while limited to New England, was designed for expansion to the whole country. One- and two-digit numbers were assigned to major interstate routes, with three-digit routes for state routes (marked in a rectangle, with the state abbreviation below the number). In general, odd numbers ran east-west and even numbers ran north-south. The main exception was Route 1, which was to run along the Atlantic coast from Florida to Calais, Maine. A few of the major auto trails were not to be assigned numbers, instead being marked with letters - for instance, L for the Lincoln Highway and R for the Roosevelt International Highway.^[1]

In 1926, several of the routes were supplanted by the national United States Numbered Highways. Except for Route 1, which became U.S. Route 1, the old numbers were not used, since the U.S. Highway system uses odd numbers for north-south routes and even numbers for east-west routes. While some of the routes that did not become U.S. Routes were disbanded in the 1930s, many of these other routes still have their numbers today, although the unified signage is no longer used.

List of routes

New England Route	Current routes	Endpoints
Route 1	U.S. Route 1	NY/CT state line (NY 1 towards New York City) to Calais, ME (towards Saint John, NB)
Route 1A	RI Route 3	Westerly, RI to Providence, RI
Route 2	U.S. Route 5	New Haven, CT (Route 1) to Derby Line, VT (Route 5 towards Sherbrooke, QC)
Route 2A	VT Route 5A	West Burke, VT to Derby, VT
Route 3	U.S. Route 6	NY/CT state line (towards Bedford, NY) to Provincetown, MA
Route 4	U.S. Route 7	NY/CT state line (NY 21 towards Amenia, NY) to Highgate Springs, VT (Route 7 towards Montreal, QC)
Route 5	U.S. Route 20	NY/MA state line (NY 5 towards Albany, NY) to Boston, MA (Routes 1 - 6 - 7 - 28)
Route 6	U.S. Route 3 MA Route 3	Orleans, MA (Route 3) to Colebrook, NH (Route 26)
Route 6A	MA Route 3A	Kingston, MA to Quincy, MA
Route 6A	NH Route 3A	Franklin, NH to Plymouth, NH
Route 6B	MA Route 38	Cambridge, MA to Lowell, MA
Route 7	MA Route 2	NY/MA state line (NY 7 towards Troy, NY) to Boston, MA (Routes 1 - 5 - 6 - 28)
Route 8	CT Route 8 MA Route 8 VT Route 8	Stratford, CT (Route 1) to Wilmington, VT (Route 9)
Route 9	VT Route 9 NH Route 9 State Route 9	NY/VT state line (NY 9 towards Troy, NY) to Wells, ME (Route 1)
Route 10	CT Route 9 CT Route 10 MA Route 10 NH Route 10	Old Saybrook, CT (Route 1) to Littleton, NH (Route 18)
Route 11	VT Route 11 NH Route 11 State Route 11 State Route 111	Manchester, VT (Route 4) to Biddeford, ME (Route 1)
Route 12	CT Route 32 CT Route 12 MA Route 12 NH Route 12 VT Route 12	New London, CT (Route 1) to Derby, VT (Route 2)
Route 12A	VT Route 12A	Randolph, VT to Northfield, VT
Route 12B	VT Route 14	Hardwick, VT to Coventry, VT
Route 13	U.S. Route 4	Whitehall, NY to White River Junction, VT (Routes 2 - 14)
Route 14	VT Route 14 U.S. Route 2	Burlington, VT (Routes 4 - 15 - 30) to White River Junction, VT (Routes 2 - 13)
Route 15	VT Route 15 U.S. Route 2	Burlington, VT (Routes 4 - 14 - 30) to Houlton, ME (towards Fredericton, NB)
Route 16	NH Route 16	Portsmouth, NH (Route 1) to Errol, NH (Route 26)
Route 17	MA Route 23 U.S. Route 7 U.S. Route 44 CT Route 2	NY/MA state line (NY 23 towards Hudson, NY) to Westerly, RI (Route 1)
Route 18	U.S. Route 2 VT Route 18 NH Route 18 U.S. Route 302	Portland, ME (Routes 1 - 25 - 26) to Montpelier, VT (Routes 12 - 14 - 25)
Route 19	U.S. Route 302 State Route 11 State Route 196	Bethlehem, NH (Route 10 - 18) to Brunswick, ME (Route 1) In the 1922 plan but was never signed.[citation needed]
Route 20	U.S. Route 201	Brunswick, ME (Route 1) to Jackman, ME (towards Quebec City, QC)
Route 24	U.S. Route 1	Calais, ME to Madawaska, ME 1922 plan was routed Portland, ME to Greenville, ME
Route 25	U.S. Route 302 NH Route 25 State Route 25	Montpelier, VT (Routes 12 - 14 - 18) to Portland, ME (Routes 1 - 18 - 26)
Route 25A	VT Route 25	West Topsham, VT to Bradford, VT
Route 26	State Route 26 NH Route 26 VT Route 26	Portland, ME (Routes 1 - 18 - 25) to Colebrook, NH (Route 6)
Route 28	MA Route 28 NH Route 28	Buzzards Bay, MA (Route 3) to Ossipee, NH (Route 16)
Route 30	VT Route 30 U.S. Route 7 U.S. Route 2	NY/VT state line (towards Granville, NY) to Alburgh, VT
Route 30A	VT Route 22A	Fair Haven, VT to Vergennes, VT
Route 32	CT Route 12 CT Route 32 MA Route 32 NH Route 32	Groton, CT (Route 1) to Newport, NH (Route 11)
Route 32A	U.S. Route 202 NH Route 103	Bradford, NH to Hopkinton, NH

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Motor Sign Uniformity, New York Times, April 16, 1922
2. ^ US-5: A Highway to History

• New England Interstate Highways of the 1920s