U.S. Route 3

U.S. Route 3
Length:	277.00 mi[1] (445.79 km)
Formed:	1926[1]
South end:	Route 2A / Route 3 in Cambridge, MA
Major junctions:	Route 2 in Cambridge, MA Route 16 in Cambridge, MA Route 60 in Arlington, MA I-95 / Route 128 in Burlington, MA I-495 in Chelmsford, MA Everett Tpke. in Nashua, NH NH 101 near Manchester, NH US 4 near Concord, NH I-93 in Franconia, NH US 2 in Lancaster, NH
North end:	Route 257 near Chartierville, QC
United States Numbered Highways List – Bannered – Divided – Replaced

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 near Third Connecticut Lake at the Canadian border, where the road continues north as Quebec Route 257.

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 (10.8 km) 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.

Route description

Massachusetts

In Massachusetts, US 3's freeway portion heading from Interstate 95/Route 128 to the New Hampshire border is numbered using the original exit numbering system from the days when US 3's freeway portion was to extend south of Route 128 to Boston to connect with Massachusetts Route 2 and the never-built Inner Belt (I-695). The numbering 'begins' with Exit 25 at Route 128 and proceeds north. All other freeways which once used that system have been renumbered with more conventional exit numbers. Because of the cancellation of Route 3 as an expressway inside of 128, one travelling on Route 3 will travel along a wrong-way concurrency with MA-128/I-95 for a short while (going South on Route 3 is 128 and 95 North), as to link up the "old" Route 3 inside of the belt and the "new" Route 3 outside of it.

The "old" Route 3 runs south from I-95/Route 128 Exit 33, through portions of Burlington, Woburn, and Winchester without intersecting any other numbered routes. In Arlington, it joins with Massachusetts Routes 60 and 2A in Arlington Center. It is only briefly joined with Route 60, as that route goes south, while the joined Routes 3 and 2A go east along Massachusetts Avenue, until it intersects the Alewife Brook Parkway and Massachusetts Route 16, at which point Route 3 joins those routes heading south. At the Alewife MBTA Station, Route 3 joins Massachusetts Route 2 and the Fresh Pond Parkway bearing south and east to Memorial Drive in Cambridge. US Route 3 ends on Memorial Drive at the point where it meets Massachusetts Route 3.

New Hampshire

U.S. Route 3 is one of New Hampshire's most well-known roads, as it passes through most of the state's major cities and towns. It is the only signed/numbered route in the state to extend fully from its southern border with Massachusetts to its northern border with Quebec; thus, it is also the longest route within New Hampshire, at 241 miles.

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 (2.4 km) along a segment known as the Henri Burque Highway, before turning north onto Concord Street, which soon becomes known as the Daniel Webster Highway. Many locals will erroneously refer to the Everett Turnpike from Exit 7 through the I-293 interchange as Route 3 and refer to the actual Route 3 only 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 (3.5 km) 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. In Franklin, the route joins New Hampshire Route 11 and turns east, briefly coinciding with New Hampshire Route 127, and passing through Tilton, where it crosses NH 132 and passes the western end of NH 140. Continuing northeast past Winnisquam Lake, Routes 3 and 11 reach Laconia and turn onto the Laconia-Gilford Bypass, passing interchanges with New Hampshire Routes 106, 107, and 11A. At the north end of the bypass, Routes 3 and 11 diverge, with Route 3 continuing north on Lake Street to Weirs Beach and an intersection with 11B. Route 3 continues north as the Daniel Webster Highway to Meredith at the north end of Meredith Bay on Lake Winnipesaukee. In Meredith, after passing the northern terminus of NH 106, Route 3 joins NH 25 and continues north past Squam Lake into Holderness, passing the west ends of NH 25B and NH 113. Through Holderness, Routes 3 and 25 gradually turn west, then southwest, passing the southern end of NH 175, and then reaching the northern end of NH 132 in Ashland.

US 3 in Lincoln, New Hampshire.

From Ashland to North Woodstock, Route 3 proceeds north, roughly paralleling I-93 in the Pemigewasset River valley. Along this stretch it passes through the towns of Plymouth (where NH 25 diverges to the west), West Campton (where it meets the western end of NH 49, the principal access road to Waterville Valley), Thornton, and Woodstock. In North Woodstock, Route 3 crosses NH 112 (also known as the Kancamagus Highway to the east). Continuing north, Route 3 joins with I-93 as it passes through Franconia Notch State Park, one of the more scenic drives in the White Mountains. It separates from I-93 shortly north of the northern park boundary in Franconia, about 1.5-mile (2.4 km) north of the exit with NH 18. From there, after NH 141 branches northwest, Route 3 heads north and east toward Twin Mountain and a junction with US Route 302. This portion of the road is noted for fairly frequent moose sightings, especially during sunrise and sunset when moose are particularly active.

Heading north from Twin Mountain, Route 3 passes through the village of Carroll, where NH 115 branches to the northeast, and Route 3 bears to the northwest and the town of Whitefield. In the center of Whitefield, NH 142 branches to the northwest, and NH 116 crosses, running roughly southwest to northeast. Route 3 continues north to Lancaster, where it joins US Route 2 in the town center, and where NH 135 branches left. After US 2 leaves to the west, Route 3 continues north, roughly paralleling the course of the Connecticut River (which also forms the border with Vermont), through Northumberland and Groveton, where NH 110 ends. North of Groveton Route 3 continues to follow the river, through Stratford, North Stratford, and Columbia, until it reaches Colebrook, where New Hampshire Routes 145 and 26 begin. Still following the Connecticut River north, Route 3 passes through portions of Stewartstown and Clarksville. In Stewartstown, the road turns more directly east (still following the Connecticut River, which is no longer a boundary), before resuming a northeasterly direction through Pittsburg, where it meets the northern end of NH 145, eventually heading directly north to the Canadian border crossing at Chartierville, Quebec, where it becomes Quebec Route 257.

History

NE-6

Prior to the U.S. Highway system, the section of US 3 from Orleans, Massachusetts to Colebrook, New Hampshire was part of New England Interstate Route 6 (NE-6). It was replaced in its entirety with the establishment of US 3 in 1926.

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 in what was comically known as "The Big Wide," in reference to Massachusetts' other "Big" construction project.

Termini

According to the AASHTO route log, the southern terminus of U.S. Route 3 is at U.S. Route 20 in Boston, Massachusetts, after crossing the Charles River at the Boston University Bridge. However, MassDOT officially places the southern terminus at the junction of Route 2A and Route 3 in Cambridge, which is where Route 2A crosses the Charles along the Harvard Bridge (also known as the Massachusetts Avenue Bridge). 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 through Pittsburg to the New Hampshire-Quebec border.

Junction list

Massachusetts

NOTE: Milepost readings in parentheses reflect the actual posted milemarkers in Massachusetts. Since US-3 and MA Route 3 are treated as one continuous route by the state, mileposts continuously increase and do not reset when the designation changes in Cambridge.

Surface alignment

This section contains a table that is missing mileposts for one or more junctions. Please help by adding the missing mileposts.

County	Location	Mile	Roads intersected	Notes
Middlesex	Cambridge	0.00 (55.71)	Route 3 (Memorial Drive) Route 2A	Southern terminus of U.S. Route 3; northern terminus of MA Route 3.
			Route 2 East (Boston University Bridge)	Southern terminus of US-3/Route 2 concurrency.
			Route 16 West	Southern terminus of US-3/Route 2/16 concurrency.
			Route 2 West (Concord Turnpike)	Northern terminus of US-3/Route 2/16 concurrency.
			Route 16 East Route 2A East	Northern terminus of US-3/Route 16 concurrency. Southern terminus of US-3/Route 2A concurrency.
	Arlington		Route 60	Brief concurrency with Route 60.
			Route 2A West	Northern terminus of US-3/Route 2A concurrency.
	Burlington		Interstate 95 Route 128 Route 3A	I-95 Exits 33A-B. Southern terminus of Route 3A (Southern segment). US-3 runs concurrently with I-95/Route 128 to Exit 32A.

Northwest Expressway

See Northwest Expressway (Boston)#Exit list.

New Hampshire

Concurrency with Everett Turnpike

See Everett Turnpike#Exit list (Exits 1-7).

Surface alignment

This section contains a table that is missing mileposts for one or more junctions. Please help by adding the missing mileposts.

County	Location	Mile	Roads intersected	Notes
Hillsborough	Nashua		Everett Turnpike NH Route 101A	Northern terminus of US-3/Everett Turnpike concurrency; Exits 7E-W. Brief concurrency between US-3 South and NH 101A West.
	Merrimack		Everett Turnpike (via Industrial Drive)	Everett Turnpike Exit 10.
			Everett Turnpike (via Greeley Street)	Everett Turnpike Exit 11.
			Everett Turnpike South (via Bedford Road)	Everett Turnpike Exit 12, no access to Everett Turnpike North.
	Bedford		NH Route 101	To I-293/Everett Turnpike, via Route 101 East.
	Manchester		I-293/Everett Turnpike NH Route 3A NH Route 114A	I-293 Exit 4. Eastern terminus of NH Route 114A. Western terminus of US-3/NH Route 3A concurrency.
			NH Route 3A South	Eastern terminus of US-3/NH Route 3A concurrency.
			NH Route 28 South	Southern terminus of US-3/NH Route 28 concurrency.
Merrimack	Hooksett		Interstate 93	I-93 Exits 9N-S.
			NH Route 28A	Northern terminus of NH Route 28A.
			NH Route 27	Western terminus of NH Route 27.
			NH Route 28 Bypass	Northern terminus of NH Route 28 Bypass.
	Allenstown		NH Route 28 North	Northern terminus of US-3/NH Route 28 concurrency in village of Suncook.
	Concord		Interstate 93	I-93 Exit 13.
			NH Route 3A	Northern terminus of NH Route 3A (southern segment).
			U.S. Route 202 West NH Route 9 West	Southern terminus of US-3/202/NH Route 9 concurrency. To NH Route 13.
			NH Route 9 East	Northern terminus of US-3/202/NH Route 9 concurrency. US-3/202 concurrency continues. To Interstate 93.
			Interstate 393 East U.S. Route 202 East	Northern terminus of US-3/202 concurrency. Western terminus of I-393. To Interstate 93/U.S. Route 4.
	Boscawen		U.S. Route 4 East	Southern terminus of US-3/4 concurrency near village of Penacook. To Interstate 93.
			U.S. Route 4 West	Northern terminus of US-3/4 concurrency.
	Franklin		NH Route 127 South	Southern terminus of US-3/NH Route 127 concurrency.
			NH Route 3A NH Route 11 West	Southern terminus of US-3/NH Route 11/127 concurrency.
			NH Route 127 North	Northern terminus of US-3/NH Route 127 concurrency. US-3/NH Route 11 concurrency continues.
Belknap	Tilton		NH Route 132 South	Western terminus of US-3/NH Route 132 concurrency. To Interstate 93.
			Interstate 93 NH Route 140	I-93 Exit 20. Western terminus of NH Route 140.
			NH Route 132 North	Eastern terminus of US-3/NH Route 132 concurrency.
	Belmont		NH Route 11A	Western terminus of NH Route 11A.
	Laconia		NH Route 106	Interchange. To NH Route 107, via Route 106 North.
			NH Route 107	Partial interchange; southbound exit/northbound entrance only.
	Gilford		NH Route 11A	Interchange.
			NH Route 11 East	Northern terminus of US-3/NH Route 11 concurrency. To NH Route 11C.
	Laconia		NH Route 107	Northern terminus of NH Route 107.
			NH Route 11B	Western terminus of NH Route 11B in village of Weirs Beach.
	Meredith		NH Route 106	Northern terminus of NH Route 106.
			NH Route 104	Eastern terminus of NH Route 104.
			NH Route 25 East	Southern terminus of US-3/NH Route 25 concurrency.
	Center Harbor		NH Route 25B	Western terminus of NH Route 25B.
Grafton	Holderness		NH Route 113	Southern terminus of NH Route 113.
			NH Route 175	Southern terminus of NH Route 175.
	Ashland		NH Route 132	Northern terminus of NH Route 132.
			Interstate 93	I-93 Exit 24.
	Plymouth		NH Route 175A	Western terminus of NH Route 175A. To Interstate 93.
			NH Route 3A NH Route 25 West	Interchange; northern terminus of US-3/NH Route 25 concurrency. To Interstate 93, via Route 3A North.
	Campton		Interstate 93 (via Blair Road)	I-93 Exit 27.
			NH Route 49	Western terminus of NH Route 49. To Interstate 93.
	Thornton		Interstate 93	I-93 Exit 29.
	Woodstock		Interstate 93	I-93 Exit 30.
			NH Route 175	Northern terminus of NH Route 175.
			NH Route 112	To Interstate 93, via Route 112 East.
	Lincoln		Interstate 93	I-93 Exit 33.
			Interstate 93 North	I-93 Exit 34A. Partial interchange; no access to I-93 South. Southern terminus of I-93/US-3 concurrency.
	See Interstate 93 for concurrency with US-3, Exits 34A-35.
	Franconia		Interstate 93 South	I-93 Exit 35. Partial interchange; no access to I-93 North. Northern terminus of I-93/US-3 concurrency.
			NH Route 141	Eastern terminus of NH Route 141. To Interstate 93 North.
Coos	Carroll		U.S. Route 302	In village of Twin Mountain
			NH Route 115	Southern terminus of NH Route 115.
	Whitefield		NH Route 116 NH Route 142	Brief concurrency between US-3, Route 116 and Route 142.
	Lancaster		U.S. Route 2 East	Southern terminus of US-2/3 concurrency.
			NH Route 135	Northern terminus of NH Route 135.
			U.S. Route 2 West	Northern terminus of US-2/3 concurrency. To VT Route 102.
	Northumberland		NH Route 110	Western terminus of NH Route 110 in village of Groveton.
	Colebrook		NH Route 26 South	Southern terminus of US-3/NH Route 26 concurrency.
			NH Route 26 North	Northern terminus of US-3/NH Route 26 concurrency. To VT Route 26/102.
			NH Route 145	Southern terminus of NH Route 145.
	Pittsburg		NH Route 145	Northern terminus of NH Route 145.
		241.49	Quebec Route 257	Northern terminus of U.S. Route 3, continues into Quebec as Route 257.

Bannered routes

Laconia business loop

U.S. Route 3 Business
Location	Laconia, New Hampshire

U.S. Route 3 Business is a 4.20-mile (6.76 km)^[3] long business route running north-south through downtown Laconia, New Hampshire. It runs from US 3 in Laconia south to US 3 and NH 11 in Belmont, New Hampshire along New Hampshire Route 107 and New Hampshire Route 11A.

References

External links

• US 3/Northwest Expressway on Bostonroads.com
• Route 3 construction updates^{[dead link]}

		edit Main U.S. Routes
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101		163					400				412				425
Lists		U.S. Routes - Bannered - Divided - Bypassed - Portal

Browse numbered routes
< Route 2A	MA		Route 3 >
< US 2	NH		NH 3A >
< Route 5	N.E.		Route 7 >

v • d • e Road transportation infrastructure of Boston Interstate Highways Massachusetts Turnpike (I-90) · I-93 · I-95 U.S. Routes US 1 · US 3 · US 20 Massachusetts State Routes Route 1A · Route 2 · Route 3 · Route 9 · Route 28 · Route 30 · Route 99 · Route 128 · Route 145 · Route 203 Regional parkways Alewife Brook Parkway · The Arborway · Blue Hills Reservation Parkways · Fresh Pond Parkway · Furnace Brook Parkway · The Jamaicaway · Morrissey Boulevard · Mystic Valley Parkway · Quincy Shore Drive · Revere Beach Parkway · The Riverway · Truman Parkway · VFW Parkway Major streets Beacon Street · Bennington Street · Boylston Street · Commonwealth Avenue · Dorchester Avenue · Huntington Avenue · Massachusetts Avenue · Memorial Drive (Cambridge) · Storrow Drive · Tremont Street · Washington Street Bridges Anderson Memorial Bridge · Boston University Bridge · Charlestown Bridge · Eliot Bridge · Harvard Bridge · Leverett Circle Connector Bridge · Longfellow Bridge · North Beacon Street Bridge · Tobin Bridge · Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge Tunnels Callahan Tunnel · Sumner Tunnel · Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Tunnel · Ted Williams Tunnel See also: Big Dig · Boston Post Road • Braintree Split · Central Artery · East Boston Expressway · Emerald Necklace · Inner belt · List of crossings of the Charles River · List of numbered routes in Massachusetts · South Bay Interchange · Southeast Expressway · Southwest Expressway · Streets in Boston, Massachusetts