Connecticut Route 72

Route 72 begins as a four-lane freeway at Route 9 in New Britain, expanding to six lanes after the junction with Route 71 at Exit 9. Route 72 overlaps with I-84 as it crosses from New Britain into the town of Plainville. In Plainville, Route 72 has an exit to and from Route 372, an eastbound on-ramp from Route 10 via Route 372 and SR 511, and an eastbound offramp to Woodford Ave (SR 536). After crossing the Pequabuck River, it has a partial interchange with Route 177 before the freeway ends at Forestville Avenue and the western terminus of Route 372. Route 72 continues, crossing Forestville Avenue as a four-lane expressway to the Bristol town line. Within Bristol, Route 72 runs 5.5 miles (8.9 km) along several streets. It continues on the four-lane expressway (known as E. Bartlett Barnes Highway) to Pine Street, where it becomes a four-lane surface road, and follows Pine Street to Riverside Avenue and crosses the Pequabuck River before intersecting with Route 229. Route 72 continues on Riverside Avenue, Main Street, School Street (intersecting Route 69), Divinity Street, Park Street, and Terryville Road. The route runs parallel to the Peqaubuck River in Bristol and crosses it several times. Route 72 then enters the town of Plymouth, where the road turns north to follow South Riverside Avenue, North Riverside Avenue, and Poland Brook Road. Route 72 intersects with US 6 in the Terryville section of town, then continues north in the rural town of Harwinton where it goes along Terryville Road, eventually ending at Route 4. Route 72 is 20.10 miles (32.35 km) long.[1]

The section of Route 72 from Route 9 to Route 372 (Corbin Avenue) in New Britain is also known as the Thaddeus Kosciuszko Highway.[1] The section from Route 372 (Corbin Avenue) in New Britain to the freeway end at the Plainville-Bristol town line is also known as the Polish Legion of American Veterans Memorial Highway. The section in Bristol from the Plainville town line to Pine Street is also known as the E Bartlett Barnes Highway.[3]

Route 72 was established in the 1932 state highway renumbering between Route 66 (then Route 14) in Middletown to Route 10 in Plainville. Since then, the route has been extended west and north and relocated to an expressway. The original route has been transferred to Routes 3 and 372. In 1942, a portion of US 6 in Bristol and Plymouth was transferred to Route 72 after a realignment of US 6 to use former US 6A. Another section of Route 72 was realigned in Berlin the same year with the construction of an interchange with the Berlin Turnpike. In 1954, the former Routes 117 (Bristol to Torrington) and 49 (Torrington to Norfolk) were transferred to Route 72, extending the route through Torrington to the Massachusetts state line.[4]

In 1962, the section of Route 72 north of modern Route 4 was transferred to a relocated Route 4 and a new Route 272, resulting in the current northern/western terminus. The section from Plainville to Berlin was later upgraded to an expressway. In 1978, the old surface route of Route 72 was assigned as Route 372. In 1990, a freeway connection from the east end of the Route 72 freeway to the west end of the Route 9 freeway opened. The Route 9 designation was extended westward to the current Route 9/72 interchange. Route 372 was extended east along the old Route 72 alignment to Route 3 while Route 3 was extended south along the old Route 72 alignment to Route 66.

Exit numbers were converted from sequential to mile-based in February of 2023.[5]

County	Location	mi[1]	km	Old exit	New exit	Destinations	Notes
Hartford	New Britain	0.00	0.00		1A-B	Route 9 – Newington, Middletown	Signed as exits 1A (north) and 1B (south)
		0.32	0.51	9	1C	Route 71 to Main Street	No westbound exit
		0.95	1.53	8	1D	Columbus Boulevard – Downtown New Britain	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		1.89	3.04	7	2	Route 372 (Corbin Avenue) – Kensington, Plainville
		2.55	4.10	6	3	I-84 east – Hartford, Farmington	Westbound exit only
	New Britain/Plainville	3.20– 3.72	5.15– 5.99	I-84 overlap
	Plainville	4.13	6.65	3 4	4B 4A	Woodford Avenue I-84 west – Waterbury	Eastbound exit only Same ramp
		4.32	6.95	2	4	Route 372 (New Britain Avenue) – Plainville	Westbound exit only; no access from I-84 east
		5.76	9.27	1	5	Route 177 (North Washington Street)	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		6.34	10.20	Western end of freeway section
						Route 372 west – Forestville
	Bristol	8.35	13.44			Route 229 – Bristol, Southington
		9.88	15.90			Route 69 – Burlington, Wolcott
Litchfield	Terryville	12.88	20.73			US 6 – Terryville, Plymouth, Thomaston
	Harwinton	20.05	32.27			Route 4 – Burlington, Torrington
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Connecticut Route 72.

• Route 72 Relocation Project