U.S. Route 302
U.S. Route 302 (US 302) is an east–west spur of U.S. Route 2 in northern New England in the United States. It currently runs 171 miles (275 km) from Montpelier, Vermont, beginning at US 2, to Portland, Maine, at U.S. Route 1. It passes through the states of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
U.S. Route 302 | ||||||||||||||||
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Route information | ||||||||||||||||
Auxiliary route of US 2 | ||||||||||||||||
Length | 171 mi (275 km) | |||||||||||||||
Existed | 1935–present | |||||||||||||||
Major junctions | ||||||||||||||||
West end | US 2 in Montpelier, VT | |||||||||||||||
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East end | I-295 / US 1 / SR 100 in Portland, ME | |||||||||||||||
Location | ||||||||||||||||
Country | United States | |||||||||||||||
States | Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine | |||||||||||||||
Counties | VT: Washington, Caledonia, Orange NH: Grafton, Coos, Carroll ME: Oxford, Cumberland | |||||||||||||||
Highway system | ||||||||||||||||
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Route description
mi[1][2] | km | |
---|---|---|
VT | 35.746 | 57.528 |
NH | 79.155 | 127.388 |
ME | 53.9 | 86.7 |
Total | 168.801 | 271.659 |
Vermont
US 302 begins as River Street in the southeastern part of Montpelier, the state capital, at a junction with US 2. It heads southeastward up the valley of the Stevens Branch of the Winooski River, passing through the northeastern corner of the town of Berlin and entering Barre, where it becomes North Main Street. In the center of Barre, US 302 becomes Washington Street at the junction with Vermont Route 14 south, and continues southeastward up the valley of the Jail Branch River. In East Barre, US 302 has an intersection with Vermont Route 110 at a roundabout. US 302 climbs into the hills of eastern Vermont, passing through the rural town of Orange, where it crosses a height of land and crosses the valley of the Waits River, a tributary of the Connecticut River. The highway turns northeastward, passing through a corner of Topsham, crosses another height of land, and enters the valley of the Wells River in the rural town of Groton. The highway turns southeastward again, following the Wells River and passing through the village of South Ryegate, before intersecting Interstate 91 in the northern part of the town of Newbury. US 302 continues east and enters the village of Wells River, where it crosses US 5 and reaches the Connecticut River and the New Hampshire border.
US 302 is named the William Scott Memorial Highway and was part of the Theodore Roosevelt International Highway in Vermont.[3][4]
New Hampshire
US 302 enters the state of New Hampshire at a two-lane arch bridge over the Connecticut River beginning in Wells River, Vermont. It follows Central Street on a two-lane alignment, passing through Woodsville until it reaches NH 10 (Dartmouth College Highway), where it turns eastward.
US 302 follows the Ammonoosuc River through a mix of fields and forested land, passing through Bath as Lisbon Road and Lisbon as its Main Street. As it approaches Littleton, the road's name changes to Meadow Street and becomes a shopping strip just before crossing the river and interchanging with I-93. After a short stretch, the road meets Main Street (NH18) at a skewed intersection, defaulting onto Main Street and passing through the town's downtown.
The route intersects NH 116 and turns southward onto Cottage Street, immediately bridging the Ammonoosuc River once again, and passes through a residential area before turning eastward onto Bethlehem Road. The route passes under Interstate 93 again and passes through woodland, where it crosses I-93 for a third time at a second interchange, where NH 18 and NH 116 also depart to the south. US 302 then travels eastward through largely forested land, passing through Bethlehem and Twin Mountain (where it crosses U.S. Route 3), then turns southward as it passes through Crawford Notch State Park, bearing Crawford Notch Road as its name and paralleling the Saco River.
After turning eastward again, passing through Bartlett and intersecting NH 16, the road becomes White Mountain Highway and turns southward once more, passing Lower Bartlett and entering North Conway. The route follows Eastman Road south of North Conway, which it follows to its end at NH 113 (Main Street) after bridging the Saco River once again. US 302 turns east, passing through more forested land as it crosses the Maine state border, bound for Fryeburg a short stretch east of there.
Maine
US 302 is known as the Roosevelt Trail through southern Maine because it was the beginning of the Theodore Roosevelt International Highway to Portland, Oregon.[4][5] It is a two-lane highway for almost all of its length, but there are multi-lane sections within the Portland area, as well as short four-lane sections in and around North Windham in commercial areas. Some of the hilly sections also feature a third passing lane.
The highway enters Maine at Fryeburg, in the Saco River valley as it leaves the White Mountains. The road bridges the Saco near milepost 56 in eastern Fryeburg, Moose Pond near milepost 46 in Bridgton, Long Lake near milepost 31 in Naples, and the Crooked River in Casco near a boyhood home of Nathaniel Hawthorne. The highway passes the north end of Jordan Bay on Sebago Lake in the town of Raymond, and crosses the Pleasant River at milepost 13.4 in Windham. US 302 bridges the Presumpscot River from Westbrook into Portland at Riverton, then reaches its eastern terminus at I-295/US 1 at the south end of Back Cove via Forest Avenue.[6]
History
The eastern end of US 302 was formerly at Longfellow Square in Portland, Maine. The highway follows a 19th-century stagecoach road from Portland through Windham to Bridgton. The portion from Windham to Bridgton was built about 1785. Stagecoach service began in 1803, and the route became a post road for the United States Postal Service in 1814. Transportation over this route was augmented by the Cumberland and Oxford Canal from 1832 to 1932, and by the Bridgton and Saco River Railroad from 1883 to 1941.[7] The highway through Crawford Notch follows the Tenth New Hampshire Turnpike built in 1803 and parallels the Maine Central Railroad Mountain Division built in 1877. The highway eliminated railway passenger travel over the route from Portland by 1958, and railroad freight service through Crawford Notch was discontinued in 1983.[8]
State Route 18 | |
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Location | Conway, NH—Portland |
Length | 54.18 mi (87.19 km) |
Existed | 1926–1935 |
From 1922 until 1935, much of what is now US 302 was a part of the New England road marking system, designated as Route 18, from Portland, Maine, northwest to Littleton, New Hampshire, roughly 112 miles (180 km). From Littleton west to Montpelier in Vermont, US 302 and Route 18 took different paths. NE-18 took a more northerly route, along present-day New Hampshire Route 18 and Vermont Route 18 to St. Johnsbury, Vermont (closely paralleling I-93), then along present-day US 2 up to Montpelier.
Current US 302 runs along a more southerly route using other former sections of New England Interstate Routes. From Littleton, it went along former Route 10 to Woodsville, New Hampshire, then along former Route 25 to Montpelier.
The entire Maine segment of US 302 was formerly designated State Route 18, a route that was established in 1926 until being deleted in 1935 by US 302.
Major intersections
State | County | Location[1][2][9][10] | mi[1][2][9][10] | km | Destinations | Notes |
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Vermont | Washington | Montpelier | 0.000 | 0.000 | US 2 – East Montpelier, St. Johnsbury, Montpelier | Rotary; western terminus of US 302. |
Berlin | 0.223 | 0.359 | Berlin State Highway (VT 9030) to VT 62 west / I-89 – Berlin Corners | Northern terminus of unsigned VT 9030 | ||
City of Barre | 4.376 | 7.042 | VT 14 north VT 62 west to I-89 | Western end of concurrency with VT 14; eastern terminus of VT 62. | ||
4.833 | 7.778 | VT 14 south to I-89 | Eastern end of concurrency with VT 14. | |||
Town of Barre | 8.639 | 13.903 | VT 110 south – Washington, Chelsea, Granite Quarries | Northern terminus of VT 110 at rotary. | ||
Orange | Orange | 16.041 | 25.815 | VT 25 south – West Topsham, Bradford | Northern terminus of VT 25. | |
Caledonia | Groton | 23.928 | 38.508 | VT 232 north – Rickers Mills | Southern terminus of VT 232. | |
Orange | Town of Newbury | 32.472– 32.681 | 52.259– 52.595 | I-91 – Bradford, White River Junction, Barnet, St. Johnsbury | Exit 17 on I-91. | |
35.334 | 56.865 | US 5 north – East Ryegate, St. Johnsbury | Western terminus of concurrency with US 5. | |||
35.463 | 57.072 | US 5 south – Newbury, Bradford | Eastern terminus of concurrency with US 5. | |||
Connecticut River | 35.746 0.000 | 57.528 0.000 | Vermont–New Hampshire state line | |||
New Hampshire | Grafton | Haverhill | 0.224 | 0.360 | NH 135 (Woodsville Road / South Court Street) – Monroe | Village of Woodsville |
1.245 | 2.004 | NH 10 south (Dartmouth College Highway) – North Haverhill, Hanover | Northern terminus of NH 10 | |||
Bath | 3.812 | 6.135 | NH 112 east (Wild Ammonoosuc Road) – Swiftwater, North Woodstock, Lincoln | Western terminus of NH 112 | ||
Lisbon | 12.960 | 20.857 | NH 117 east (Sugar Hill Road) – Sugar Hill, Franconia | Western terminus of NH 117 | ||
Littleton | 20.004– 20.152 | 32.193– 32.432 | I-93 (Styles Bridges Highway) – Bethlehem, Concord, Dalton, St. Johnsbury VT | Exit 42 on I-93 | ||
21.000 | 33.796 | NH 18 north (West Main Street) to I-93 north / NH 135 – Dalton, Monroe | Western end of concurrency with NH 18 | |||
21.556 | 34.691 | NH 116 north (Union Street) – Whitefield, Jefferson | Western end of concurrency with NH 116 | |||
22.088 | 35.547 | Cottage Street | To I-93 – Franconia, Plymouth, Woodsville, St. Johnsbury VT Exit 41 | |||
Bethlehem | 23.501– 23.850 | 37.821– 38.383 | I-93 (Styles Bridges Highway) – Franconia, Plymouth, Littleton, St. Johnsbury VT | Exit 40 on I-93; no eastbound access to I-93 north; no westbound access from I-93 south | ||
23.857 | 38.394 | NH 18 south / NH 116 south (Profile Road) – Franconia | Eastern end of concurrency with NH 18 / NH 116 | |||
26.672– 26.701 | 42.924– 42.971 | NH 142 (Agassiz Street / Maple Street) – Franconia, Whitefield | ||||
Coos | Carroll | 34.796 | 55.999 | US 3 (Daniel Webster Highway) – Whitefield, Lancaster, Plymouth | Village of Twin Mountain | |
Carroll | Bartlett | 63.892 | 102.824 | NH 16 north (Pinkham Notch Road) – Jackson, Gorham, Berlin | Western end of concurrency with NH 16; village of Glen | |
65.026 | 104.649 | NH 16A south – Intervale | Northern terminus of NH 16A | |||
67.299 | 108.307 | NH 16A north (Intervale Resort Loop) | Southern terminus of NH 16A | |||
Conway | 71.981 | 115.842 | NH 16 south (White Mountain Highway) – Conway | Eastern end of concurrency with NH 16; village of North Conway | ||
74.522 | 119.932 | NH 113 west (East Main Street) – Conway | Eastern terminus of NH 113 | |||
79.155 0.00 | 127.388 0.00 | New Hampshire–Maine state line | ||||
Maine | Oxford | Fryeburg | 1.15 | 1.85 | SR 113 north – East Conway NH, Stow | Western end of concurrency with SR 113 |
1.37 | 2.20 | SR 5 south / SR 113 south – Brownfield, Old Orchard Beach | Eastern end of concurrency with SR 113; western end of concurrency with SR 5 | |||
1.79 | 2.88 | SR 5 north – Lovell | Eastern end of concurrency with SR 5 | |||
Cumberland | Bridgton | 14.96 | 24.08 | SR 93 north – Sweden, Lovell | Southern terminus of SR 93 | |
16.86 | 27.13 | SR 117 north – Norway, Harrison | Western end of concurrency with SR 117 | |||
18.41 | 29.63 | SR 117 south to SR 107 south – Denmark | Eastern end of concurrency with SR 117 | |||
Naples | 24.94 | 40.14 | SR 11 south / SR 114 south – Sebago Lake | Western end of concurrency with SR 11; northern terminus of SR 114 | ||
25.41 | 40.89 | SR 35 north – Harrison, Waterford | Western end of concurrency with SR 35 | |||
26.30 | 42.33 | SR 11 north – Mechanic Falls, Poland | Eastern end of concurrency with SR 11 | |||
Raymond | 34.02 | 54.75 | SR 121 north – Raymond Village, Casco | Southern terminus of SR 121 | ||
34.47 | 55.47 | SR 85 north | Southern terminus of SR 85 | |||
Windham | 38.86 | 62.54 | SR 35 south – Standish SR 115 east – Gray | Eastern end of concurrency with SR 35 Western terminus of SR 115 | ||
41.73 | 67.16 | US 202 / SR 4 – Gray | Rotary | |||
Portland | 51.74 | 83.27 | SR 100 north (Allen Avenue) – Falmouth | Western end of concurrency with SR 100 | ||
52.99 | 85.28 | SR 9 east (Ocean Avenue) | Western end of wrong-way concurrency with SR 9 | |||
53.08 | 85.42 | SR 9 west (Woodford Street) | Eastern end of wrong-way concurrency with SR 9 | |||
54.01 | 86.92 | I-295 / US 1 – South Portland, Falmouth SR 100 south to SR 77 south | Exit 6 on I-295 Eastern terminus of US 302; eastern end of concurrency with SR 100 | |||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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See also
Special routes
- U.S. Route 302 Business (Bartlett, New Hampshire), a loop connecting US 302 to Lower Bartlett. It is locally known as the Intervale Resort Loop and is signed only as New Hampshire Route 16A.
Related state highways
References
- Traffic Research Unit (May 2013). "2012 (Route Log) AADTs for State Highways" (PDF). Policy, Planning and Intermodal Development Division, Vermont Agency of Transportation. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
- Bureau of Planning & Community Assistance (20 February 2015). "NH Public Roads". Concord, New Hampshire: New Hampshire Department of Transportation. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
- "Vermont Named State Highways and Bridges" Archived 17 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Vermont Department of Libraries. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
- Tracy, A.W. Theodore Roosevelt International Highway (1996) p. 7
- "U.S. 2: Houlton, Maine, to Everett, Washington". United States Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
- Greaton, Everett F. Maine, a Guide "Down East" (1937) pp. 375–381
- Jones, Robert C. Two Feet to the Lakes: The Bridgton & Saco River Railroad (1993) ISBN 0-915713-26-8 pp. 12–13
- Johnson, Ron Maine Central Railroad Mountain Division p. 9
- Bureau of Planning & Community Assistance (3 April 2015). "Nodal Reference 2015, State of New Hampshire". New Hampshire Department of Transportation. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
- "MaineDOT Public Map Viewer". Maine Department of Transportation. Retrieved 8 April 2017.