Secret Routes by Pete Zizka 8-5-2023

These days, when driving, most of us now rely on GPS or SIRI or apps such as WAZE to get us to our destinations. But until the advent of these electronic helpers, road maps and route markers were all that motorists had in order to get from one location to another. So, here are a few items of historical trivia. While going through some photos I have, I noticed two that showed old route markers, one that was in front of the American Thread company (today’s photo) and another that was at Main and Bridge Streets. The markers hark back to a short-lived experiment that several states, including CT initiated around 1950. CT DOT experimented with this in about 14 CT cities. The colored markers were supposed to help people follow a single route that passed through a city where several routes converged into one road such as Willimantic’s Main Street which at one time was comprised of RT 6, RT 32 and, for a way, RT 89. The color codes chosen for Willimantic’s markers were yellow with black lettering for RT6, white with black lettering for RT14, dark blue with white lettering for RT 32 and orange with white lettering for RT89. For those who don’t remember, RT6 is part of the Grand Army of the Republic Highway that runs from Massachusetts to California. In our area, it went through Columbia and into Willimantic where it became Main Street and then went on to Boston Post Road to the east. RT32 comes in from Stafford and Coventry and goes through Willimantic to South Windham and east. RT89 came in from Mansfield and ran through the city on Main Street and then continued on into Lebanon. And now for some more fairly unknown facts. For this, I’m depending heavily on information from CTDOT. While I’m sure most of you who are reading this know where to find CT routes 32 or 66. But, do you know where CT routes 601 and 661 are located? Or routes 632 and 633? Throughout the years, there have been several of these 3-digit routes with numbers beginning with numbers at and above SR400 in our area. Some were signed with route markers (see SR540 photo), some were not. According to the CTDOT, the routes could have been a long exit ramp, a road leading to a state park, or a connector road to publicly numbered routes. Some routes were temporary before becoming numbered highways. Because of the “SR” designation, many map buffs call them “secret routes”.  In Willimantic, SR601 was the designation for a short stretch between Windham Road and Main Street. It was declassified by the state in 2000 and is now the Garden on the Bridge. But it was replaced by today’s SR661 which is better-known as the Frog Bridge. The north and south frontage roads from High Street to RT195 are actually CT routes SR632 and SR633 although you won’t see any markers. Yet, Google Earth identifies them by these numbers. Here are some other routes that were declassified years ago. Stonehouse Road in Coventry became a state highway in 1960 and was classified as SR565. In 1963 it became present day 275 along with South Eagleville Road. In Chaplin, the former section of RT6 now called Old Hampton Road was designated as SR577 for a five-year period. During the same years, the former section of RT6 now called Old Willimantic Road was designated at SR682. In Columbia, a short part of Card’s Mill Road was designated SR811 while part of Lake Road was SR819. Route 97 came into being in 1932 and, over the years, underwent several changes in its course. But, for a few years, until they were redesignated as CT97, Scotland Road in Sprague was designated SR870 and the sections in Pomfret (Hampton Road) and Hampton (Pomfret Road) were designated SR860. As mentioned earlier, many “secret routes” went unsigned but some did have signage and the signs have become collectors’ items. The state still maintains about two-hundred “secret routes”. Some final bits of road trivia. RT6 was designated “Grand Army of the Republic Highway” by the CT legislature in 1937. In towns near us, the legislature named RT31 in Coventry as “ William Lincoln Higgins Highway” in 1947. Lebanon’s “Jonathan Trumbull Highway” (RT87) was named in 1923 while its “Beaumont Highway” was named in 1935. In Storrs, a section of RT195 was named “UConn Husky Way” in 2005.

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