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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