The Frederick E. Everett Turnpike, also called the Central New Hampshire Turnpike, is a
toll road
A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or ''Toll (fee), toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically ...
in the U.S. state of
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...
, running from the
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
border at
Nashua Nashua may refer to:
* Nashaway people, Native American tribe living in 17th-century New England
Places
In Australia:
* Nashua, New South Wales
In the United States:
* Nashua, California
* Nashua, Iowa
* Nashua, Minnesota
* Nashua, Kansas City ...
north to
Concord
Concord may refer to:
Meaning "agreement"
* Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony)
* Harmony, in music
* Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...
. The Everett Turnpike is named for Frederick Elwin Everett, the first commissioner of the
New Hampshire Department of Transportation
The New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) is a government agency of the U.S. state of New Hampshire. The Commissioner of NHDOT is Victoria Sheehan. The main office of the NHDOT is located in the J. O. Morton Building in Concord.
F ...
.
The turnpike is part of the
New Hampshire Turnpike System, and is operated by the New Hampshire Department of Transportation's Bureau of Turnpikes. There are two tolled sections, a southern one in
Bedford
Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...
and a northern tolled section in
Hooksett; the remainder of the turnpike is toll-free. Each of the tolled segments costs a maximum of $1.00 for passenger cars passing through the mainline tollbooths, with lower rates charged on the ramp tolls for traveling shorter distances. A 30% discount is also offered for NH
E-ZPass account holders only.
Built prior to the
Interstate Highway System
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. T ...
, the route was completed in the mid-1950s as a single highway from Nashua to Concord. Today, the route is overlaid with portions of several other routes:
U.S. Route 3
U.S. Route 3 (US 3) is a United States highway running from Cambridge, Massachusetts, through New Hampshire, to the Canada–US border near Third Connecticut Lake, where it connects to Quebec Route 257.
Massachusetts Route 3 connects to ...
from the Massachusetts border to
New Hampshire Route 101A in Nashua, unnumbered from there until
New Hampshire Route 101
New Hampshire Route 101 (NH 101) is a state-maintained highway in southern New Hampshire extending from Keene to Hampton Beach. It is the major east–west highway in the southern portion of the state.
The western terminus of NH 101 is in Keene ...
in Bedford,
I-293
Interstate 293 (I-293) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway surrounding Manchester, New Hampshire, roughly shaped like two sides of a triangle. Completing the loop in the northeast (the third side of the triangle) is I-93. The southern porti ...
from there until
I-93
Interstate 93 (I-93) is an Interstate Highway in the New England states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont in the United States. Spanning approximately along a north–south axis, it is one of three primary Interstate Highways ...
in Hooksett, and I-93 from Hooksett to Concord. There is also a short segment concurrent with
New Hampshire Route 3A
New Hampshire Route 3A is a designation held by two separate state highways in New Hampshire. The two segments, although not directly connected, are linked by U.S. Route 3, from which they derive their route number.
Route description Southern s ...
in Manchester.
Route description
Much of the turnpike's length has been overlapped by other numbered routes. Portions of the road are shared with
US-3,
I-93
Interstate 93 (I-93) is an Interstate Highway in the New England states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont in the United States. Spanning approximately along a north–south axis, it is one of three primary Interstate Highways ...
, and
I-293
Interstate 293 (I-293) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway surrounding Manchester, New Hampshire, roughly shaped like two sides of a triangle. Completing the loop in the northeast (the third side of the triangle) is I-93. The southern porti ...
. The southern portion of the turnpike, in
Nashua Nashua may refer to:
* Nashaway people, Native American tribe living in 17th-century New England
Places
In Australia:
* Nashua, New South Wales
In the United States:
* Nashua, California
* Nashua, Iowa
* Nashua, Minnesota
* Nashua, Kansas City ...
, is posted as US-3, serving as an extension of the US-3 freeway (Northwest Expressway) from
Burlington, Massachusetts. North of Exit 7 in Nashua, the turnpike runs by itself and has no number, but parallels US-3, which is a toll-free local road variously known as Concord Street (within the city of Nashua) and the
Daniel Webster Highway
Daniel Webster Highway (also known as D.W. Highway or Webster Highway) is the name for several sections of U.S. Route 3 (or former alignments) in New Hampshire. The highway is named after 19th century statesman Daniel Webster, a New Hampshire n ...
(within
Merrimack and
Bedford
Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...
). Approaching Bedford in the
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
area, the turnpike is joined by I-293 which, splits off from a concurrency with
NH-101. At Exit 4 (exits are numbered for I-293 on this stretch),
NH-3A joins the freeway, and the concurrency passes through Manchester, near the downtown area of the city. Upon passing Manchester, Route 3A splits off at Exit 7, I-293's last northbound exit. The freeway passes into
Hooksett, and I-293 ends at an interchange with I-93. The Everett Turnpike ceases to be signed at this interchange, but joins I-93 northbound and continues towards Concord, interchanging with the southern terminus of
I-89
Interstate 89 (I-89) is an Interstate Highway in the New England region of the United States traveling from Bow, New Hampshire, to the Canadian border between Highgate Springs, Vermont, and Saint-Armand, Quebec. As with all odd-numbered ...
along the way. No definitive northern terminus for the turnpike exists as far as signage is concerned. This endpoint was originally at a
traffic circle
A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford Eng ...
next to downtown Concord that has since been replaced by Exit 14 with
NH-9.
There are two mainline toll plazas on the turnpike, in Bedford and Hooksett, that each charge $1.00 for cash and out of state E-ZPass users. The Bedford mainline toll plaza, located between Exit 13 and I-293, replaced the
Merrimack toll plaza (formerly located at what is now Exit 11) in the early 1990s. Ramp tolls also exist at I-93 Exit 11 at the mainline toll plaza in Hooksett.
E-ZPass readers were installed in all toll locations in 2005, and the state currently offers a 30% discount for using an NHDOT issued E-ZPass. Major rest areas combined with
state-run liquor stores are located on either side of the highway in Hooksett just north of the mainline toll plaza on I-93. On July 18, 2014, the Exit 12 ramp tolls in Merrimack were removed, and on January 1, 2020, the Merrimack Exit 11 ramp tolls were removed.
Toll collection at Exit 10 in Merrimack ended on December 31, 2021.
The proposed (but mostly unbuilt)
Circumferential Highway around the east side of Nashua is defined as part of the turnpike.
[New Hampshire Statutes Title XX Chapter 237](_blank)
/ref> Henri A. Burque Highway, the surface road that US-3 uses to get between exit 7 of the turnpike and the Daniel Webster Highway in northern Nashua, is also part of it.[GRANIT](_blank)
GIS data
Geographic data and information is defined in the ISO/TC 211 series of standards as data and information having an implicit or explicit association with a location relative to Earth (a geographic location or geographic position).
It is also call ...
- NH Public Roads
Signage
Signs for the Everett Turnpike consist of a rectangle with a rounded bottom, a green circle, and green text that says "Everett Turnpike" above the circle, with the word "Turnpike" curved along the top edge of the circle; this signage is similar in design to that for other New Hampshire turnpikes. For the US 3 segment in Nashua, there is an Everett Turnpike sign in Massachusetts just south of the border northbound alongside the US 3 shield on an overhead sign, and several others along overhead signs through Nashua. Mile markers also contain the Everett Turnpike shield in Nashua, and combined US 3 and Everett Turnpike shields are posted along the side of the road on stand-alone posts, though most on-ramp signage only indicates US 3.
Signs for the turnpike are most prominent on the Merrimack-Bedford segment, which lacks any concurrent US or Interstate route. Along this section, the Everett Turnpike shield appears on on-ramp direction signs, along the side of the highway on signposts, and on overhead reassurance signs.
Along the I-293 segment in Manchester, signage is similar to the Nashua US 3 section, though mile markers have the I-293 shield instead of the Everett Turnpike shield.
Though the turnpike continues north to Concord, it is not signed north of the I-293 merge in Hooksett. On I-93 North, the exit for I-293 is signed as I-293/Everett Turnpike South, while the mainline is signed as "I-93 North (a toll road)". On I-293 North, Everett Turnpike signs stop at the merge, with I-93 North signed by itself. There is no indication of the northern terminus on I-93 in either direction. Southbound, the first emergence of turnpike signage is after the exit onto I-293. The sole mention of the Everett Turnpike north of the I-293 merge is on New Hampshire Route 3A
New Hampshire Route 3A is a designation held by two separate state highways in New Hampshire. The two segments, although not directly connected, are linked by U.S. Route 3, from which they derive their route number.
Route description Southern s ...
at the intersection with Hackett Hill Road leading to exit 11 in Hooksett. A sign with the Turnpike and I-93 shields notes the highway as leading north to Concord and south to Manchester. North of Exit 11, there are no turnpike signs on intersecting highways, including I-89.
There are turnpike mile markers only from the Massachusetts state line to the interchange with I-293 and Route 101. North of there, the mile markers and sequential exit numbers relate to the concurrent Interstate highways.
History
The highway first opened in 1955, from the Daniel Webster Highway
Daniel Webster Highway (also known as D.W. Highway or Webster Highway) is the name for several sections of U.S. Route 3 (or former alignments) in New Hampshire. The highway is named after 19th century statesman Daniel Webster, a New Hampshire n ...
(modern exit 3) in South Nashua to Queen City Avenue (modern I-293 Exit 4) in Manchester, with a single exit between the termini at NH 101A/Amherst Street in Nashua (modern exit 7). There was one toll booth, in Bedford. In 1957, a second portion was opened from Queen City Avenue north to Manchester Street (US 3) in Concord (modern I-93 exit 13). The second segment had a toll booth installed at Hooksett. In 1958, the section from Hooksett northwards was incorporated into I-93. Two additional exits (modern exits 5 and 6) were added in 1960 and one more (modern exit 4) in 1964. Finally, the last segment of the route, an extension from the then-southern terminus at Daniel Webster Highway to the Massachusetts border to meet the Northwest Expressway, was completed in 1966.
Little additional work was done on the turnpike for the next 12 years. In 1978, the turnpike was widened from four lanes to six between the Hooksett tolls and I-89 in Bow. In 1986, a new exit was opened at Somerset Parkway in Nashua, exit 8 (formerly exit 7W), providing a bypass of the congested exit 7 interchange, which carried access to Amherst Street and Henri Burque Highway (US 3). In 1990 and 1993, two new exits were opened in Merrimack, exit 10 (Industrial Drive) and exit 11 (Continental Boulevard). In the late 1990s, work began on the southern segment of the route through Nashua from the Massachusetts border to exit 8 (Somerset Parkway) as it was widened to six lanes, and the entire route south of Daniel Webster Highway (exit 3) was rebuilt, including a new exit (exit 1A-2) to connect to the Sagamore Bridge to Hudson, a rebuild of exit 1 (Spit Brook Road), and a set of collector distributor lanes. The project was completed in 2002.[
In the mid 2000s, I-293 exit 5 was rebuilt, adding additional ramps and widening the northbound side to three lanes from just south of exit 5 to exit 7 (NH 3A). Finally, in 2011, Raymond Wieczorek Drive (exit 13), a connector from the Everett Turnpike from just south of the I-293 merge to ]Manchester–Boston Regional Airport
Manchester–Boston Regional Airport , commonly referred to as Manchester Airport, is a public use airport south of the central business district of Manchester, New Hampshire, United States on the border of Hillsborough and Rockingham countie ...
, was built.[
]
Exit list
See also
*New Hampshire Highway System
The New Hampshire Highway System is the public roads system of the U.S. state of New Hampshire containing approximately maintained by the New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT). All public roads in the state are called "highways", thu ...
References
External links
{{AttachedKML
Everett Turnpike
on Flickr
Flickr ( ; ) is an American image hosting and video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was a popular way for amateur and profession ...
F.E. Everett Turnpike: Historic Overview
on bostonroads.com
Toll roads in New Hampshire
Tolled sections of Interstate Highways
Interstate 93
U.S. Route 3
Transportation in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire
Transportation in Merrimack County, New Hampshire