The New Hampshire Highway System is the public roads system of the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
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 ...
containing approximately maintained by 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 ...
(NHDOT). All public roads in the state are called "highways", thus there is no technical distinction between a "road" or a "highway" in New Hampshire.
Overview
The state maintains of roads, of which are numbered routes and are unnumbered roadways making up the state's secondary roadway system. The state has of primary highways, which it defines as highways that "connect population centers, other NHS routes within the state, and other NHS routes in the surrounding states:
Vermont
Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
,
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...
and
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
." The remaining of roads are maintained typically by the towns and cities traversed by these roads.
Highways assigned a number by the NHDOT are officially known as "New Hampshire Route ''X''", often abbreviated "NH Route ''X''" or simply "NH ''X''".
Many minor state highways are not assigned numbers, only local names.
* The longest highway in New Hampshire is its segment of
US 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 t ...
, which runs for in the Granite State.
* The longest state highway is
NH 16, which runs for .
* The shortest highway in New Hampshire is
NH 10A, which runs for .
Interstate Highways
A total of of roadway in New Hampshire are part of 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 ...
.
* Three primary Interstates pass through New Hampshire:
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 ...
,
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-95
Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadia ...
.
* Two secondary Interstates are located in New Hampshire,
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 ...
and
I-393
Interstate 393 (I-393) is a east–west auxiliary Interstate Highway extending from I-93 at Concord to Pembroke, New Hampshire. The primary purpose of the road is to bypass a densely built commercial strip on New Hampshire Route 9 (NH&nb ...
.
U.S. Numbered Highways
A total of of roadway in New Hampshire are designated as
United States Numbered Highways
The United States Numbered Highway System (often called U.S. Routes or U.S. Highways) is an integrated network of roads and highways numbered within a nationwide grid in the contiguous United States. As the designation and numbering of these ...
.
* Four primary routes pass through New Hampshire:
US 1
U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making ...
,
US 2
U.S. Route 2 or U.S. Highway 2 (US 2) is an east–west U.S. Highway spanning across the northern continental United States. US 2 consists of two segments connected by various roadways in southern Canada. Unlike some routes, whi ...
,
US 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 t ...
and
US 4
U.S. Route 4 (US 4) is a long United States highway that runs from East Greenbush, New York, in the west to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in the east, traversing Vermont.
In New York, US 4 is signed North-South to reflect its alignment in the s ...
.
* Two spur routes pass through New Hampshire,
US 202
U.S. Route 202 (US 202) is a spur route of US 2. It follows a northeasterly and southwesterly direction stretching from Delaware to Maine, also traveling through the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massa ...
and
US 302.
* Three
special routes
In road transportation in the United States, a special route is a road in a numbered highway system that diverts a specific segment of related traffic away from another road. They are featured in many highway systems; most are found in the Int ...
are designated in New Hampshire:
**
US 1 Bypass
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, a bypass of US 1 in
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
and
Kittery, Maine
Kittery is a town in York County, Maine, United States. Home to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on Seavey's Island, Kittery includes Badger's Island, the seaside district of Kittery Point, and part of the Isles of Shoals. The southernmost town i ...
.
**
US 3 Business, a poorly signed business route of US 3 in
Laconia which is concurrent with parts of
NH 11A and
NH 107.
**
US 302 Business, an unsigned loop of US 302 and
NH 16 in Bartlett that is completely concurrent with
NH 16A.
Turnpike system
The NHDOT Bureau of Turnpikes is responsible for maintenance of the public
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 ...
s in New Hampshire:
* The
Frederick E. Everett Turnpike
The Frederick E. Everett Turnpike, also called the Central New Hampshire Turnpike, is a toll road in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, running from the Massachusetts border at Nashua north to Concord. The Everett Turnpike is named for Frederick ...
(also known as the Central Turnpike) runs from the Massachusetts state line 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 ...
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 ...
. It is cosigned with
US 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 t ...
in Nashua until Exit 7, then runs by itself north to Manchester, where it interchanges with I-293 and
NH 101. The Everett Turnpike is cosigned with I-293 from the NH 101 interchange north to I-93 in
Hooksett, then has an unsigned concurrency with I-93 to its northern terminus in Concord at Exit 14 (
NH 9).
* The Eastern Turnpike is composed of the following two connecting turnpikes:
** The
Blue Star Turnpike
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when o ...
(unsigned; also known as the New Hampshire Turnpike) runs from the Massachusetts border in
Seabrook north to the
Portsmouth Traffic Circle
The Portsmouth Traffic Circle is a four-point rotary in the city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Description
The southern exit of the circle provides access to Interstate 95 north and south, although only northbound I-95 traffic enters here. The e ...
, where it connects with the southern end of the Spaulding Turnpike. The Blue Star Turnpike is signed solely as
I-95
Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadia ...
and comprises most of its length in New Hampshire.
** The
Spaulding Turnpike
The Spaulding Turnpike is a north-south toll road in eastern New Hampshire. Nearly its entire length is overlapped by New Hampshire Route 16. Its southern terminus is at the Portsmouth Traffic Circle (Interstate 95 / U.S. Route 1 Bypass) in Por ...
, which begins at an interchange with I-95 in Portsmouth and runs northward, paralleling the Maine state line, to
Milton. Originally a standalone route,
NH 16 is now overlapped with all but the southernmost of the Spaulding Turnpike.
US 4
U.S. Route 4 (US 4) is a long United States highway that runs from East Greenbush, New York, in the west to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in the east, traversing Vermont.
In New York, US 4 is signed North-South to reflect its alignment in the s ...
also runs along the southern section of the turnpike, between I-95 and exit 6.
National Highway System
of state-maintained roads are a part of the
National Highway System (NHS). Of the NHS roads in the state, are
Interstate highways ( of which are also on the
New Hampshire Turnpike System); are non-interstate
turnpike
Turnpike often refers to:
* A type of gate, another word for a turnstile
* In the United States, a toll road
Turnpike may also refer to:
Roads United Kingdom
* A turnpike road, a principal road maintained by a turnpike trust, a body with powers ...
highways; and are non-interstate and non-turnpike highways.
Classification of state highways
New Hampshire RSA 229:5, "Classification", sets out the seven different classes of highways in the state:
* Class I – all portions of the turnpikes and the national system of interstate and defense highways, and all existing or proposed highways on the primary state highway system, excepting all portions of highways within the compact sections of the cities and towns listed in RSA 229:5, V., which aren't part of the state or national turnpike system or are defense highways
* Class II – all existing or proposed highways on the secondary state highway system, excepting all portions of such highways within the compact sections of the cities and towns listed in RSA 229:5, V.
* Class III – all recreational roads leading to, and within, state reservations designated by the
General Court
* Class III-a – boating access highways from any existing highway to any public water in this state.
* Class IV – all highways within the compact sections of cities and towns listed in RSA 229:5, V., which are not Class I or II highways
* Class V – all other traveled highways which a town has the duty to maintain regularly and shall be known as town roads
* Class VI – all other existing public ways, including all highways discontinued as open highways and made subject to gates and bars, except Class III-a roads, and all highways which have not been maintained and repaired by the town for travel thereon for 5 or more successive years
Under RSA 229:5, V, the Commissioner of Transportation may establish compact sections in the following cities and towns:
Routes crossing state lines
Two New Hampshire state routes cross state lines while retaining their designations and NHDOT maintenance:
*
NH 113B, a loop of
Maine State Route 113
State Route 113 (SR 113) is a state highway in southwestern Maine (and partly in extreme eastern New Hampshire). It runs from an intersection with Maine State Route 25 in Standish north to the town of Gilead, where it ends at U.S. Rout ...
unrelated to
NH 113 (despite their relatively close proximity), runs within the towns of
Chatham, New Hampshire
Chatham is a town in Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 341 at the 2020 census. It is located in the White Mountains, and except for the southeast corner, all of Chatham is in the White Mountain National Forest. The ...
and
Stow, Maine.
*
NH 153 crosses into the town of
Parsonsfield, Maine for to go around
Province Lake
Province Lake is a water body located on the border between New Hampshire and Maine in the United States. Approximately of the lake lie in the towns of Effingham and Wakefield, New Hampshire, with the remainder in Parsonsfield, Maine. Its outle ...
, then runs directly on the state border between Parsonsfield and
Effingham, New Hampshire
Effingham is a town in Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 census, the town population was 1,691, up from 1,465 at the 2010 census. Effingham includes the villages of Effingham Falls, Effingham (Lord's Hill), Center Effing ...
for another before returning to New Hampshire.
Maine State Route 113
State Route 113 (SR 113) is a state highway in southwestern Maine (and partly in extreme eastern New Hampshire). It runs from an intersection with Maine State Route 25 in Standish north to the town of Gilead, where it ends at U.S. Rout ...
crosses into and out of New Hampshire twice. It runs for within the town of
Conway and for within the town of
Chatham. SR 113 remains under
MaineDOT maintenance along both of these stretches.
Signage practices
State highways
![New_Hampshire_Route_16_Truck_sign](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/New_Hampshire_Route_16_Truck_sign.jpg)
State highways in New Hampshire are marked using square route shields depicting the
Old Man of the Mountain
The Old Man of the Mountain, also called the Great Stone Face and the Profile, was a series of five granite cliff ledges on Cannon Mountain in Franconia, New Hampshire, United States, that appeared to be the jagged profile of a human face when ...
. Unlike its neighboring states, New Hampshire does not use elongated shields for route markers, but uses condensed fonts for three-digit routes instead.
Alternates of two- and three- digit routes (e.g.
NH 115A) are signed with the parent highway's number over the letter of the alternate. For multiple alternates of the same route, the state generally uses sequential letters. With the exception of the US 1 Bypass in Portsmouth, alternates of U.S. Highways are signed as state routes.
For example:
* Besides the US 1 Bypass, US 1 has two other alternates designated
NH 1A and
NH 1B.
*
NH 11 has four alternates designated NH 11A, NH 11B, NH 11C and NH 11D.
*
NH 25 has three alternates designated NH 25A, NH 25B and NH 25C.
NH 101E in Hampton is an exception. Despite being an implied alternate of NH 101, NH 101E has never connected to NH 101 or any of its current or former alternates.
Three instances of duplicated route numbers exist in New Hampshire:
* Two separate segments of highway are designated as NH 3A. They are separated by a section of US 3.
* US 4 and
NH 4 are two separate highways which both run within the city limits of
Dover. NH 4 was originally supposed to have been part of US 4, but is instead a southward extension of Maine State Route 4.
* Two separate loops of NH 16 are both designated
NH 16A but located only apart.
New Hampshire has a few
special state routes. Known examples are:
*
NH 28 Bypass, marked with a standard shield including "BYPASS" over the numeral.
*
NH 101 Business in the
Raymond
Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷᛁᚾᛗᚢᚾᛞ ( ...
area, which is very poorly signed.
* In the
Berlin area, truck routes are marked for NH 16 and
NH 110 with a "TRUCK" sign mounted over standard shields.
U.S. Numbered Highways
![US 1 Bypass](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/US_1_Bypass.svg)
New Hampshire uses the standard U.S. Route shield, a six-point white shield over a black square background. New Hampshire contains parts of the four lowest-numbered primary US highways:
US 1
U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making ...
,
US 2
U.S. Route 2 or U.S. Highway 2 (US 2) is an east–west U.S. Highway spanning across the northern continental United States. US 2 consists of two segments connected by various roadways in southern Canada. Unlike some routes, whi ...
,
US 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 t ...
and
US 4
U.S. Route 4 (US 4) is a long United States highway that runs from East Greenbush, New York, in the west to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in the east, traversing Vermont.
In New York, US 4 is signed North-South to reflect its alignment in the s ...
. US 2 is the only primary US highway within New Hampshire with any spur routes in the state, of which two are present:
US 202
U.S. Route 202 (US 202) is a spur route of US 2. It follows a northeasterly and southwesterly direction stretching from Delaware to Maine, also traveling through the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massa ...
and
US 302. New Hampshire does not use elongated route shields for U.S Routes, except on the occasional guide sign from a freeway and on some newer signage. Condensed fonts are used instead.
* US 1 Bypass in Portsmouth is marked with a standard shield including "BYPASS" over the numeral.
*US 3 Business in Laconia uses separate banners and US 3 shields, but only a few exist. It is otherwise signed as either NH 11A or NH 107.
*
US 302 Business in Bartlett is unsigned - the road is signed only as
NH 16A.
*All other alternates of U.S. Highways are signed as state routes.
Interstate highways
![I-293](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/I-293.svg)
New Hampshire uses standard-issue Interstate shields for its two-digit Interstate highways, of which there are three:
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 ...
,
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-95
Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadia ...
.
Elongated shields were not initially used for auxiliary Interstates, but such shields have appeared on newer signage. New Hampshire no longer uses its state name on Interstate shields, but older signs with the state name do exist. New Hampshire contains the only two auxiliaries of I-93:
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 ...
and
I-393
Interstate 393 (I-393) is a east–west auxiliary Interstate Highway extending from I-93 at Concord to Pembroke, New Hampshire. The primary purpose of the road is to bypass a densely built commercial strip on New Hampshire Route 9 (NH&nb ...
. They are both completely overlapped by other routes.
Turnpikes
![Everett Turnpike](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Everett_Turnpike.svg)
New Hampshire uses a special shield on the
Spaulding Turnpike
The Spaulding Turnpike is a north-south toll road in eastern New Hampshire. Nearly its entire length is overlapped by New Hampshire Route 16. Its southern terminus is at the Portsmouth Traffic Circle (Interstate 95 / U.S. Route 1 Bypass) in Por ...
and the
Everett Turnpike
The Frederick E. Everett Turnpike, also called the Central New Hampshire Turnpike, is a toll road in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, running from the Massachusetts border at Nashua north to Concord. The Everett Turnpike is named for Frederick ...
. Both contain the name of the turnpike over a colored circle, within a rectangular shield with an arced bottom edge. The Spaulding Turnpike uses a blue color, while the Everett Turnpike uses a green color. Older shields used inverted colors, with white text and circle inside of a colored background.
There is no shield for the
Blue Star Turnpike
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when o ...
, as it is only signed as I-95. However, when it was called the New Hampshire Turnpike it was signed with shields similar to those of the Spaulding and Everett turnpikes, blue in color and reading as "N.H. Turnpike".
Exit numbering
New Hampshire is one of the few states that still uses
sequential exit numbering
An exit number is a number assigned to a road junction, usually an exit from a freeway. It is usually marked on the same sign as the destinations of the exit. In some countries, such as the United States, it is also marked on a sign in the go ...
on its freeways, including all
Interstate highways, the Turnpike routes, as well as the
NH 101 freeway between
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 ...
and
Hampton
Hampton may refer to:
Places Australia
*Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia
*Hampton, New South Wales
*Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region
* Hampton, Victoria
Canada
* Hampton, New Brunswick
*Ha ...
. Exits to Interstate Highways are not assigned numbers, with the exception of I-93's Exit 15E to I-393 in Concord, which existed as such before I-393 was designated, and retained its exit number.
There are a few sequential numbering anomalies:
* Exit 3 on I-293 (the interchange with NH 101 and the Everett Turnpike) is not signed.
* Exits 2 and 5 on the Spaulding Turnpike were eliminated as part of a reconstruction and widening project in the late 2010s.
* Exit 9 on the Everett Turnpike has never existed.
* Exit 10 on the Spaulding Turnpike has never existed - the number was intentionally skipped to allow for future construction of an additional interchange between Dover and Rochester.
* Exit 21 on I-93 has never existed.
Major junctions and route concurrencies
New Hampshire, in contrast to most other states, normally signs route junctions using green guide signs (similar to those found on freeways) instead of individual sign and shield assemblies. New Hampshire also signs nearly all route concurrencies in the same way. However, as signs are being replaced, they are now more often replaced with traditional sign assemblies.
Unnumbered state highways
Several unnumbered roads also are maintained by the state, including:
* The
Circumferential Highway in Nashua & Hudson (the portion that is built)
*
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 ...
in South Nashua
See also
*
Notes
References
External links
Granite State Roads
{{US state highways
New Hampshire highways