Vermont Route 7A (VT 7A) is a north–south state highway in Bennington County, Vermont, in the United States. It is an

alternate route An official alternate route is a special route in the United States that provides an alternate alignment for a highway. They are loop roads and found in many road systems in the United States including the U.S. Highway system and various state a ...

of U.S. Route 7 (US 7) between Bennington and

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

. The route is signed as "Historic VT 7A" to distinguish it, the original routing of US 7, from the modern US 7

limited-access highway A limited-access road, known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, dual-carriageway, expressway, limited access freeway, and partial controlled access highway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which ...

Route description

VT 7A begins at the southern end of the US 7

in Bennington. It heads northwest on Northside Drive for roughly six blocks, then turns north to follow the Ethan Allen Highway at the southern terminus of VT 67A. Upon passing under VT 279, VT 7A begins to parallel US 7. The two routes eventually reconnect by way of the Bennington North State Highway before US 7 veers off to the northeast. VT 7A, meanwhile, continues north into Shaftsbury. Just inside Shaftsbury, VT 7A passes by the Robert Frost Stone House Museum. The route continues north to the

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

of South Shaftsbury, where it meets VT 67. North of the village, VT 7A curves slightly to the northeast as it enters Arlington. Here, the route travels past the

Norman Rockwell Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was an American painter and illustrator. His works have a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of Culture of the United States, the country's culture. Roc ...

Gallery and Exhibition and

overlap Overlap may refer to: * In set theory, an overlap of elements shared between sets is called an intersection, as in a Venn diagram. * In music theory, overlap is a synonym for reinterpretation of a chord at the boundary of two musical phrases * O ...

s with VT 313. Outside of the village of Arlington, VT 7A takes on a more pronounced northeasterly routing into

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 ...

. The route passes near

Hildene Hildene, the Lincoln Family Home is the former summer home of Robert Todd Lincoln and his wife Mary Harlan Lincoln, located at 1005 Hildene Road in Manchester Center, Vermont. History Robert Todd Lincoln was the eldest of the four sons of Pres ...

and serves the historic site by way of Hildene Road, then continues on to Manchester Center. Here, VT 7A intersects VT 11 and briefly overlaps VT 30 before exiting the village and entering the town of

, where the route ends at another junction with US 7. Some drivers prefer VT 7A over the nearby four-lane US 7 freeway during the winter because it is significantly lower in elevation (up to lower than the freeway at points), so driving conditions are generally better during storms.

History

The route is called "Historic" in order to avert confusion with the two to four-lane

routing of US 7, known locally as the "Super 7". Before the limited-access highway opened, VT 7A was the original routing of US 7.

Major intersections

References

External links

{{Attached KML 007A Transportation in Bennington County, Vermont U.S. Route 7