The Wilbur Cross Parkway (also known locally as "The Merritt" in conjunction with its counterpart) is a

limited access road 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 ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

, comprising the portion of Route 15 between

Milford Milford may refer to: Place names Canada * Milford (Annapolis), Nova Scotia * Milford (Halifax), Nova Scotia * Milford, Ontario England * Milford, Derbyshire * Milford, Devon, a place in Devon * Milford on Sea, Hampshire * Milford, Shro ...

and Meriden. It is named after

Wilbur Lucius Cross Wilbur Lucius Cross (April 10, 1862 – October 5, 1948) was an American literary critic who served as the 71st governor of Connecticut from 1931 to 1939. Biography Born in 1862 in Mansfield, Connecticut, Cross attended Natchaug School in Wil ...

, a former governor of the state (1931–1939). Commercial vehicles, trailers, towed vehicles (except as provided in Connecticut state law Section 14.298.240), buses, hearses, and large vehicles are prohibited from using the

parkway A parkway is a landscaped thoroughfare.''"parkway."''Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com (14 Apr. 2007). The term is particularly used for a roadway in a park or ...

. The Wilbur Cross Parkway had two toll barriers located in

and Wallingford until 1988, which now serve as service plazas.

Route description

The four-lane Wilbur Cross Parkway begins as a direct continuation of the

Merritt Parkway The Merritt Parkway (also known locally as "The Merritt") is a limited-access parkway in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Fairfield County, Connecticut, with a small section at the northern end in New Haven County, Connecticut, New Haven County. ...

at the Sikorsky Bridge over the

Housatonic River The Housatonic River ( ) is a river, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 in western Massachusetts and western Connecticut in the United S ...

at the town line between

and Stratford. Immediately after is the exit for the Milford Parkway, which connects to the

Connecticut Turnpike The Connecticut Turnpike (officially the Governor John Davis Lodge Turnpike) is a controlled-access highway and former toll road in the U.S. state of Connecticut; it is maintained by the Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT). Span ...

(

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 the

Boston Post Road The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts that evolved into one of the first major highways in the United States. The three major alignments were the Lower Post Road (now U.S. Ro ...

(

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 ...

). The Wilbur Cross Parkway runs northeast through the towns of Milford,

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

, Woodbridge, and

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

. At the town line between New Haven and Hamden, the parkway passes through the

West Rock Tunnel Heroes Tunnel (formerly West Rock Tunnel) is a , twin-tube tunnel carrying Route 15 (Wilbur Cross Parkway) through West Rock Ridge in New Haven, Connecticut, opened in 1949. It is the only highway tunnel to pass beneath a natural land feature in ...

, which was renamed "Heroes Tunnel" in 2003 by the State of Connecticut to honor first responders. The only road tunnel through a natural obstacle in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

, it is lighted solely using low pressure

sodium vapor lamp A sodium-vapor lamp is a gas-discharge lamp that uses sodium in an excited state to produce light at a characteristic wavelength near 589 nm. Two varieties of such lamps exist: low pressure and high pressure. Low-pressure sodium lamps are ...

s, rare in the United States. The parkway proceeds north through the towns of Hamden, North Haven, Wallingford, and Meriden. After connecting with

I-91 Interstate 91 (I-91) is an Interstate Highway in the New England region of the United States. It provides the primary north–south thoroughfare in the western part of the region. The Interstate generally follows the course of the Connecti ...

in Meriden, the parkway ends, merging onto North Broad Street (

US 5 U.S. Route 5 (US 5) is a north–south United States highway running through the New England states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont. Significant cities along the route include New Haven, Connecticut; Hartford, Connecticut; and Spring ...

). North of Meriden, Routes 5 and 15 continue as the Berlin Turnpike. Reflecting its history as a toll road, two pairs of service plazas lie opposite one-another along the parkway in

and North Haven. All were renovated since 2011, along with six further south on the Merritt Parkway. In addition to gas pumps and an Alltown convenience store at each plaza, they now include Dunkin' Donuts and Subway shops. Prior to the renovations, no fast-food service had been available at any of the plazas. Three abandoned rest areas remain along the Parkway, in Woodbridge, New Haven, and Meriden.

History

The Wilbur Cross Parkway was originally planned in 1937 as route from US 1 in Milford to the Massachusetts state line in Union. The portion of the parkway south of Meriden was built largely as planned. Construction began in 1939 when federal funds were secured. The first section of the parkway to open was the Milford to Orange segment, from the Housatonic River (Exit 54) to

Route 34 The following highways are numbered 34: for a list of roads numbered N34 : see list of N34 roads. International * AH34, Asian Highway 34 * European route E34 Australia * Cox Peninsula Road (Northern Territory) * (Sydney) * Maroondah Highway (Vi ...

(Exit 57-58) at the end of 1941. Subsequent construction was delayed by

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After the war, two more sections of the parkway opened: the segment from US 5 in Wallingford (Exit 66) to US 5 in Meriden (Exit 68), bypassing the city center opened in 1946; and the segment from Route 10A in Hamden (Exit 61) to US 5 in Wallingford opened in 1947. In 1948, the parkway was designated as part of a new Route 15, connecting New York to Massachusetts. Because the New Haven segment had not yet been completed, motorists were directed to temporarily follow Route 34, US 5, and Route 10A. In November 1949, the New Haven segment, from Exit 57-58 to Exit 61, including the

opened. The entire parkway was a toll road when it opened in 1941. Tolls were removed from both the Merritt and Wilbur Cross Parkways in 1988.

Exit list

Mileposts and exit numbers listed below continue from the

References

External links

Connecticut state highway route log, 2006

nycroads.com – Wilbur Cross Parkway
{{Authority control State highways in Connecticut Parkways in the United States Transportation in New Haven County, Connecticut Freeways in the United States Former toll roads in Connecticut