Connecticut Roads - I-91 SB - Hartford-New Haven

, Exits 32-1


The southbound HOV lanes end right about here, before I-91 enters Hartford.


Onto the ramp at this complex interchange; the penultimate photo is compressed to omit the center 1/4 mile sign for Exit 31, which is not button copy and therefore not worth your time.


The last photo is at the merging CT 15 left-hand entrance ramp, which is taking traffic from I-84 WB to I-91 SB. Much of this traffic is going to NYC by following CT 15 to the Hutchinson River Parkway in New York, and will get off in 10 exits, as you will see below. (15/US 5 and 91 run parallel until then.)


Although it's not button copy, the beginning of I-691, which serves as a southern bypass of I-84 west of Hartford (84-691-91-15-84 is about the same mileage as just staying on 84), reflects older standards with centered exit tabs and no larger first directional letter. You can also see the "real" CT 15 exit, which puts motorists onto the freeway instead of Berlin Turnpike portion of 15.


In 1969, when Michael Summa took this photo, I-691 didn't exist and so CT 66 is signed here (but the shield is off-center, as if it knew it was going to be replaced). It's the same freeway that bypasses Meriden, though, because E. Main St. is old 66. The transition between routes managed to not change any of the sign messages, just remove some errant arrows. Check this against the penultimate photo from the last run.


The bigger the sign, the more likely you'll see it in fog?

All the photos from here on down are courtesy one Connecticut state trooper, who took the CT 15 ramp I wanted to take, thus keeping me on I-91 so that I wasn't stuck behind him (and all the traffic that was definitely not going to pass him). I followed I-91 to I-95 to the Milford Parkway back to CT 15, and judging from traffic flow he either hadn't gotten there yet or had since left the highway.


This is the beginning of CT 40, a short freeway that doesn't even interchange with CT 15 a mile or two to the west. It really doesn't make much sense on its own, as it just ends at CT 10, and never carries much traffic. I can't even see a use if it were extended, since there's not much traffic headed northwest from New Haven.


One of the last remnants of older Connecticut route signage is surprisingly right at the bottom of the Exit 7 ramp near Ferry St.. Click the second photo (which is the lower half of the first one) for exhilarating closeup.


Less than a mile away, the corresponding entrance ramp is from Willow St. at Exit 6, but it comes with a stub attached. This would have been the East Rock Connector (Steve Anderson's nycroads.com), a freeway spur from the then-proposed CT 10 freeway that would have paralleled I-91 to the west, or joining what was then CT 10A (Whitney Ave.) in Hamden in a later, pared-down iteration.



I-91/I-95/CT 34 interchange construction
Back north on I-91 SB
Over to the NB lanes
Back to I-91 main page


Exit 32 or 30 to I-84
Exit 30 to CT 2
Exit 28 to US 5
Exit 28 or 17 to CT 15
Exit 27 to Airport Rd.
Exit 25 to CT 3
Exit 22 to CT 9
Exit 21 to CT 372
Exit 18 to I-691
Exit 10 to CT 40
Exit 1 to CT 34
Onto I-95
Back to Connecticut Roads
Back to Roads