New England Interstate Route 17

New England Route 17
Route information
Length:	117 mi (188 km)
Existed:	1922 – mid 1930s
Major junctions
West end:	New York state line at Egremont, MA
	Route 4 in Great Barrington, MA Route 8 in Winchester, CT Route 2/Route 10 in Hartford, CT Route 12/Route 32 in Norwich, CT
East end:	Route 1 in Westerly, RI
Highway system
New England road marking system ← Route 16 N.E. Route 18 →

Route 17 was a 117-mile (188 km) east–west New England Interstate Highway known as the Westerly Route. It ran from the New York-Massachusetts state line (with the road continuing towards Hudson, New York via modern New York State Route 23 and 23B) through Great Barrington, Massachusetts and Hartford, Connecticut to Westerly, Rhode Island.

Route description

The modern designations of the old route are:

• Route 23 from the New York state line to Great Barrington, MA
• U.S. Route 7 from Great Barrington, MA to North Canaan, CT
• U.S. Route 44 from North Canaan, CT to Hartford, CT
• Route 2 from Hartford, CT to Stonington, CT
• U.S. Route 1 from Stonington, CT to Westerly, RI

History

When the New England states adopted a uniform highway marking system in 1922, Route 17 was designated as the route from Hudson, New York to Westerly, Rhode Island via Hartford, Connecticut. New York, however, did not sign its state highways until 1924, at which time the westward continuation of the route from the state line to Hudson became part of NY 23. At the end of 1926, a short portion of the route that overlapped with New England Route 4 (South Egremont to Great Barrington) became part of the original US 7. By the following year, however, US 7 was shifted slightly to use the portion of Route 17 from Great Barrington to the village of Canaan. In 1932, Connecticut renumbered its portion of Route 17 to Route 101 (now US 44) west of Hartford and Route 2 east of Hartford, also removing the 17 designation from the portion overlapping US 7. At the same time, Massachusetts truncated its portion of Route 17 to between the New York state line and Great Barrington, removing the overlap with US 7. Between 1935 and 1938, Massachusetts had renumbered this piece as part of a new Route 23 to Woronoco to match the route number in New York.

References