Connecticut Route 8

Route 8
Route 8 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained byCTDOT
Length	67.36 mi (108.41 km)
Existed	1922–present
Major junctions
South end	I-95inBridgeport
Major intersections	US 1in Bridgeport Route 25in Bridgeport Route 108/Route 15/Merritt ParkwayinTrumbull Route 34inDerby I-84inWaterbury US 6/Route 254/SR 848inThomaston US 202inTorrington US 44inWinsted Route 20inWinchester
North end	Route 8inSandisfield, MA
Location
Country	United States
State	Connecticut
Counties	Fairfield,New Haven,Litchfield
Highway system
Connecticut State Highway System Interstate US State SSR SR Scenic
←US 7 →Route 9

Route 8is a 67.36-mile (108.41 km) state highway inConnecticutthat runs north–south fromBridgeport,throughWaterbury,all the way to the Massachusetts state line where it continues asMassachusetts Route 8.Most of the highway is a four-lanefreewaybut the northernmost 8.8 miles (14.2 km) is a two-lane surface road.

Route description

Route 8 begins atInterstate 95(I-95) exit 27A in Bridgeport. The first 3.75 miles (6.04 km) through Bridgeportruns concurrentlywith the freeway portion ofRoute 25.Approaching the split between Routes 8 and 25, the road expands to six, eight, and even ten lanes. Route 8 continues northeastward intoTrumbullwhere there is an interchange with theMerritt Parkway.

From Trumbull, it briefly entersStratfordbefore enteringSheltonpassing by several exits providing access to business parks. It then crosses theHousatonic Riverand continues intoDerby.After theRoute 34interchange, the road takes on more of a semi-rural character as it winds its way along theNaugatuck Riverthrough the towns ofAnsonia,Seymour,andBeacon Fallsbefore it becomes more suburban in nature inNaugatuckand then more urban as it entersWaterbury.In Waterbury, Route 8 meets withI-84at the interchange known locally as the "Mixmaster". After theRoute 73interchange, the road returns to its winding semi-rural nature, passing throughWatertownandThomaston.In the latter city,U.S. Route 6(US 6) briefly overlaps for about a mile. The highway then continues throughLitchfieldandHarwinton.After a brief suburban section throughTorringtonwhere it intersectsUS 202andRoute 4,it returns to a rural freeway before entering the town ofWinchester.

The freeway section of Route 8 ends atUS 44andRoute 183inWinsted.After a short 0.33-mile (0.53 km) northwesterly overlap with US 44 and Route 183, Route 8 continues north as a mostly rural surface road. It intersects the western end ofRoute 20on the northern edge of town, and continues throughColebrookto theMassachusettsstate line, becomingMassachusetts Route 8upon enteringSandisfield.

The section from I-95 to the Route 25 split is also known as theColonelHenry MucciHighway(designation continues on Route 25). The section from Shelton to Beacon Falls is known as theGeneralSamuel JaskilkaHighway.The section from Constitution Boulevard in Shelton toRoute 334at the Seymour–Ansonia town line is known as theAnsonia–Derby–Shelton Expressway.The section from Waterbury to the freeway end in Winchester is known as theJames H. Darcey Memorial Highway.

History

Main article:New England Interstate Route 8

Most of the alignment of Route 8 was part of an improved toll road known as theWaterbury River Turnpike,which ran fromNaugatuck,viaTorrington,Winchester Center and Colebrook Center, to the Massachusetts state line. The turnpike was chartered in 1801 and collected tolls until 1862. Two other sections of Route 8 were also old turnpikes: the portion north of Torrington was known as theStill River Turnpikechartered in 1815; the portion between Seymour and Naugatuck was known as theHumphreysville and Salem Turnpikechartered in 1825.

In 1922, the sixNew Englandstates began a region-wide highwaynumbering system.The trunk highway from Stratford through Waterbury to the Massachusetts state line became part of the multi-stateNew England Route 8.Route 8 remained unchanged in the1932 state highway renumbering.The main road connecting Bridgeport and Shelton (following Noble Avenue, Huntington Turnpike, Shelton Road, Bridgeport Avenue, and Center Street), which was designated as State Highway 316 in 1922, was renumbered asRoute 65in the 1932 renumbering.

In 1951, the Ansonia–Derby–Shelton Expressway portion between Constitution Boulevard in Shelton and Pershing Drive in Derby (including theCommodore Isaac Hull Memorial Bridge) opened to traffic. As part of the freeway upgrades to Route 8, the southern terminus was shifted west from Stratford to Bridgeport, taking over old Route 65. The original southern end of Route 8 was assigned to an extendedRoute 110.By 1957, the entire length of the Ansonia–Derby–Shelton Expressway portion was open, with the extension from Pershing Drive to Route 334 at the Ansonia/Seymour town line complete.

In the 1960s and 1970s additional sections of the Route 8 freeway opened in stages: in 1960, the segment fromRoute 63to South Main Street in Waterbury opened; in 1962, the section from Route 334 to Route 67, including the elevated highway portion through central Seymour, opened; in 1966, the Mixmaster interchange withI-84is completed and the freeway was also extended toRoute 262in Watertown. An additional section fromRoute 118in Litchfield to Kennedy Drive in Torrington also opened. By 1970, the portion from Route 262 in Watertown to Route 118 in Litchfield opened. By 1972, the segment fromI-95toRoute 108in Trumbull, including the overlap withRoute 25,was completed. The freeway was also extended from Kennedy Drive in Torrington to its present terminus atRoute 44in Winsted. By 1975, the freeway was completed between Huntington Turnpike at the Trumbull/Shelton town line to Constitution Boulevard in Shelton.

The early 1980s saw the completion of the Route 8 freeway with the 4-lane surface route from Route 67 in Seymour to Route 63 in Naugatuck (originally built in the 1940s) upgraded to a freeway, including the portion that bypasses Beacon Falls. The original alignment of Route 8 through Beacon Falls became part ofRoute 42.The last segment of freeway between Route 108 in Trumbull and Huntington Turnpike, including a new interchange with theMerritt Parkwaywas completed in 1982. This constituted the completion of the freeway from Bridgeport to Winchester, 35 years after construction began.

Attempts at Interstate designation

The Route 8 freeway was envisioned to continue beyond its present northern terminus in Winsted to either Massachusetts or southern Vermont. In 1972, Massachusetts and Connecticut requested an interstate designation for the Route 8 corridor that included completed and yet-to-be-built sections in both states. That request was denied by the Federal Highway Administration.

In the ensuing 40 years, on-and-off discussions and engineering studies to designate Route 8 as an interstate route have continued, with the most recent study being completed in 2011. In that report, the study noted that not all of the Route 8 freeway meets interstate standards, particularly sections that were designed and built before the interstate highway era. Newer sections between Bridgeport and Shelton, around Beacon Falls, and from the I-84 interchange in Waterbury to Winsted were designed and built from the late 1960s to the early 1980s and either meet interstate standards or require minimal spot upgrades to meet interstate standards. The report noted the sections that do not meet interstate standards include the 8-mile segment from Shelton to Seymour, which was built in stages from the late 1940s through the early 1960s; and the 5-mile section through Naugatuck, which was built in the 1950s. Both of these segments include narrow cross-sections, tight curve radii, and closely spaced interchanges that do not meet current interstate standards. Because these segments wind their way through the urban centers of Shelton, Derby, Seymour and Naugatuck on elevated viaducts, upgrading (or bypassing) these segments would be costly and cause significant disruption to the surrounding communities.

Junction list

CTDOT has not announced a renumbering schedule to mile-based exit numbers on Route 25. The "NEW EXIT NUMBERS" shown below are not confirmed, but potential numbers for when the switch to mile-based exit numbers does occur.

County	Location	mi	km	Old exit	New exit	Destinations	Notes
Fairfield	Bridgeport	0.00– 0.21	0.00– 0.34	–	1	I-95–New Haven,New York City Route 25begins	Southern terminus; signed as exits 1A (north) and 1B (south); exit 27A on I-95
		0.40	0.64	1	1C	Prospect Street / Myrtle Avenue	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		0.80	1.29	2	1D	Route 130(Fairfield Avenue)	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
					1	Golden Hill Street / Main Street	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		1.44	2.32	3 4	2A	Main Street / Washington Avenue	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		2.21	3.56			US 1/ Lindley Street	Northbound exit and southbound entrance; US 1 not signed
		2.80	4.51	5	2B	US 1(Boston Avenue / North Avenue)	Access via Chopsey Hill Road
		3.75	6.04	6	3	Route 25north toRoute 15south (Merritt Parkway) –Trumbull,New York City	Northern terminus of Route 25concurrency;northbound exit and southbound entrance
	Trumbull	4.17	6.71	7	4	Route 127(East Main Street / White Plains Road)	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		5.46	8.79	8	5	Route 108/Route 15north /Merritt Parkwaynorth –Stratford,New Haven	No northbound access to Route 15; exit 34 on Route 15 / Merritt Parkway
		5.51– 6.25	8.87– 10.06	9 (NB) 10 (SB)	6	Route 15/Merritt Parkway–New Haven,New York City	Same-directional access only; exit 34 on Route 15 / Merritt Parkway
	Shelton	7.16	11.52	11	7	Huntington Road / Bridgeport Avenue	Signed for Huntington Road northbound, Bridgeport Avenue southbound; access viaSR 714
		9.19	14.79	12	9	Old Stratford Road
		11.47	18.46	13	11	Constitution Boulevard / Bridgeport Avenue	Access viaSR 714
		12.28	19.76	14	12A	Route 110(Howe Avenue) –Shelton
Housatonic River		12.28– 12.58	19.76– 20.25	Commodore Hull Bridge
New Haven	Derby	12.84	20.66	15	12B	Route 34–Derby,New Haven	Access toDerby-Shelton station
		13.40	21.57	16	13A	Pershing Drive –Ansonia	Northbound exit and southbound entrance; access via SR 727
		13.68	22.02	17	13B	Seymour Avenue	Signed as exit 13 southbound
		14.33	23.06	18	14	Division Street	No southbound exit
	Ansonia	15.79	25.41	19	15	Route 334(Wakelee Avenue)
	Seymour	16.78	27.00	20 21	17	Derby Avenue	Southbound exit and northbound entrance; access viaSR 728
		17.50	28.16			Derby Avenue (SR 728) toRoute 67–Oxford	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		18.68	30.06	22	18	Route 67–Seymour
	Beacon Falls	21.09	33.94	23 24	21	Route 42–Beacon Falls,Oxford	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		22.35	35.97			ToRoute 42–Beacon Falls,Oxford	Southbound exit and northbound entrance; access viaSR 852
	Naugatuck	24.09	38.77	25	24	Cross Street toRoute 63	Route 63 not signed northbound
		25.27	40.67	26	25A	Route 63(South Main Street) –Bethany	Bethany not signed northbound
		25.74	41.42	27	25B	Naugatuck	Access viaSR 709
		26.83	43.18	28	26	Route 68–Union City,Prospect	Access viaSR 710
		27.31	43.95	29	27	South Main Street –Waterbury	Access viaSR 847;Waterbury not signed southbound
	Waterbury	29.37	47.27	30	29	South Leonard Street / Washington Avenue	South Leonard Street not signed southbound
		30.21– 30.38	48.62– 48.89	31-33	30	I-84/ Riverside Street –Hartford,Danbury,Downtown Waterbury	Signed as exits 30A (I-84 east), 30B (Riverside) and 30C (I-84 west); no northbound access to Riverside Street
		30.64	49.31	34	30D	West Main Street –Downtown Waterbury	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		31.22	50.24	35	31	Route 73north –Oakville,Watertown	Northbound exit and southbound entrance; southern terminus of Route 73
		32.61	52.48	36	32	Huntingdon Avenue / Colonial Avenue
Litchfield	Watertown	34.31	55.22	37	34	Route 262–Watertown
	Thomaston	38.24	61.54	38	38	US 6west /Route 254north toRoute 109west –Thomaston,Watertown	Southern terminus of US 6 concurrency; Watertown not signed northbound
		39.70	63.89	39	39	US 6east /Route 222north –Thomaston,Bristol,Plymouth,Terryville	Northern terminus of US 6 concurrency
		40.36	64.95	40	40	Route 222(North Main Street)	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	Northfield	44.11	70.99	41	44	Northfield,Campville	Access via Campville Road
	Litchfield	46.82	75.35	42	46	Route 118–Litchfield,Harwinton
	Torrington	49.25	79.26	43	49	Harwinton Avenue
		49.93	80.35	44	50	US 202/Route 4–Downtown Torrington
		51.81	83.38	45	51	Winsted Road / Kennedy Drive
		55.55	89.40	46	55	Pinewoods Road –Burrville
	Winchester	58.51	94.16	Northern end of freeway section
						US 44east /Route 183south –New Hartford	Southern terminus of US 44 / Route 183 concurrency
		58.84	94.69			US 44west /Route 183north –Colebrook,Canaan	Northern terminus of US 44 / Route 183 concurrency
		60.67	97.64			Route 20east –Riverton	Western terminus of Route 20
	Colebrook	67.36	108.41			Route 8north –Sandisfield,Otis	Continuation intoMassachusetts
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Concurrencyterminus Incomplete access

See also

• Connecticut portal
• U.S. Roads portal

External links

Template:Attached KML/Connecticut Route 8

KML is from Wikidata

• kurumi- CT Route 8
• nycroads- CT 8 Expressway