Interstate 95 in New Hampshire

Interstate 95 (I-95) is an Interstate Highway on the east coast of the United States, connecting Florida to Maine. Within the state of New Hampshire, it serves the Seacoast Region and is a toll road named the Blue Star Turnpike or New Hampshire Turnpike. The 16.11-mile (25.93 km) turnpike is maintained by the New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) Bureau of Turnpikes and has a single toll plaza near Hampton.

This article is about the section of Interstate 95 in New Hampshire. For the entire route, see Interstate 95.

Interstate 95

Blue Star Turnpike
I-95 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by NHDOT Bureau of Turnpikes
Length16.11 mi (25.93 km)
Existed1957–present
HistoryTurnpike opened in 1950
NHSEntire route
Major junctions
South end I-95 in Salisbury, MA
Major intersections
  • NH 101 in Hampton
  • US 4 / NH 16 / Spaulding Turnpike in Portsmouth
  • US 1 Byp. in Portsmouth
North end
 I-95 Toll / Maine Turnpike in Kittery, ME
Location
CountryUnited States
StateNew Hampshire
CountiesRockingham
Highway system
  • Main
  • Auxiliary
  • Suffixed
  • Business
  • Future
  • New Hampshire Highway System
  • Interstate
  • US
  • State
  • Turnpikes
← I-93→ NH 97

The Blue Star Turnpike begins near the Massachusetts state line in the town of Seabrook and travels north through Hampton and its neighboring municipalities. It then continues around Portsmouth and crosses the Piscataqua River Bridge at the Maine state line, where it becomes the Maine Turnpike. New Hampshire's portion of I-95 is the shortest of any state that the Interstate passes through; the highway is the main thoroughfare between urban areas in Massachusetts and points in Maine.

Construction of the turnpike was approved in 1947 and began a year later in an effort to bypass congestion on U.S. Route 1 (US 1), the main seacoast highway. It opened to traffic on June 24, 1950, and was later designated as part of I-95 in 1957. The northernmost section in Portsmouth, connecting to the Maine Turnpike, was left incomplete until the Piscataqua River Bridge opened in 1972.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.