Connecticut Route 113

From one end of Route 113 to the other is about 4 miles by helicopter; following the U-shaped complete route around Igor Sikorsky Memorial Airport is about twice as long. Here's how to follow it:

Take I-95 northbound exit 30 and turn right onto Lordship Boulevard, marked as Route 113 North, even though you are traveling southeast.
See the airport on your left and marshes on your right as Route 113 North turns briefly southwest, then south.
Turn left (northeast) on Oak Bluff Avenue, until you reach a traffic circle that's the center of a small radial street grid for the neighborhood of Lordship.
East on Prospect Drive. If you miss your turn, you'll run out of land.
North (!) on Stratford Road. For the first time, Route 113's cardinal direction is truthful.
Stratford Road becomes Main Street and turns northwest. If it turned west, Route 113 would hit all points of the compass.
Main Street turns north, underpassing I-95 with no interchange (but this is I-95, another interchange is never far away) and continues quite conventionally to its end at Route 110.

In the 1920s, State Highway 113 followed this route: US 6 and Route 72 east from Route 8 to New Britain; Route 71 into West Hartford; and New Britain Avenue into Hartford.

The modern Route 113 was commissioned in 1932. Its original alignment was 7.18 miles long:

Prospect Street in Stratford, from Pauline Street (the site of a rotary today) to Stratford Road. This is part of today's Route 113.
Stratford Road and Main Street to Barnum Avenue (US 1). Also part of today's Route 113.
A short overlap with US 1, then Nichols Avenue into Trumbull, ending at Huntington Turnpike (Route 65 at the time). Nichols Avenue is now part of Route 108.

Old Route 8, 65, and 113, Shelton to Stratford

This 1949 map scan shows the historic alignments of routes 8 and 65 south of Shelton and Derby. Route 113 extends along today's Route 108 to Route 65A.

In 1944, Route 113 was shifted north and extended west. Starting at the Bridgeport / Stratford town line, it used Lordship Boulevard, turned east on Access Road (north of Sikorsky airport), and then rejoined its original alignment on Stratford Road heading north. Its new length was 7.21 miles.

The remaining portion south of the airport became Route 113A.

But in 1947, Route 113 was shifted back south of the airport, for a length of 9.75 miles. Route 113A was deleted.

On Dec. 17, 1951, Route 113 also annexed Shelton Avenue (the old Route 65A) when 65 became part of Route 8. At 11.76 miles, this was the longest version of Route 113.

In 1963, Route 113 was shifted east, donating Nichols Avenue to Route 108 and inheriting part of Main Street in Stratford from Route 110.

Runway extension shifts part of Route 113

Around 2003, the FAA announced its intent to extend the main runway at Sikorsky Airport and relocate part of Route 113. This was completed on May 22, 2015; a runway safety area (RSA) was constructed at the east end of Runway 24, and a short portion of Route 113 was shifted east.

Connecticut Department of Transportation. "Route change table.xls". Microsoft Excel spreadsheet file, received April 4, 2008.
Untitled correspondence, Executive Secretary of AASHO, to Conn. State Highway Commissioner William J. Cox, dated July 25, 1938. Contains a terse log of existing state routes.
"State to Renumber 4 Sections of Roads." Hartford Times, Sept. 27, 1951.
"Bridge will open Monday." Sunday Herald [Bridgeport, Conn.], Dec. 16, 1951.
Pagliaro, Dan. "Lostroads Update." Personal email, Mar. 16, 2003.
"Sikorsky Airport Improvements - Reopening of the Realigned Route 113." News Release, CTDOT, dated May 11, 2015.

CT 113 photos (Doug Kerr)
CT 113 photos (Steve Alpert)
CT 113 photos (David Golub)

CT 113 History

Runway extension shifts part of Route 113

CT 113 Sources

CT 113 Links