Overview
Bristol, pop. 60,000, home of ESPN, is the largest city in Connecticut with no freeway access. Route 72 was slated to pass through Bristol on the way to Route 8 in Thomaston, but that plan was cancelled. The whole story is quite a saga.
In 2011, a four-lane divided (but not freeway) extension of Route 72 opened. Old Route 72 is Broad Street and East Main Street. To the east, Route 372 has followed the many old sections of Route 72; but it was not extended into Bristol.
Links
Present routes
- US 6 to Bishop, CA and Provincetown, MA
- CT 69 to Burlington and Waterbury
- CT 72 to Plymouth and Plainville
- CT 229 to Southington and I-84
Past routes
- US 6A followed today's US 6 through town years ago. (US 6 at the time followed Route 72.)
- US 202 (1935-1974) overlapped US 6 from Newtown to Farmington, before its move to the current New Milford - Torrington - Avon alignment.
- SR 421 (1940s-1962) Church Av, N from CT 72, Bristol
- SR 500A temporary designation (2011-2012) old CT 72 (Broad Street and East Main Street); no relation to SR 500 in East Hartford
- SR 529 (1962-1963) now CT 229
- SR 763 (-1962) short part of Central St N from CT 72
Cancelled routes