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Route 178 offers a little variety in nearly seven miles of suburbia: a forested straightaway at its western end, some residential neighborhoods, and a commercial strip in Bloomfield. It follows, by coincidence, two different Park Avenues, not related to each other, in its two towns.
In the 1920s, state highway 178 followed today's Route 71 from New Britain to Meriden.
The modern Route 178 was commissioned in 1932. Its original alignment, west to east, was the eastern portion of today's Route 178:
The rest of today's Route 178 was originally old Route 184. Continuing west, this highway followed Park Avenue, Mountain Avenue and West Street to end at Route 185.
In 1963, Route 184 was deleted, and Route 178 was extended along former Route 184, as described above, to end at Route 185.
In 1964, the state unveiled a plan to relocate and straighten the western end of Route 178. About 5,000 feet of new and realigned road along Loeffler Rd. would provide a safer, more direct route. This work was done around 1966. The remainder of Mountain Avenue and West Street were turned over to the town.