Route 17A extends along Main Street from Route 17 and Route 66 near the Arrigoni Bridge to Route 17 north of Gildersleeve. A portion of this route runs very close to the Connecticut River and is sometimes under water.
Updated Dec 30, 2020
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Route 17A extends along Main Street from Route 17 and Route 66 near the Arrigoni Bridge to Route 17 north of Gildersleeve. A portion of this route runs very close to the Connecticut River and is sometimes under water.
There were two instances of Route 17A: one short-lived, and one that exists today.
In 1953, a segment of the East Hartford - Glastonbury Expressway opened, from the New London Turnpike south. Route 17 was moved to this new highway, and the old Route 17 (Main Street, from the expressway terminus to Hebron Avenue) became Route 17A.
Was this route signed? Maybe. In any case, Route 17A was turned over to the town in 1954. It appears that the state and town had been negotiating this handover since the expressway opened.
In 1932, Main Street became part of Route 15, a highway extending from New Haven to Massachusetts. The state provided a short Route 15A bypass at Gildersleeve, for the purpose of (I surmise) getting around the portion of Main Street prone to flooding.
In 1939, the state reassigned both numbers so that Route 15A followed Main Street.
On May 1, 1948, as part of a larger effort to use the Route 15 designation for the Merritt Parkway and other routes leading from New York to Massachusetts, much of former Route 15 became Route 17. In Portland, Route 15A became Route 17A.