CT 286 History
This very old drawing illustrates what happened to Route 140A.
In 1932, the state designated SR 802, an unsigned but state-maintained road along Pinney Street in Ellington, from Windermere Avenue north to Main Street, and then east along Main Street to Park Street, which was then part of Route 140.
Around 1940, there appears to be a maintenance issue that created a short gap along Pinney Street, between Middle Street (approximately) and Main Street. The portion of SR 802 south of this gap became SR 802A. In 1944 SR 802A was cancelled. All that remained of SR 802 was the short Main Street section.
The recommendations for the state Route Reclassification in 1961 included adding a secondary route from South Windsor to Ellington along Ellington Road, Wappingwood Road, and Pinney Street. SR 802 was briefly extended along these roads in 1962.
In 1962, SR was apportioned to two signed routes: an extended Route 74, and the new Route 286.
The remaining mysteries here are:
- what caused the SR 802A split around 1940
- where the "286" number came from
Most 3-digit routes after 1960 will "rhyme" with a previous designation: for example, Route 222 was previously SR 722. In Ellington, SR 802 could have been promoted to Route 302, as that number was still available. But 286... maybe (and this is a reach) there had been the concept of extending north to meet Route 186 in Somers? There's no evidence of this so far, though.