Everett Turnpike - Route Description

Route Description

Much of the turnpike's length has been overlapped by other numbered routes. Portions of the road are shared with U.S. Route 3, Interstate 93, and Interstate 293. The southern portion of the turnpike, in Nashua, is posted as U.S. Route 3, serving as an extension of the US-3 freeway (Northwest Expressway) from Burlington, Massachusetts. North of Exit 7 in Nashua, the turnpike runs by itself and has no number, but parallels US-3, which is a toll-free local road variously known as Concord Street (within the city of Nashua) and the Daniel Webster Highway (within Merrimack and Bedford). Approaching the Manchester area in Bedford, the turnpike is joined by I-293 which splits off from a concurrency with NH Route 101. At Exit 4 (exits are numbered for I-293 on this stretch), NH Route 3A joins the freeway, and the concurrency passes through Manchester, near the downtown area of the city. Upon passing Manchester, Route 3A splits off at Exit 7, I-293's last northbound exit. The freeway passes into Hooksett, and I-293 ends at an interchange with I-93. The Everett Turnpike ceases to be signed at this interchange, but joins I-93 northbound and continues towards Concord, interchanging with the southern terminus of Interstate 89 along the way. No definitive northern terminus for the turnpike exists as far as signage is concerned. This endpoint was originally at a traffic circle next to downtown Concord that has since been replaced by Exit 14 with New Hampshire Route 9.

There are two mainline toll plazas on the turnpike, in Bedford and Hooksett. The Bedford mainline toll plaza, located between Exit 12 and I-293, replaced the Merrimack toll plaza (formerly located at what is now Exit 11) in the early 1990s. Ramp tolls also exist in Merrimack (at Exits 10, 11, and 12) and Hooksett (the on/off-ramps to I-93 Exit 11/N.H. Route 3-A). E-ZPass readers were installed in all toll locations in 2005. A "Welcome Center" exists in Nashua (just off Exit 6), and major rest areas combined with state-run liquor stores are located on either side of the highway in Hooksett just north of the mainline toll plaza, which is located on I-93 at Exit 11.

The proposed (but mostly unbuilt) Circumferential Highway around the east side of Nashua is defined as part of the turnpike. Henri A. Burque Highway, the surface road that U.S. Route 3 uses to get between exit 7 of the turnpike and the Daniel Webster Highway in northern Nashua, is also part of it.