For its first 20 years, until Interstate 91 opened to the east, the Turnpike was the primary route from Hartford toward New Haven, and still sports some of the diners and hotels from that era.
Traffic continues to grow in the area, spurring discussion of improvements to the road.
Many who have driven the Turnpike, or remember the days when it was the only four-lane highway in the area, wonder why it was not built as an expressway. We explain the state's reasoning for building the Berlin Turnpike as is, and discuss other history and future plans as well. Although the Berlin Turnpike never charged a toll, its ancestor did two centuries ago. In October 1798, the Hartford and New Haven Turnpike Company was created, and the road opening in 1799 was one of the first turnpikes to eschew existing roads and be built on as straight a line as feasible. Leaving Hartford on Maple Street, the turnpike mostly followed today's US 5 through Meriden into New Haven, entering on Whitney Avenue.