The Berlin Turnpike is a 4-lane/6-lane divided arterial road

Arterial road

An arterial road, or arterial thoroughfare, is a high-capacity urban road. The primary function of an arterial road is to deliver traffic from collector roads to freeways, and between urban centres at the highest level of service possible. As such, many arteries are limited-access roads, or feature...

 carrying U.S. Route 5

U.S. Route 5 in Connecticut

U.S. Route 5 , a north–south U.S. Highway that is generally paralleled by Interstate 91, begins at the city of New Haven in Connecticut and heads north through western Massachusetts and eastern Vermont to the international border with Canada...

 and Route 15 through the towns of Berlin

Berlin, Connecticut

Berlin is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 19,866 at the 2010 census. It was incorporated in 1785. The geographic center of Connecticut is located in the town. Berlin is residential and industrial, and served by the Amtrak station of the same name...

, Newington

Newington, Connecticut

Newington is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2000 census, it had a total population of 29,306. The Connecticut Department of Transportation has its headquarters in Newington....

, and Wethersfield

Wethersfield, Connecticut

Wethersfield is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. Many records from colonial times spell the name Weathersfield, while Native Americans called it Pyquag...

, Connecticut

Connecticut

Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The road begins at the Meriden

Meriden, Connecticut

Meriden is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 59,653.-History:...

-Berlin town line. The official length of the Berlin Turnpike is 11.02 miles (17.74 km) but the northernmost 1.04 miles (1.67 km) does not carry US 5 or Route 15. The northernmost section runs partly along Route 314

Connecticut Route 314

Route 314 is a state highway in central Connecticut running entirely within Wethersfield.-Route description:Route 314 begins at an interchange from US 5 and Route 15 in northwest Wethersfield. It briefly heads north as part of the Berlin Turnpike, then turns east, passing under US 5 and Route 15...

 for 0.66 miles (1.1 km), and then on State Road 543 for 0.38 mile (0.6115492 km) to the Hartford

Hartford, Connecticut

Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...

–Wethersfield

Wethersfield, Connecticut

Wethersfield is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. Many records from colonial times spell the name Weathersfield, while Native Americans called it Pyquag...

 town line, where it continues as a local road known as Maple Avenue.

Route description

The Berlin Turnpike connects the Wilbur Cross Parkway

Wilbur Cross Parkway

The Wilbur Cross Parkway is a limited access road in Connecticut, comprising the portion of Route 15 between Milford and Meriden. It is named after Wilbur Lucius Cross, a former governor of the state...

 with the Wilbur Cross Highway

Wilbur Cross Highway

The Wilbur Cross Highway is the designation for the portion of old Route 15 from Wethersfield in Connecticut, through Hartford and Manchester, to the Massachusetts Turnpike in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. The highway was built in the 1940s before the Interstate Highway era...

.

The main office of the Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT) is located on the Berlin Turnpike in Newington on land originally purchased for Interstate 291

Interstate 291 (Connecticut)

Interstate 291 is a short Interstate Highway in the state of Connecticut that starts at I-91 at its junction with Route 218 in Windsor and ends at I-84 in Manchester. It serves as a northeastern bypass of Hartford...

, which was subsequently cancelled.

The road was originally part of the Hartford and New Haven Turnpike

Hartford and New Haven Turnpike

The Hartford and New Haven Turnpike was a toll road that was built in 1798-1799 to connect the cities of New Haven and Hartford in the U.S. state of Connecticut. The turnpike was built along the principle of a straight line and connected the court houses of New Haven and Hartford in as straight a...

. The new road, and the new name, was officially dedicated between Hartford and Berlin on October 22, 1909.

The Berlin Turnpike is a popular road for shopping in the greater Hartford area; many national and regional retail chains, including Target

Target Corporation

Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...

, Stew Leonard's

Stew Leonard's

Stew Leonard's is chain of four supermarkets in Connecticut and New York which Ripley's Believe It or Not! deemed "The World's Largest Dairy", with Fortune Magazine listing Stew Leonard's as one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For"."Anyone who comes from Connecticut or thereabouts knows this...

, Best Buy

Best Buy

Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19% of the market. It also operates in Mexico, Canada & China. The company's subsidiaries include Geek Squad, CinemaNow, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada operates...

 and Sam's Club

Sam's Club

Sam's Club is a chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs owned and operated by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., founded in 1983 and named after Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. , the Sam's Club chain serves more than 47 million U.S. members...

 have outlets on the turnpike.

In 2011, a 525 page book entitled, "The Berlin Turnpike: A True Story of Human Trafficking in America," was written by author, Raymond Bechard. The book explains a federal trial that took place in Hartford, Connecticut during which it was revealed that two young women were "sold" from one man to another in a motel on the Berlin Turnpike. According to the book, there were over 1000 motel rooms on the Berlin Turnpike as of 2011.

List of major intersections

Town	Mile	Junction	Notes
Meriden Meriden, Connecticut Meriden is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 59,653.-History:...			Berlin Turnpike begins
Berlin Berlin, Connecticut Berlin is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 19,866 at the 2010 census. It was incorporated in 1785. The geographic center of Connecticut is located in the town. Berlin is residential and industrial, and served by the Amtrak station of the same name...			Full interchange
		Worthington Ridge Road (SR 572)
Newington Newington, Connecticut Newington is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2000 census, it had a total population of 29,306. The Connecticut Department of Transportation has its headquarters in Newington....
			Begin multiplex
			End multiplex
Wethersfield Wethersfield, Connecticut Wethersfield is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. Many records from colonial times spell the name Weathersfield, while Native Americans called it Pyquag...
		To Maple Avenue	Berlin Turnpike ends

Popularity of Turnpike

For many years, "Hot Rodders" of all types have converged on the Turnpike to "Run what you Brung", and have proved to be the bane of the local Law Enforement's existence. There have been numerous articles in local news outlets about the spate of Illegal street racing over the years that have detailed what has been transpiring on the Turnpike, and the various steps the local Law Enforcement was taking to curtail the issue. However, the long, straight roadway, which in some places has no access roads, has proven irresistible to some street racers.