Route 15 (Massachusetts)
Encyclopedia
Route 15 is a short, unsigned route in the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

, connecting Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...

's Route 15
Route 15 (Rhode Island)
-Route:Route 15 takes the following route through the State:*North Providence: ; US 44 to Pawtucket city line**Mineral Spring Avenue*Pawtucket: ; North Providence town line to Massachusetts State line at Brook Street...

 with Route 152 in Seekonk. At a length of just under a quarter mile (0.23 miles), it is the shortest numbered highway in the state.

Route description

The entire route is contained within the town of Seekonk, and is known as Brook Street.

Old Route 15

The number was formerly used for an extension of 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...

's Route 15
Route 15 (Connecticut)
Route 15 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Connecticut that runs from a connection with New York's Hutchinson River Parkway in Greenwich, Connecticut to its northern terminus intersecting with Interstate 84 in East Hartford, Connecticut...

, now Interstate 84. It connected the CT-15 from the state line in Holland
Holland, Massachusetts
-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water. Holland is bounded on the east by Sturbridge; on the south by Union, Connecticut; on the west by Wales; and on the north by Brimfield. Holland is equidistant...

 with U.S. Route 20 and Interstate 90 (Massachusetts Turnpike
Massachusetts Turnpike
The Massachusetts Turnpike is the easternmost stretch of Interstate 90. The Turnpike begins at the western border of Massachusetts in West Stockbridge connecting with the Berkshire Connector portion of the New York State Thruway...

) in Sturbridge
Sturbridge, Massachusetts
Sturbridge is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. It is home to Old Sturbridge Village living history museum and other sites of historical interest such as Tantiusques.The population was 9,268 at the 2010 census...

. Sturbridge's Route 15 changed alignments several times over the years, as 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...

 was upgraded to freeway standards (CT-15 used to run concurrently with I-84 to the state line, but was truncated in 1980 to its current terminus in East Hartford). Local lanes of the former Route 15 in Massachusetts are still in use today as Haynes Street, a road parallel to I-84 that ends at Main Street (Route 131
Massachusetts Route 131
Route 131 is a state highway in the U.S. states of Massachusetts and Connecticut. It serves the southwestern portion of the Worcester metropolitan area. It begins at Route 12 in the North Grosvenor Dale section of the town of Thompson in Connecticut and ends at U.S. Route 20 in the center of...

) near Town Hall.

This section of road is still referred to locally as "Route 15" and signed as "Olde Route 15". It is also recognized as Route 15 by Google Maps, Yahoo Maps, and Microsoft Live Maps. It was even shown on the Massachusetts official state map long after the route was decommissioned. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Route+15+sturbridge&sll=42.073316,-72.102671&sspn=0.031155,0.066261&ie=UTF8&ll=42.057323,-72.114859&spn=0.031163,0.066261&z=14http://maps.yahoo.com/#mvt=m&lat=42.070266&lon=-72.098791&zoom=16&q1=rt%2015%20sturbridge%20mahttp://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=42.070425~-72.099736&style=r&lvl=14&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&where1=rt%2015%20sturbridge%20ma&encType=1
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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