There are 227 "secret" routes in Connecticut: highways with numbers above 400.

"Secret" is just an unofficial term for unsignposted state roads and state service roads. Many of these are small auxiliary roads, or even long exit ramps.

The general public should never hear about secret routes, but they sometimes show up on maps, and a few road signs have even gone up.

This page discusses some of the more interesting routes in the 600s. These routes are mainly in DOT District 2: eastern Connecticut.

See also: selected 400's, selected 500's, selected 700's, selected 800's, selected 900's, or the complete list (400-1001).

603

SR 603 is Day Hill Road and Boston Hill Road in Hebron and Andover. I recommend making this part of a new Route 88, for proximity to routes 85 and 87.

661

This short four-lane route crosses the Willimantic River on the Frog Bridge (officially called the "Thread City Crossing"). The bridge opened in September 2000. Decorative elements include spools of thread – an homage to Willimantic's industrial past as a leading thread manufacturer – and 11-foot frogs... for that story, see the link.

664

Snake Meadow Road, one of the longer "secret" routes, is one of the more common routes that are numbered on public maps by mistake. Drivers looking for road signs to match "Route 664" on the map will be disappointed.

693
  • Summary The Montville Connector
  • Length 1.41 miles
  • From Route 32, Waterford
  • To I-395, Montville

The four-lane Montville Connector freeway is part of the primary route from New London to Norwich; as I-395 only has a partial interchange at I-95 in Waterford, motorists use Route 32 and SR 693 to make the missing movements.

The SR 693/I-395 interchange is also incomplete, allowing only 32 north to 395 north and 395 south to 32 south. The state is looking into adding more ramps for other directions, and once looked at extending the freeway across the Thames River to Route 12.

In 1963 and 1964, the Highway Department kept a short-lived numbering convention of routes in the 990s as Connecticut Turnpike connectors. The Montville Connector was SR 993 before being renumbered to SR 693 in 1964.

In some articles, SR 693 was also called the Route 32 Connector.

693 Sources

695
  • Summary The End of the Road (old Connecticut Turnpike)
  • Length 4.49 miles
  • From I-395, Plainfield
  • To US 6, Killingly

This four-lane freeway, leading from I-395 to US 6 at the Rhode Island state line, is the easternmost segment of the old Connecticut Turnpike. It has two interchanges of its own. As the I-395/US 6 interchange is not complete, SR 695 is used for 395/6 traffic between the east and south.

Not I-695

Its number makes SR 695 seem chosen because it's a present-day spur from I-395; however, that is only a coincidence. The SR 695 number predates I-395 by 19 years. In 1963, it was designated SR 995, as part of a series of Turnpike segments and spurs numbered in the 990s. In 1964, it was renumbered to SR 695, to match the other 600s numbers in its district. I-395 was designated as a replacement of state Route 52 in 1983.

Nevertheless, in January 2000 WFSB-TV (Ch. 3, Hartford) managed to confuse the issue. On a map graphic showing the scene of an accident on SR 695, the station used an I-695 marker.

From 1968 to 1984, SR 695 was envisioned as part of the proposed I-84 route to Providence.

695 Quotes

"There are two exits on CT 695. The eastbound one is unnumbered and unsigned, it appears to be a frontage road of some sort but it is marked by a square "EXIT" sign and nothing more. The westbound one is actually numbered exit 90, and exits at a local road, the name of which I don't recall at the moment. This is interesting because there are four exit 90's in Connecticut: I-95, I-395, CT 15 near the Charter Oak Bridge, and the one on CT 695." - Jon Persky

The westbound exit is Squaw Rock Road; the eastbound, Ross Road.

695 Sources

Kivela, Matt. "Re: Dirt road with a freeway overpass." Online posting. 4 May 2002. <news:misc.transport.road>.