New Hampshire Route 16 Totally Explained

Everything about New Hampshire Route 16 totally explained

New Hampshire Route 16 (abbreviated NH 16) is a 149.75 mile long north–south highway in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. Much of its length is close to the border with Maine. NH 16 is the main route from the Seacoast region north to the Lakes Region and the White Mountains. The section from Portsmouth to Milton is a controlled-access toll highway known as the Spaulding Turnpike. Between the Portsmouth Circle and Dover Point, US 4 is also routed along the Turnpike. The northern section of Route 16 is called the White Mountain Highway.
The southern terminus of Route 16 is at the Portsmouth Circle, intersecting with Interstate 95 and the US 1 Bypass. The northern terminus is at the Maine state line in Wentworth's Location, where it becomes Maine State Route 16.
There are three secondary state routes related to Route 16. Two loops from NH 16 are designated as New Hampshire Route 16A, and the northern NH 16A connects to both ends of the New Hampshire Route 16B loop.

Route description

Route 16 begins in Portsmouth at the western exit from the Portsmouth Circle, where the Spaulding Turnpike also begins, and US 4 reaches its eastern terminus. The US 4/NH 16/Spaulding Turnpike concurrency leaves the circle as two lanes. A short distance north, the right lane leaves as local traffic, and through traffic merges down to one lane which then merges with two lanes of traffic from I-95 North to become a three lane freeway. The road then travels north through Newington past the former Pease AFB (now the Pease Tradeport), then merges from three to two lanes before turning northwest to cross the Little Bay Bridge over the confluence of Great Bay and the Piscataqua River. North of the bridge, US 4 leaves NH 16 and travels west towards Concord.
   Shortly after the US 4 interchange is the Dover toll plaza, with a toll of 50¢ for passenger cars in either direction. The road continues north, passing to the west of the downtown areas of Dover, Somersworth, and Rochester, known locally as the "tri-city area". After the Rochester tolls, also 50¢, the road merges down to a super two highway, becoming an undivided two lane road, but retaining limited access. US 202 joins the concurrency for a short distance in Rochester on its way to Maine. Two exits later, NH 11 joins the concurrency, entering eastbound with traffic from the southern Lake Winnipesaukee area, and leaves NH 16 along with US 202 at the next exit. Traveling north into Milton, the Spaulding Turnpike ends at an intersection that marks the northern terminus of NH 125. Route 16 continues north, no longer a limited access road, and now with the moniker of the White Mountain Highway.
   From Milton, NH 16 continues to roughly parallel the Maine border. In Wakefield, the road takes a turn to the northwest heading towards Ossipee. Route 16 turns back to a northerly heading near Tamworth, then makes a turn eastward in Albany to reach Conway. Route 16 turns north again in Conway, entering the region known as the Mount Washington valley, and begins a concurrency with US 302 between the center of Conway and the village of North Conway. North of North Conway, in Bartlett, the southern Route 16A loop departs and rejoins NH 16/US 302 before the road makes a westward hook.
   In Glen, Route 16 turns north from US 302 and heads toward Jackson, where the northern NH 16A loop is located, as well as NH 16B, which is a loop that begins and ends at NH 16A. Continuing north, NH 16 passes through Pinkham Notch, to the east of Mount Washington, New Hampshire's highest peak, and intersecting with the base of the Mount Washington Auto Road. Route 16 meets US 2 in Gorham, sharing a short concurrency along Gorham's Main Street. Leaving US 2, Route 16 continues north along the Androscoggin River to the city of Berlin, and then turns northeast toward the town of Errol. From Errol NH 16 continues northeast to Wentworth's Location and the Maine border. After crossing the border the road becomes ME 16 and heads east toward Rangeley.

Exit list

See the Spaulding Turnpike article for a list of exits along the controlled access portion of Route 16.

History

From 1922 until 1926, most of the original surface alignment of Route 16, from Portsmouth to the intersection with Route 26 in Errol, was known as New England Interstate Route 16, the "East Side Road". In 1926, the New England Routes were superseded by the system of United States Numbered Highways, and many of the New England Routes, including Route 16, became state highways with the same number.
Route 16 used to serve as a non-tolled alternative to the Spaulding Turnpike between Dover and Rochester. In the early 1990s, NHDOT rerouted Route 16 onto the turnpike as a concurrency for the full length of the turnpike. Route 16's old routing is now made up of several different roads. After crossing the bridge from Newington to Dover, the old NH 16 alignment traveled along Dover Point Road, an unnumbered city road, into downtown Dover to an intersection with NH 108, where that route used to end. Route 108 was extended along Dover's Central Ave. and further north into Rochester to the present end of NH 108 at NH 125 (map

). From there, Route 125 was extended along Route 16's former route north to the end of the Spaulding Turnpike in Milton, and NH 125 now carries the White Mountain Highway designation between Rochester and Milton (map

).
The Conway Bypass is a proposed re-routing of Route 16 around Conway and North Conway. While preliminary work has been done, the bypass is still in planning stages.

Further Information

Get more info on 'New Hampshire Route 16'.

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