New England Interstate Route 32 - History

History

New England Route 32 has had many major realignments particularly in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. In New Hampshire, the current route has actually no relation to the original New England route.

In 1932, Route 32 swapped places with Route 12 south of Norwich, Connecticut. The original route began in Groton instead of its current southern terminus in New London. In northern Connecticut, the alignment was also shifted west by several miles, entering Massachusetts at Monson instead of at Wales. The old alignment is now Route 19.

From Connecticut, the original New England route entered Wales, Massachusetts on what is now Route 19. It followed Route 19 into Brimfield, then west along current U.S. Route 20 until Palmer. The portion between Palmer and Athol more or less still follows the original route with only minor alignment changes. North of Athol, the old route went along current US 202 up to the New Hampshire state line.

In New Hampshire, the old New England Route was completely deleted sometime in the 1930s. The current alignment in New Hampshire was established later as a continuation of modern Route 32 from the Massachusetts line and is unrelated to the original route. The original route continued from the state line to Henniker along US 202, then along NH 114 to Bradford, and finally along NH 103 to its original Newport terminus west of Lake Sunapee at New England Route 10.