U.S. Route 2 in Vermont - History

History

An improved road between the main settlements of Burlington and Montpelier was first established from old footpaths in 1805, when the 36-mile (58 km) Winooski Turnpike was chartered by the state of Vermont. The old turnpike road utilized the relatively flat banks of the Winooski River to connect the two major towns and opened to traffic several years after the company was chartered. The road ceased operating as a toll road several decades later in 1852, when the road became publicly-owned. The route of the old Winooski Turnpike between Burlington and Montpelier was later incorporated into the old Theodore Roosevelt International Highway. This cross-country auto trail, named in honor of recently-deceased ex-president and naturalist Theodore Roosevelt, was organized in February 1919 to connect Portland, Maine with Portland, Oregon. Within Vermont, the auto trail used what is now US 2 from Vermont Route 129 (VT 129) south of Alburgh center to VT 18 east of St. Johnsbury center.

Before being designated as US 2, the current alignment was part of several inter-state routes of the 1922 New England road marking system. From Danville eastward to the state line, the US 2 alignment was part of Route 15; it was part of Route 18 between Montpelier and Danville; it used Route 14 between Burlington and Montpelier; and it used Route 30 between Alburgh and Burlington. When the plans for the U.S. Highway System were first drawn up in 1925, US 2 began in Alburgh and was routed along the Roosevelt Highway from Alburgh to Montpelier. Both US 2 and the Roosevelt Highway connected Montpelier to St. Johnsbury; however, the Roosevelt Highway used a direct path along former Route 18 while US 2 was initially assigned to then-Route 25 (modern US 302) to Wells River, where it overlapped proposed US 5 north to St. Johnsbury. From St. Johnsbury, the Roosevelt Highway turned southeast towards Portland along modern VT 18 while US 2 continued east along former Route 15 to Bangor. No changes were made to US 2 in the final system plan approved on November 11, 1926. US 2 was relocated onto its modern alignment along the original Roosevelt Highway route between Montpelier and St. Johnsbury in the mid-1930s. The original alignment of US 2 became part of the newly-designated US 302.

Initially, Rouses Point, New York, and Alburgh, Vermont, were connected by way of a ferry across the Richelieu River. The ferry ran from the center of Rouses Point to Vermont's Windmill Point, where it connected to VT F-1, an east–west route linking Windmill Point to Alburgh. When US 2 was assigned, it was overlaid on the pre-existing VT F-1, following the route and the ferry to the New York state line, where US 2 initially ended. In 1937, a new tolled swing bridge across the Richelieu River opened, carrying an extended US 2 between US 11 in Rouses Point and Alburgh. The swing bridge was replaced with a toll-free permanent bridge on September 22, 1987.