End of US highway 3

View a map showing this route.

Photo credits: Dan Moraseski; me
Additional research: Chris Bianchi; Dan Moraseski

Approx. time period North terminus South terminus
1926-1928 Colebrook, NH Boston, MA
1928-1937 West Stewartstown, NH Boston, MA
1937-1939 Pittsburg, NH Boston, MA
1939-1940 Colebrook, NH Boston, MA
1940-present Connecticut Lakes, NH Boston, MA

US 3 was among the original routes of 1926. During the early years, its northern terminus was at some locations that don't make sense to me - if you have an explanation for any of these endpoints, please let me know!

When it was first commissioned, the north end of US 3 was at Colebrook. Why there? Good question. Dan points out that Colebrook was the north end of pre-1926 New England Interstate Route 6, so that may have something to do with it. But then, why did Route 6 end there? I've seen a 1925 USGS map which indicates that there was a road along the east bank of the Connecticut River north from Colebrook to Stewartstown. There was a bridge from there to Beecher Falls VT (as well as one connecting West Stewartstown to Canaan VT), and if you crossed the river at one of those points, you could follow its west bank all the way up to Pittsburg. So I don't know why route 3 didn't extend to one of those towns and then either to one of their nearby border crossings or else to Pittsburg. Maybe the roads north of Colebrook weren't in good enough condition? If the road along the east bank was being improved during this time, and if it was always the intention that US 3 would eventually run further north along the NH side of the river, then maybe Vermont didn't want to bother with temporarily signing the route in their state. At any rate, here's a photo from Colebrook:

me, Oct. 2004

All of these shots were taken looking north on US 3. Above, hwy. 145 to the right is a shortcut to Pittsburg. To the left is the bridge that crosses over to Vermont, so I assume this is right about where US 3 would've ended originally.

Two years later, the route was extended to West Stewartstown:

me, Oct. 2004

To the left, hwy. 114 crosses the river and passes through Canaan VT on its way to a Canadian port of entry.

If NH was improving the road northward, then it seems to me that the US 3 designation would've been extended to Stewartstown after the road had been improved to that point:

me, Oct. 2004

The road to the left becomes VT hwy. 253 after crossing the river at Beecher Falls (motorists are cautioned to use one of these Vermont entries to Canada if it's after midnight, because the New Hampshire [US 3] entry is closed from then until 8 am). However, I don't have any evidence that this was ever an endpoint of US 3...

...instead, it appears that the north end leapfrogged up to Pittsburg in 1937:

me, Oct. 2004

Hard to say exactly where US 3 would've ended, but that photo shows the junction with hwy. 145, which goes to the right.

I've read it was the next year (1938) when New Hampshire's lone border crossing first opened. At the time, at least the northernmost 12 miles were gravel, and in winter the road was not plowed north of Second Connecticut Lake. Perhaps it was for these reasons that the US 3 designation was not immediately extended north to the border crossing. Instead, in 1939 - again for reasons unknown to me - the route was apparently truncated back to Colebrook for one year. It wasn't until 1940 that US 3 was extended north through Connecticut Lakes State Forest to the Canada border, where its north endpoint has remained ever since - you can view photos from there on this page.

The south end of US 3 is in Boston MA. Historically, when US 1 ran along surface streets through town, the US 3 designation went south from Memorial Drive, over the Boston University Bridge, to end at its junction with US 20. The map below illustrates historic US routes in this part of Boston. The key to my highlights are as follows:
US 1
US 3
US 20

Moraseski

The photo below is looking east on Memorial at the last southbound US 3 marker (just past JFK):

Moraseski, Oct. 2001

Now, don't get all excited: that's just an imitation vintage marker. Apparently it was an experiment MassDoT tried in the early 1990s. The US 3 designation continues for another mile, and then encounters this interchange at the B.U. Bridge:

Moraseski, 2000

No signage going this direction, but according to the official state road inventory, eastbound MA 2 exits here and goes right, while southbound US 3 continues straight ahead. But first, let's exit and follow historic US 3 to its original terminus. As late as 2000, when you exited from eastbound Memorial and dropped down to Brookline/B.U. Bridge, you saw this sign:

Moraseski, 2000

Dan reports that sign was gone by 2001. Anyway, the white and black cars are on what used to be southbound US 3 as well. Just ahead, where they turn right to go over the B.U. Bridge, that was where US 3 traffic joined with US 1. After they cross the bridge, they'll come to the intersection shown below:

Moraseski, 2000

That's looking south on B.U. Bridge at Commonwealth, which used to be US 20. This is where US 3 originally ended. Southbound US 1 continued ahead just through the intersection, and then angled left on Mountfort Street. I-90 whizzes underneath this intersection now. The photo below is looking east on Commonwealth:

EveryScape, 2008

US 3 once began to the left on B.U. Bridge. Now, back to current southbound US 3, heading east from B.U. Bridge on Memorial: the next trailblazer you see in that direction is shown below:

Moraseski, 2003

That sign gives the impression that US 3 actually ends back at the B.U. Bridge rotary. However, Dan has carefully checked the road inventory, and he's come to the conclusion that it's actually the next interchange to the east (Massachusetts Avenue, or the Harvard Bridge) that marks the point where US 3 ends and MA 3 begins:

EveryScape, 2008

That's looking east on Memorial at Massachusetts - you can see the Harvard Bridge on the right side of the photo. The photo below is looking north on the Bridge:

EveryScape, 2008

US 3 begins to the left on Memorial. There was at least one sign that backed up the theory that US 3 begins here...

Moraseski, Sep. 2001

...but I think that sign has changed now, and I'm not sure whether the updated version still has a reference to US 3. That was at the north end of the Harvard Bridge - at the time, if you wanted to go left on Memorial, you had to first turn right, and then make a U-turn. That no longer appears to be the case, which would explain why the sign was changed. Anyway, if you head west from there on Memorial, the confirming assembly has signs for MA 2 / MA 3 (which look like standard DoT signs), along with a smaller US 3 shield below (which looks like it may be homemade). The first "standard" northbound US 3 reassurance marker doesn't appear until after you've passed the B.U. Bridge:

Moraseski, Sep. 2002

Incidentally, don't be confused: I'm told there are error US 3 signs (referring to what's actually MA 3) at least as far south as Kingston.