Interstate 89

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I-93 / Everett Turnpike / NH 3A in Bow, NH
Major intersections	I-91 in White River Junction, VT I-189 in South Burlington, VT
North end	R-133 at Canada–United States border near Highgate Springs, VT
Location
Country	United States
States	New Hampshire, Vermont
Counties	NH: Merrimack, Sullivan, Grafton VT: Windsor, Orange, Washington, Chittenden, Franklin
Highway system
Interstate Highway System Main Auxiliary Suffixed Business Future
New Hampshire Highway System Interstate US State Turnpikes
State highways in Vermont
← I-93 ← VT 78 VT → I-91

Interstate 89 (I-89) is an

I-89 connects smaller cities and rural areas within New Hampshire and Vermont, and maintains two lanes of traffic in each direction throughout the route. Unlike its neighboring Interstates, it does not intersect any even-numbered Interstates along its route. It does, however, parallel (and intersect multiple times with) portions of three US Routes: US Route 4 (US 4) from Enfield, New Hampshire, to Hartford, Vermont; US 2 from Montpelier to Colchester, Vermont; and US 7 from Burlington to the Canadian border. US 7 and US 2 overlap each other between Burlington and Colchester.

In Chittenden County, Vermont, I-189 begins at exit 13 in South Burlington. The Champlain Parkway, which will be one travel lane in each direction and have at-grade crossings, is being constructed between the current terminus of I-189 at US 7 and Burlington's South End as a link toward downtown Burlington.^[2] I-189 is the only auxiliary route of I-89.

Route description

New Hampshire

I-89 runs for about 61 miles (98 km) in the state of New Hampshire and is the major freeway corridor through the western part of the state. Despite being signed as a north–south freeway, its first eight miles (13 km) actually run east–west before shifting to the northwest. The two major population centers along I-89's length in New Hampshire are Concord, at its southern terminus, and Lebanon, on the Vermont state line. Mileage signs along I-89 in each direction consistently list one of the two cities. Also located along I-89 in New Hampshire are the towns of Grantham, New London, and Warner.

Starting at an interchange with I-93 and New Hampshire Route 3A (NH 3A) in the town of Bow, just south of the New Hampshire capital city of Concord, the highway runs a northwest path through the Dartmouth–Lake Sunapee Region. One exit directly serves Concord (exit 2) before the highway enters the neighboring town of Hopkinton. East–west NH 11 joins I-89 at exit 11 and runs concurrently with it for about three miles (4.8 km) before departing at exit 12. At exit 13 in Grantham, NH 10 enters I-89, and the pair of highways form another concurrency, this one for about 15 miles (24 km).

Southeast of Lebanon, signs for exit 15 display the name "Montcalm", while exit 16 directs travelers to "Purmort". Neither place name existed at the time of construction of the Interstate. Exits 15 and 16 were built to access portions of the town of

The highway continues northwest, passing through Lebanon, in which the

I-89 is one of Vermont's most important roads, as it is the only Interstate Highway to directly serve both Vermont's capital city (

Crossing the Connecticut River into Vermont, I-89 continues the northwesterly direction it carried in New Hampshire. The Interstate intersects I-91 at a previously unnumbered interchange (now exit 1) immediately upon entering Vermont. Shortly afterward, another interchange with US 4 occurs. The highway begins to enter the scenic rolling hills of Vermont, turning almost due northward about 20 miles (32 km) from the New Hampshire state line, and continues through the high country of central Vermont. The Interstate passes through the towns of Sharon, Royalton, Bethel, Randolph, Brookfield, and Williamstown before reaching the "twin cities" of Barre and Montpelier in the middle of Vermont. The Interstate's highest point was said to be in the town of Brookfield, although the sign that made the declaration was taken down in the late 1990s.

Another directional shift, again to the northwest, occurs while passing the interchange for Montpelier. For the next 40 miles (64 km), I-89's path is not so much chosen as it is logical: paralleling the Winooski River and US 2, the highway cuts through the section of the Appalachian Mountains known as the Green Mountains, and is surrounded by peaks of over 4,000 feet (1,200 m): Camel's Hump to the south and Mount Mansfield to the north. US 2 crosses the Interstate frequently, and has several interchanges with it, en route to Burlington.

I-89 was unique due to one instance of its signage. Between (Vermont) exits 9 and 10, a sign showing the distance to the next control cities in each direction was completely in metric. While there are many instances of signs being in both miles and kilometers, this was the only case of solely metric in the entire Interstate System.^[4] Both signs were replaced in 2010 and show distances in miles only. (I-19 in Arizona used to be the other "only signed in metric" Interstate in the US, but has been changed over in recent years as the last two kilometers (1.2 mi) have been changed.) Speed limit signs have always been posted in miles per hour.

After exit 11 in

I-89 was originally supposed to be a directly north–south route from I-95 in Norwalk, Connecticut, to its current northern terminus at the Canada–United States border. The route shifted after opposition came from residents and local lawmakers in interior New England who did not want an Interstate running through their countryside and towns. One major problem that was a big part in sinking the project was the fact that the highway would have to go through the Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont.^[8] Parts of the Interstate were built in Connecticut, between Norwalk and Wilton and from Brookfield to Danbury, a short bypass around Lenox, Massachusetts, and in southern Vermont between Bennington and Manchester and are currently designated as US 7. The state of Connecticut had plans to extend the Norwalk segment to meet with the Danbury segment but has instead opted to widen portions of the existing road to four lanes.^[9] There has always been talk of building the original route of I-89, as it would bring economic development to cities like Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and Bennington, Vermont, and connect parts of the interior Northeast to New York City, but nothing has ever been formally proposed since the original proposal in the 1950s.^{[who said this?]}

Other routes between Boston and Montreal

The current route of I-89 is the main artery between Boston and Montreal, two large metropolitan areas in the US and Canada, respectively. Before I-89 was built, there was no limited-access route between the two cities. The route between the two cities is not complete, however, as Autoroute 35 in Quebec still needs to be extended south of its current terminus to connect to I-89 at the Canada–United States border. In 2019, it was announced that the highway would be complete by 2023,^[10] As of July 2022^[update], grading of the right of way between the existing terminus at exit 15 to Chemin Champlain is in progress.

Future

Vermont and New Hampshire are working together to reconstruct the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge over the

The Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) has released plans to build a diverging diamond interchange along I-89 at exit 16 (milepost exit 91; US 2/US 7) in Colchester, the first interchange of its kind in the state. Construction was expected to start in early 2023 and be completed in late 2025.^[13][14] However, phase I of construction began earlier than originally planned in winter 2022. Phase I work will relocate utilities, replace waterlines, and remove ledges, along with additional work on retaining walls and drainage. Working on the diverging diamond itself is expected to begin in Fall 2024 once bidding and a contract let has been made. However, its completion has now been pushed back to Summer 2026.^[15][16]

Exit list

New Hampshire uses sequential exit numbering, with the interchange with I-93 in Concord being unnumbered. In 2020, Vermont added "milepoint exit" numbers to existing signs, essentially marking each interchange with two exit numbers (except the I-91 interchange, which was previously unnumbered).^[17]

State	County	Location[18][19]	mi[18][20][19]	km	Old exit	New exit	Destinations	Notes
At-grade intersection
		–	I-393 east / US 4 – Concord, Portsmouth, Manchester, Boston
	0.223	0.359		1	Logging Hill Road – Bow
	Concord	2.127	3.423		2	NH 13 (Clinton Street) – Concord
		3.848	6.193		3	Stickney Hill Road	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	US 202 / NH 9 to NH 103 – Hopkinton	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		8.533	13.733		5	US 202 / NH 9 – Henniker, Keene, Hopkinton	Northbound exit only serves US 202 / NH 9 west
		10.207	16.427		6	NH 127 – Contoocook, West Hopkinton
	Davisville, Contoocook
		16.788	27.018		8	NH 103 – Warner	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		19.930	32.074		9	NH 103 – Warner, Bradford	Also serves Newport and Claremont
	Sutton	26.871	43.245		10	North Road to NH 114 – Sutton
	New London	30.918	49.758		11	NH 11 east (King Hill Road) – New London	Southern terminus of NH 11 concurrency
		34.593	55.672		12	NH 103A – New London, Sunapee	Northern terminus of NH 11 concurrency
	Sullivan	Sunapee	37.023	59.583		12A	To NH 114 – Georges Mills, Springfield	To NH 11
		Grantham	43.040	69.266		13	NH 10 south – Grantham, Croydon	Southern terminus of NH 10 concurrency
			48.020	77.281		14	North Grantham	Via Old Route 10; southbound exit and northbound entrance
	Grafton	Enfield	50.376	81.072		15	Smith Pond Road / Old Route 10 – Montcalm
			51.799	83.362		16	Methodist Hill Road / Eastman Hill Road – Purmort	To Whaleback Mountain Road
		NH 4A – Enfield, Canaan	Former eastern terminus of I-89 Business Also serves Enfield Shaker Museum and Mascoma Lake
			56.018	90.152		18	Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
			58.300	93.825		19	US 4 / NH 10 north – West Lebanon, Hanover	Northern terminus of concurrency with NH 10; Former western terminus of I-89 Business
			60.331	97.093		20	NH 12A – West Lebanon, Claremont	Also serves Plainfield and Lebanon Municipal Airport
Connecticut River			60.864 0.000	97.951 0.000	Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge
Vermont	Windsor	Hartford	0.570	0.917	-	1	I-91 – White River Junction, Brattleboro	Signed as exits 1A-1B northbound; exits 10A and 10B (69A-69B) on I-91
		Quechee	3.930	6.325	1	3	US 4 – Woodstock, Rutland	Rutland only appears on northbound signage, also serves Quechee and Killington
		Sharon	13.420	21.597	2	13	VT 132 to VT 14 – Sharon, South Royalton
		Vermont Law School
	Orange	Randolph	30.900	49.729	4	30	VT 66 to VT 12 – Randolph
		Williamstown	42.950	69.121	5	42	VT 64 to VT 12 / VT 14 – Northfield, Williamstown	Also serves Brookfield and Norwich University
	Washington	Berlin	46.920	75.510	6	47	VT 63 east to VT 14 – South Barre, Barre	Western terminus of VT 63
			50.290	80.934	7	50	VT 62 east to US 302 – Berlin, Barre	Western terminus of VT 62; also serves Edward F. Knapp State Airport
		Montpelier	52.940	85.199	8	52	US 2 to VT 12 – Montpelier, St. Johnsbury	St. Johnsbury and VT 12 only appear on southbound signage
		VT 100B – Middlesex, Moretown	Also serves Waitsfield, Warren, and Mad River Byway
		Waterbury	63.760	102.612	10	63	VT 100 to US 2 – Waterbury, Stowe	Also serves Waitsfield and Warren
	Chittenden	Richmond	78.410	126.189	11	78	US 2 to VT 117 – Richmond, Williston, Bolton
		Burlington International Airport, Vermont Technical College, Hinesburg and Bristol
		South Burlington	87.490	140.802	13	87	I-189 west to US 7 – Burlington, Shelburne, Rutland	Eastern terminus of I-189; also serves Vergennes and Middlebury
			88.730	142.797	14	88	Burlington International Airport, University of Vermont, and Champlain College
		Winooski	90.480	145.613	15	90	VT 15 – Winooski, Essex Junction	Northbound exit and southbound entrance; serves Saint Michael's College, Community College of Vermont
		Colchester	91.490	147.239	16	91	US 2 / US 7 to VT 15 – Winooski, Colchester	Also serves Malletts Bay, Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, and Essex Junction; VT 15 only appears on southbound signage; interchange currently under construction to become diverging diamond interchange[21]
			97.870	157.506	17	97	New York State via ferry or bridge
	Georgia Center, Fairfax, Milton
		Enosburg and Richford
			117.630	189.307	20	117	US 7 / VT 207 – St. Albans
		New York State
		Highgate	129.830	208.941	22	129	US 7 south – Highgate Springs	Northern terminus of US 7
			130.254	209.623	–	–	R-133 north to A-35 – Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Chambly, Montréal	Continuation into Quebec, Canada; future connection with A-35
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access

Related routes

• I-89 Business (I-89 Bus.) was looped through the city of Lebanon, New Hampshire, along US 4.
• I-189 is a connector between US 7 and I-89 in South Burlington, Vermont.
• I-289 was slated to go around Burlington, but it was never completed. The lone completed section of the highway is signed as VT 289
  .

• 
  U.S. Roads portal
• New Hampshire portal

References

External links

• Media related to Interstate 89 at Wikimedia Commons