Interstate 93 New Hampshire

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Interstate 93 New Hampshire
Interstate 93 travels just over 131 miles in the Granite State; around 2/3 of the highway's total distance. Serving as the main interstate route in New Hampshire, it connects nearly every major city and town in the state, including both the state capital, Concord, and its largest city, Manchester. Beyond Concord are the towns of Tilton, Plymouth, and Littleton.

Between the northern end of I-293 in Hooksett and the beginning of I-89 in Bow, I-93 also carries the northern end of the Everett Turnpike. There is one toll booth along this section, at Exit 11 in Hooksett; toll for passenger cars is currently $1 (75�� at the ramp toll booth). This is the only toll collected along the entire length of Interstate 93. I-93 in New Hampshire is also notable for having state liquor stores serve as rest areas, which are passed just after the toll plaza, traveling north. There are separate stores on both sides of the Interstate for travelers in each direction.

I-93 enters New Hampshire at Salem, where the current reconstruction of the Exit 1 ramps (leading to the Mall at Rockingham Park) along with the reduction of the freeway from 4 northbound lanes to only 2 tends to cause traffic backups. A rest area/welcome center is available on the northbound side of the freeway, directly before Exit 1. I-93 remains only 2 lanes wide in each direction for its first 18 miles, until the split with Interstate 293 and the junction with New Hampshire Route 101 add a third lane back to the freeway. I-93 and New Hampshire Route 101 run concurrently for about a mile before New Hampshire Route 101 heads directly east as its own freeway, serving Portsmouth and the Seacoast region. I-93 keeps three lanes of traffic until the junction with Interstate 89, when it reduces back to two, and remains a two-lane freeway through the rest of its journey northward.

It crosses the Merrimack River again before going through the state capital of Concord. In Concord, Interstate 393 heads directly east (co-signed with eastbound U.S. Route 4 and U.S. Route 202), providing another route to the Seacoast region. Westbound U.S. Route 4 joins I-93 and runs concurrently with it until Exit 17 for Penacook, about 5 miles further north, before exiting westward. Continuing north, I-93 traverses the Lake Winnipesaukee tourist region and makes its way north through the heart of the White Mountains Region. I-93 passes through Franconia Notch State Park as a Super-2 parkway, the only instance of a two-lane Interstate highway in the United States. This stretch carries a 45 mile per hour speed limit. For the trip through Franconia Notch, I-93 and U.S. Route 3 run concurrently.

Beyond Franconia Notch State Park, U.S. Route 3 heads northeastward through the Great North Woods region, while I-93 runs to the northwest. The final town along I-93 in New Hampshire is Littleton, served by three exits. Many motorist services are available at Exit 42. After passing through town, it crosses the Connecticut River into Vermont. The last exit along I-93 is exit 44 for Monroe, through which a rest area/welcome center is accessible to travelers on both sides of the highway.