and NH 16/US 4, NH 16/US 202

When NH forgets to use an LGS for multiplex signage, it has to scramble to come up with something similar - a green background shield!


A more typical example of NH LGS route signage.
The Spaulding Turnpike is, for its first few miles, a divided highway carrying US 4 and NH 16. Once US 4 breaks westward, NH 16 becomes a toll freeway that winds its way northward near the Maine border for many miles, devolving to a two-lane freeway at Exit 13 and then ultimately to a surface road. Given that NH has recently filled in the second roadbed over a large portion of NH 101's super-2, it's very possible that NH 16 will be next in line for a widening, although there are no signs of this yet.


The first two assemblies on US 4/NH 16 coming out of the Portsmouth Circle. Note in the first picture that US 4 is glommed together with NH 16 under "NORTH", when in fact it is very much WEST. Also, the second sign (the BRADY DR.) is quite old and definitely had more on it than it does now. Also note that on the overhead signage, the Spaulding shields are reverse-colored.


SB approaching and then inside the Circle, at the end of NH 16/US 4. A simple shield assembly would have been just fine.


NH 16 and US 4 cross Little Bay, north of Portsmouth, and to the west is the old pre-freeway General Sullivan Bridge.


In 2013, construction was underway on a new SB/EB four-lane bridge for NH 16/US 4. The original two-lane freeway bridge was built in 1966, carrying NB traffic while the General Sullivan ran SB. In 1984, the freeway was dualized on its current alignment and the Sullivan was taken out of service, and suddenly the 1966 bridge ran SB instead of NB. That condition is what you see here, with narrow lanes and no passing allowed. Following construction of the new bridge, both directions will be moved there to rehab the combined 1966/1984 bridge to become a refurbished NB four-lane span, again flipping the 1966 bridge's direction.


Under the overpass you saw being constructed in the last SB photo, Shattuck Way EB.


The other (NB) side of construction at Shattuck Way.


Finally, here's the view north from the General Sullivan Bridge at the four new SB lanes.


Another example of a NH Grooved Shoulder sign.


Dual-unit signage is the new freeway standard in NH, here on NH 16 NB past the US 4 split.


Approaching the Rochester tolls, NB. Before this, I've never seen signage detailing where cars should go and how much they should pay that dates this far back. After this, NH 16 is a free bypass of Rochester, and then reverts to tolled status once all the other routes (i.e. US 202 and NH 11) are done freeloading.


A NB run through the Rochester bypass, starting with a couple of button-copy gore signs within a few hundred feet of each other. The toll portions of the highway generally have new signage (except for the Rochester tolls, apparently). The square NH 125 and 11 shields are quite ancient; the white-background Man in the Mountain that you'll see on the SB side below is now considered very old, and that came after.


The opposite-color NH 125 shield is pasted over an NH 16 shield.
But I thought the Spaulding was NH 16!
And right you are, Jimmy. But many years ago, before the Turnpike was even built, NH 16 followed that winding two-lane road through all the villages, and when the new road came in, it was just the Turnpike for many years, not any route number at all. Finally, NH moved 16 over.


Returning SB, including black-background US 202 shields à la New Jersey.


More button copy at the base of the SB Exit 12 ramp; there is also button-copy signage in either direction on NH 125 at this interchange.


A peeling shield and a patch job at the bottom of the NB Exit 17 ramp. This sign has seen better days, but I'd rather the old 125 shield have been left in place to ogle.

Onto the General Sullivan Bridge
Onto US 4 alone
Onto US 202 alone
Back to NH 16 main page

Onto Bypass US 1
Exit 7 to NH 108
Exit 12 (or 17) to NH 125
Exit 15 to NH 11
Spaulding Tpk. (NH 16) on Steve Anderson's bostonroads.com
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