Route 302 is a state highway in western

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

running from

Bethel Bethel (, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; ; ) was an ancient Israelite city and sacred space that is frequently mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Bet ...

to Newtown.

Route description

Route 302 begins at an intersection with Route 53 in Bethel center and heads generally east across the town to Newtown, intersecting the northern end of Route 58 during its path. In Newtown, it heads southeast and northeast to end at an intersection with Route 25 in the borough of Newtown. The section of Route 302 in Newtown is designated the Second Company Governor’s Horse Guard Memorial Highway.

History

In the 1920s, the road connecting

center and Newtown borough was designated as State Highway 161 between Bethel and the Newtown Turnpike (modern Key Rock Road), and as part of State Highway 158 (the designation for the Newtown Turnpike) the rest of the way to Newtown borough. In the 1932 state highway renumbering, Route 34, a continuous

New Haven New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...

to Danbury route, was established. The original Route 34 continued west beyond the current western end of modern Route 34 by overlapping with

US 6 U.S. Route 6 (US 6) or U.S. Highway 6 (US 6), also called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, honoring the Grand Army of the Republic, American Civil War veterans association, is a main route of the United States Numbere ...

into Newtown borough, then using modern Route 302 to Bethel and modern Route 53 to downtown Danbury. In 1935, a new U.S. Route,

US 202 U.S. Route 202 (US 202) is a spur route of US 2. It follows a northeasterly and southwesterly direction stretching from Delaware in the south to Maine in the north and traveling through the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ne ...

, was established in Connecticut. The new US 202 went between Danbury and Newtown via Bethel along part of modern Route 53 and the entire length of modern Route 302. Route 34 was cut back to end in the village of Sandy Hook as it does today. On May 1, 1974, US 202 was relocated to a completely new alignment in northwestern Connecticut. The Bethel to Newtown segment of old US 202 was redesignated as Route 302. The Danbury to Bethel segment was assigned as a northward extension of Route 53.Connecticut Routes, Route 302
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Junction list

References

{{Portal, Connecticut 302 Transportation in Fairfield County, Connecticut U.S. Route 202