Route 40 is a east–west

state route A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either Route number, numbered or maintained by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered ...

located in northeastern

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, entirely within Middlesex County. The short highway connects Groton and

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Colchester and Southend-on-Sea. It is located north-east of London ...

. Its western end is at an intersection with

Massachusetts Route 119 Route 119 is a northwest-southeast state highway in Massachusetts. Its western terminus is a continuation of New Hampshire Route 119 at the New Hampshire border and its eastern terminus is at Route 2 and Route 111 in Concord. It acts as a co ...

and

Massachusetts Route 225 Route 225 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The highway runs from Route 2A in Lunenburg in northeastern Worcester County east to Route 2 in Lexington. Route 225 serves the western Middlesex County towns of Shirley, ...

in Groton, and its eastern end is at Route 3A in North Chelmsford. The route has existed since the late 1940s.

U.S. Route 3 U.S. Route 3 (US 3) is a United States Numbered Highway running from Cambridge, Massachusetts, through New Hampshire, to the Canada–United States border near Third Connecticut Lake, where it connects to Quebec Route 257. Massachu ...

has an interchange with Route 40, at exit 33. __TOC__

Route description

Route 40 begins in the west near the center of Groton at an intersection with Main Street (Routes 119 and 225). The highway proceeds eastward out of the downtown area, passing through the northern part of the town of Westford. Most of the route winds through rather densely wooded areas, with several ponds located alongside or near the highway. The road continues into the Chelmsford neighborhood of North Chelmsford, where it interchanges with U.S. Route 3 at Exit 33. Route 40 continues another mile eastward, emerging from the woods before ending at an intersection with Route 3A in the center of North Chelmsford at Vinal Square, located just west of the

Merrimack River The Merrimack River (or Merrimac River, an occasional earlier spelling) is a river in the northeastern United States. It rises at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire, flows southward into M ...

Major intersections

References

* * (

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by Internet Archive, an American nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. Launched for public access in 2001, the service allows users to go "back in ...

archive, original site down) {{Portal bar, U.S. Roads, Geography, Massachusetts, United States 040 Transportation in Middlesex County, Massachusetts