Route 63 is a

state highway 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 ...

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 ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, running from Route 116 in Amherst north to the

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

state line in Northfield, where it continues as

New Hampshire Route 63 New Hampshire Route 63 is a north–south state highway in Cheshire County in southwestern New Hampshire. It runs from Winchester to Westmoreland. The southern terminus is in Winchester at the Massachusetts state line, where the road continue ...

. Along the way, it intersects several major highways, including Route 10 in Northfield.

Route description

Route 63 begins at Route 116 at the north end of the

UMass Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the Ma ...

campus. It heads eastward for a third of a mile before turning onto Sunderland Road (the old alignment of Route 116) for fifty yards, before turning onto Montague Road. Montague Road passes through the western side of the town of Leverett, crossing the New England Central Railroad tracks before entering

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

for a short distance, crossing the tracks again before entering Montague. It meets the northern end of Route 47 south of Montague Center before passing Lake Pleasant and crossing the tracks twice more before crossing the

Millers River The Millers River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 river in northern Massachusetts, originating in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, Ashburnham and joining ...

at Millers Falls, entering the town of Erving. In Erving, Route 63 passes under Route 2 (the

Mohawk Trail The Mohawk Trail began as a Native American trade route which connected Atlantic tribes with tribes in Upstate New York and beyond. It followed the Millers River, Deerfield River and crossed the Hoosac Range, in the area that is now northwestern ...

) without direct access between the two. Signage on both roads directs traffic along Prospect Street (signed as "To 2 East" and "To 63 South") and along Forest Street (signed as "To 2 East" and "To 63 North"). Route 63 then heads north into Northfield, passing Northfield Mountain. It joins Route 10 (just east of Bennett's Meadow Bridge over the

Connecticut River The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges into Long Isl ...

) for just under , before splitting just south of the

state line. It shortly turns northwestward before entering the town of Hinsdale and becoming

.''Official Arrow Street Atlas: Western Massachusetts.'' South Easton, MA: Arrow Map, Inc., 1998.

History

Route 63 was defined by 1929, running from Route 116 in

north along current Route 47 into Montague, and then along Sunderland Road, Turners Falls Road and Montague Road towards Turners Falls. South of Turners Falls, it turned east and merged with Route 2 (later Route 2A), which it took to Millers Falls. There it turned north onto its present alignment, ending at Route 10 in Northfield. Ca. 1939, Route 63 was extended south from Sunderland along present Route 47, ending at Route 116 in South Hadley. Around the same time, it was shifted to its current alignment from south of Montague center (where Route 47 now cuts over to Route 63) north to Millers Falls. Finally, also around 1939,

New Hampshire Route 10 New Hampshire Route 10 is a north–south state highway in western New Hampshire, United States. Its southern terminus is in Winchester at the Massachusetts state line, where it continues south as Massachusetts Route 10. Administratively, the ...

was shifted onto a shorter route near the state line, resulting in a different crossing of the state line. The former Route 10 became

, and Route 63 was extended north concurrent with Route 10, splitting near the state line along old Route 10. In the late 1940s, Route 63 was shifted east from south of Montague center south to a new terminus at Route 116 in Amherst; the old route became Route 47. Finally, a new alignment of Route 116 west of Amherst center was built in 1958, and Route 63 was extended slightly west at its south end to the bypass.

Major intersections

References

{{Reflist 063