The Plimoth Patuxet Highway, formerly the Plimoth Plantation Highway, is a two-lane divided freeway with plastic

stanchion A stanchion () is a sturdy upright fixture that provides support for some other object. It can be a permanent fixture. Types In architecture, stanchions are the upright iron bars in windows that pass through the eyes of the saddle bars or horiz ...

s posted on a rumbled asphalt median in

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

in the US state of

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 ...

. The highway was created in 1951 as a segment of Route 3 between the modern highway and its previous alignment. The current name for the roadway was designated by the state in 2023.

Route description

The highway begins at exit 12 off Route 3, a partial interchange which is accessible only from the southbound side from which there is a left exit. Motorists on Plimoth Patuxet Highway headed toward Route 3 can enter that highway northbound only. However, motorists can use exit 13 to reverse direction and travel southbound on Route 3. The highway proceeds east, serving

Plimoth Patuxet Plimoth Patuxet is a complex of living history museums in Plymouth, Massachusetts founded in 1947, formerly Plimoth Plantation. It replicates the original settlement of the Plymouth Colony established in the 17th century by the English colonis ...

, Plymouth Beach and the village of Chiltonville. The highway ends at a special intersection in White Horse Beach and Manomet at Route 3A.

History

The first segment of Route 3 opened up in 1951 from what is now exit 18 to exit 12 and used the Plimoth Patuxet Highway temporarily to detour around the old Route 3 in

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

and Plymouth, now renamed Route 3A, until 1957 when Route 3 south of exit 12 opened and assumed its current alignment. An act naming the spur Plimoth Plantation Highway was approved on April 3, 1969, 18 years after the highway had opened. That act references the highway as being exit 40, the old exit number before the

Massachusetts Highway Department The Massachusetts Highway Department (abbreviated MassHighway) was the highway department in the U.S. state of Massachusetts from 1991 until the formation of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) in 2009. The responsibilities ...

renumbered the exit in 1978. The highway was renamed again to Plimoth Patuxet Highway effective January 2, 2023.

Exit list

References

External links

{{Attached KML
Pilgrims Highway (MA 3)
on Bostonroads.com Roads in Massachusetts Two-lane freeways in the United States Transportation in Plymouth County, Massachusetts