is a state-maintained highway in southern New Hampshire extending from Keene to Hampton Beach . It is the major east-west highway in the southern portion of the state. The western terminus of NH 101 is in Keene at the junction with New Hampshire Routes 9 , 10 and 12 . The eastern terminus is in Hampton Beach at the junction with Ocean Boulevard ( NH 1A ). The total length of NH 101 is approximately 95 miles (153 km), however, the New Hampshire Department Of Transportation has installed mileposts on the freeway section east of Interstate 93 that begin at mile 100.
NH 101 travels through the following municipalities (west to east): Keene, Marlborough , Dublin , Peterborough , Temple , Wilton , Milford , Amherst , Bedford , Manchester , Auburn , Candia , Raymond , Epping , Brentwood , Exeter , Stratham , and Hampton .
Between Exeter and Hampton, NH 101 is known as the .
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NH 101 is a two-lane surface road from its western terminus in Keene to the western terminus of New Hampshire Route 101A in Milford. From there, NH 101 splits off to the south and becomes a two-lane Limited-access Highway that bypasses Milford and Amherst, becoming a two-lane surface road just north of Amherst. At the eastern terminus of New Hampshire Route 114 in Bedford, NH 101 becomes a four-lane limited-access highway. It expands to six lanes upon merging with Interstate 293 in Manchester, and eight lanes upon merging with Interstate 93 . East of I-93, NH 101 narrows to four lanes. The route remains a four-lane expressway until exit 12 ( Interstate 95 ) in Hampton, where NH 101 becomes a two-lane freeway at exit 13. At an interchange with U.S. Route 1 , it becomes a two-lane surface road to its terminus in Hampton Beach.
in Peterborough .]]
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Cheshire
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5
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Keene
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3
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000
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mplex
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NH 10 / NH 12 <br> NH 9
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Western terminus of NH 10/12/101 concurrency
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046
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mplex
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NH 10
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Eastern terminus of concurrency<br>NH 12/NH 101 concurrency continues
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123
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mplex
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NH 12
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Eastern terminus of concurrency
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535
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Marlborough
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NH 124
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Western terminus of NH 124
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2006
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Hillsborough
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12
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Peterborough
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3
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mplex
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US 202
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Western terminus of concurrency
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2026
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mplex
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US 202 <br> NH 123
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Eastern terminus of US 202/NH 101 concurrency<br>Western terminus of NH 101/123 concurrency
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2112
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mplex
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NH 123
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Eastern terminus of concurrency
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2577
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Temple
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NH 45
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Northern terminus of NH 45
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3070
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Wilton
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2
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mplex
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NH 31
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Western terminus of concurrency
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mplex
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3269
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NH 31
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Eastern terminus of concurrency
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Milford
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3476
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3
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NH 101A
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Western terminus of NH 101A
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4146
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Amherst
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2
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NH 122
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Interchange<br>Eastbound: exit only Westbound: entrance only
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4297
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<br> NH 122
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Access to NH 122 via Amherst Street
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Bedford
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5245
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NH 114
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Eastern terminus of NH 114<br>Western terminus of NH 101 expressway
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- NH 28A adjacent to the I-93/I-293 interchange
Most of the eastern section of NH 101 was originally going to be part of the cancelled Interstate 88 extension from Albany, New York . Because of the cancellation, NH 101 was a two-lane freeway until the mid-1990s. This highly traveled road had numerous accidents, prominently advertised on large signs at the start of the two-lane freeway segment between exits 5 and 6 in Raymond , reading "XX Highway Deaths next XX miles." Locally, this road was known as the "Highway of Death" for the unusually high number of accidents and the sign advertising. In the mid-1990s, the two-lane freeway segment was dualized over much of the swampland it traversed in Rockingham County , creating a full divided controlled access freeway between Manchester and I-95. The old "Highway of Death" nickname and the signs have disappeared from use.
In 1991, an overpass was constructed over North Road in Brentwood near the Rockingham County Jail Farm for the future routing of NH 101. However, the NH 101 expressway was not built in this area until 2000, giving the bridge the nickname "the overpass to nowhere".
Prior to 1994, NH 101 between New Hampshire Route 108 in Stratham , just east of the Exeter town line, to New Hampshire Route 1A in Hampton Beach was designated . During this time, NH 101 exited the expressway at NH 108 (exit 11) and formed a concurrency with NH 108 north to the community of Stratham. After traversing a Traffic Circle , NH 101 split from NH 108 and followed the current alignment of New Hampshire Route 33 into downtown Portsmouth , where NH 101 terminated at U.S. Route 1 .
On NH 51, there were two traffic lights located on the limited access 2 lane highway: the "east end lights" at the terminus of New Hampshire Route 88 southeast of exit 11 and the "west end lights" west of the Newfields (then- New Hampshire Route 85 ) exit with what is now New Hampshire Route 27 . While NH 88 was rerouted on a new stretch of road to intersect with NH 108 just south of the NH 101/108 SPUI Interchange at exit 11, the Newfields exit was upgraded to a full diamond interchange. NH 27 west of Stratham was formerly NH 101 prior to the completion of the four-lane bypass.
In the fall of 1994, the eastern terminus of NH 101 was shifted eight miles south from Portsmouth to its current terminus in Hampton Beach, replacing NH 51 along the Super-2 between Exeter and Hampton Beach. Old NH 101 between Stratham and downtown Portsmouth became NH 33 and the NH 51 designation was eliminated.
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