East end: NH 1A in Hampton Beach | Length 60.54 km | |
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West end: US 3 / NH 28 in Hooksett Counties Merrimack County, New Hampshire, Rockingham County, New Hampshire | ||
New Hampshire Route 27 (abbreviated NH 27) is a 37.621-mile-long (60.545 km) long east–west highway in southeastern New Hampshire. The western terminus of NH 27 is in Hooksett at U.S. Route 3 and New Hampshire Route 28 north of Manchester. The eastern terminus is in Hampton Beach at New Hampshire Route 1A, which runs along the New Hampshire coastline adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean.
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Map of NH-27, New Hampshire, USA
NH 27 is not generally used as a through route due to the presence of the New Hampshire Route 101 expressway, which NH 27 parallels for its entire length. However, NH 27 does service many of the communities which NH 101 bypasses.
Hooksett to Candia
Most of NH 27 between Hooksett and Raymond was part of NH 101 until the 1980s, when NH 101 was moved onto a new four-lane expressway to the south. The old surface alignment of NH 101 was redesignated NH 101B from Hooksett to the intersection with NH 43 in Candia. The entirety of NH 101B was eventually renumbered NH 27, although many maps show both designations west of NH 43.
Candia to Raymond
The section of NH 27 between NH 43 in Candia (the former eastern terminus of NH 101B) and the eastern terminus of the NH 27/New Hampshire Route 107 concurrency in Raymond is part of New Hampshire Route 101 Business, although this segment is not signed as such in the field.
Raymond to Hampton Beach
In the late 1990s, the NH 101 expressway between exit 5 (NH 107) in Raymond and exit 9 near Exeter was completed, allowing NH 101 to shift from its surface alignment between Raymond and Exeter to the freeway. NH 27 was then extended eastward from Raymond along the former routing of NH 101 to NH 108 in Exeter. Additionally, the routing of NH 101C, which ran from NH 108 east along what is now NH 27 to NH 1A in Hampton Beach, was usurped by NH 27, extending NH 27 to its current location.
The NH 101C designation was changed in 1990 due to confusion between NH 101C, NH 101D in Exeter and North Hampton, and NH 101E in Hampton. NH 101D is now the easternmost part of NH 111 while NH 101E remains but is poorly signed.