Editing Interstate 691 (section)

==History==
[[Image:US 6A.svg|90px|left]]
In the 1940s, the I-691 routing was part of a planned US&nbsp;6A expressway from Southington to Willimantic. A section of the expressway (from its Middlefield terminus west to exit&nbsp;8) first opened in 1966. By 1968, the US&nbsp;6A designation was dropped in favor of Route&nbsp;66. The highway was extended west to exit&nbsp;4 by 1971. The connection to [[Interstate 84 in Connecticut|I-84]] was eventually completed in 1987, with the renumbering to I-691 done at the same time. The portion east of I-91 remained as Route&nbsp;66. Environmental and community groups successfully blocked attempts to extend the freeway east of its present terminus due to potential impacts on the Mt. Higby Reservoir, which provides drinking water for the local area. A compromise was reached in the late 1990s allowing [[Connecticut Department of Transportation|CTDOT]] to convert Route&nbsp;66 from a two-lane road to four lanes from the eastern end of the I-691 freeway to the business district in [[Middletown, Connecticut|Middletown]]. Construction on the Route&nbsp;66 widening project was completed in 2005.

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