New Hampshire Route 4 (NH 4) is a 3.78-mile (6.08 km) state highway located in eastern Strafford County, New Hampshire. Its western terminus is at an intersection with New Hampshire Route 9 and New Hampshire Route 108 in Dover. Its northern terminus is at the Maine state border in Rollinsford, where it continues as Maine State Route 4.

New Hampshire Route 4 marker
New Hampshire Route 4
Map
Map of Strafford County in southeastern New Hampshire with NH 4 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by NHDOT
Length3.78 mi[1] (6.08 km)
Major junctions
West end NH 9 / NH 108 in Dover
East end SR 4 in South Berwick, ME
Location
CountryUnited States
StateNew Hampshire
CountiesStrafford
Highway system
US 4 NH 4A

For most of its length NH 4 is signed as an east–west highway. Signage in downtown Dover while overlapped with NH 9 and NH 108 is inconsistent as it is sometimes signed north–south. In general, NH 4 follows a southwest-to-northeast alignment.

NH 4 is not related to U.S. Route 4, which also enters the Dover city limits. They are the only non-linked highways to share a number in New Hampshire and remain under NHDOT maintenance. (Maine State Route 113 does cross into New Hampshire near NH 113, but remains completely under MaineDOT maintenance.)

Route description

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Western terminus

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The western terminus of NH 4 is not readily apparent, but signage suggests it to be at the intersection of Central Avenue and Silver Street (where NH 9 and NH 108 split). Signage at the intersection of Silver Street and Central Avenue seems to indicate NH 4 continuing westbound along NH 9; however, no further signage for NH 4 exists west of this point.

Downtown Dover

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From the intersection of Central Avenue and Silver Street, NH 4 is overlapped with NH 9 and NH 108 for 0.5 miles (0.80 km), until NH 4 splits off in the center of town. The exact routing differs depending on which direction one is traveling, due to the one-way streets it traverses in the downtown area.

In the eastbound direction, NH 4 is overlapped with NH 9 east / NH 108 north onto Main Street then splits off onto Portland Avenue, on which it remains.

However, in the westbound direction NH 4 (as signed) splits from Portland Avenue onto Chapel Street. It then turns right onto Saint John Street, left onto Broadway, then left onto Central Avenue (NH 9 west / NH 108 south).

Westbound Portland Avenue from Chapel Street to Main Street is signed as a truck route. To continue to the main route, traffic must turn right onto Main Street then make a left-hand U-turn to loop around onto Central Avenue.

Rollinsford

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NH 4 in Rollinsford, with South Berwick, ME in the distance

After leaving downtown Dover, NH 4 crosses into the town of Rollinsford. It is the only state route to pass through Rollinsford and runs in the south-central part of town for about 2.5 miles (4.0 km). NH 4 then crosses the Salmon Falls River into the town of South Berwick, Maine, and becomes Maine State Route 4 (which is signed as a north–south highway).

NH 4 is named Portland Avenue in Rollinsford.

History

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NH 4 (and State Route 4 in Maine by extension) was originally intended to be a part of US 4, hence its number. However, US 4 was ultimately routed from Durham to the southern tip of Dover and along the Spaulding Turnpike to Portsmouth. While US 4 never entered Maine, the number 4 was retained for the resulting state highway in Maine. For continuity's sake, New Hampshire kept the number 4 on its section of the highway as well.

US 4 only travels through a small section of southern Dover (mostly along the Spaulding Turnpike) which is several miles from downtown, meaning it was unlikely that the two highways would be easily confused.

Major intersections

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The entire route is in Strafford County.

LocationmikmDestinationsNotes
Dover0.0000.000 
 
 
 
NH 9 west (Silver Street) to NH 155 – Madbury, Lee
 
 
 
 
NH 108 south (Central Avenue) to NH 16 (Spaulding Turnpike) – Durham, Portsmouth
Western terminus
0.50.80 
 
 
 
NH 9 east / NH 108 north (Central Avenue) – Somersworth, Rochester
Northern end of concurrency with NH 9 / NH 108
Rollinsford3.786.08 
 
 
 
SR 4 north (Main Street) to SR 236 - South Berwick ME
Continuation into Maine
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

Concurrent routes

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Suffixed routes

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New Hampshire Route 4A

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This route between Lebanon and Andover is an alternate route of US 4 and is not associated with NH 4.

References

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KML is from Wikidata