The major highways in New Hampshire are north-south routes, carrying tourists from Massachusetts to the lakes, the mountains and all of our wonderful scenery.

Going from east to west is pretty much confined to Route 101 unless one knows all of the more interesting, and therefore much slower, side roads. Only Route 124 through New Ipswich comes close.

A while ago, I was looking for a booklet – which I didn’t find, of course – but the search led me into that black hole known as the back of my file drawer. I tend to keep political stuff back there on the off chance I might someday be interested in it again. There was also – for some reason I totally don’t remember – a replica edition of a 1928 Ford Model A owners manual.

But I found a thick state publication called “Design Report for the Relocation of Route 101, Keene to Merrimack.” It’s dated August 1962.

I don’t recall where I got it, but a few years ago, I was at one of the many state Department of Transportation hearings on improving sections of the road and found that the state officials didn’t have a copy of it. They were quite eager to copy mine.

Sections of 101 west of Manchester are constantly being studied for upgrading, widening and straightening out – a piece in west Milford along the Souhegan River is on the current list and is being surveyed. From Manchester to Hampton is pretty well done – thanks to those tourists again.

The first version of what is now Route 101 was completed between 1916 and 1918 and known as the Southside Highway. Part of that plan included placing Dublin’s famous rock, which slowed traffic in the center of the village and since has been made smaller. That rock was actually a watering trough and brought there from Dublin Lake as a memorial to a generous resident, not the natural ledge most people assume.

That early vision of 101 went through Wilton Center, which is now bypassed.

The 1962 plan called for making about 46 miles of 101 a limited-access, four-lane highway from Route 12 in Keene to “a point on the F.E. Everett Turnpike near Thornton’s Ferry.”

The plan included a bypass of Marlborough, moving the highway north of Dublin into Harrisville, a Milford bypass and a section along the Souhegan River in Amherst and Merrimack, where the route would be completely changed to make the junction with the Everett.

There would have been 12 interchanges in the two-phase project, and as much of the existing road was to be used as possible.

The total cost of the project was estimated at about $53.5 million.

A lot of it didn’t happen. Marlborough didn’t like the plan. Harrisville strongly resisted moving the highway into its town, and 101 remains crowded along the side of Dublin Lake. An interchange was proposed to allow people to get off in Temple at the ski area.

Milford’s bypass was to have been farther south of Dram Cup Hill, cross a section of Abbott Hill in Wilton and join the Wilton bypass. Development of Abbott Hill Acres apparently added too much to the cost. Route 101A still takes travelers to the turnpike.

The short stretch of 101 between the end of the Milford bypass and the Wilton bypass is considered one of the worst stretches of the highway, and the state is looking into some way to widen it and add turning lanes.

The old proposal is packed with diagrams of road construction, elevations, aerial views of the various sections, estimated costs and time frames.

It’s interesting to see what didn’t happen and what parts were constructed in a fashion other than originally planned, and to wonder if those towns that weren’t bypassed are still happy with their choices 50 years ago.

And to wonder how it will all look 50 years from now.

Keep up with the past with Another Perspective, which runs every other Sunday in The Telegraph. Jessie Salisbury can be reached at 654-9704 or jessies@tellink.net.