The route turns northeast, narrows to two lanes and comes into the residential Edgewood Park Historic District after crossing Chapel Street.

A short distance later, Route 10 turns left (northwest) again on Whalley Avenue, which is city-maintained, to the east towards the Yale University campus, while Ella.

On Fitch Street, the route passes through more residential areas and the campus of Southern Connecticut State University, where it briefly divides into four lanes.

Shortly afterward, the route turns left and north-northeast onto Dixwell Avenue, which continues south back towards New Haven.

At this point, Route 10 reduces to two lanes and begins to parallel the Farmington Canal to the east, before it leaves Hamden and becomes the South Main Street of the town of Cheshire.

Past the triplex, the route's name changes to Highland Avenue and passes to the east of the Cheshire Correctional Institution, before it reaches an interchange with the I-691 freeway, which provides access to I-91 eastbound in Meriden, and I-84 westbound.

At this junction, the route comes into both the town of Southington and Hartford County as Cheshire Road, and shortly afterward becomes Norton Street in the Milldale neighborhood.

Route 10 crosses the Quinnipiac River, and passes east of another park and ride lot, to the south of its intersection with connector ramps to and from the eastbound direction of the I-84 freeway, before becoming the southern leg of North Main Street of Southington.

The northbound state route joins a duplexed concurrency with westbound US 44, along the Main Street of Avon that crosses the Farmington River, before reaching the northern/western junction with US 44 and the southern junction with US 202 in Avon Center; US 44/US 202 continues west along their own duplexed-concurrency toward the towns of Canton, where westbound US 202 splits, and Winsted.

US 202/Route 10 continues through the historic residential and commercial areas of the center of Simsbury, before intersecting the western terminus of Route 315, which leads northeast toward the village of Tariffville.

The two routes head into wooded residential zones and enter the town of Granby as Veteran's Highway, before becoming Salmon Brook Street.