Route 32 is a 54.88-mile (88.32 km) primary north–south state highway in the U.S. state of Connecticut, beginning in New London and continuing via Willimantic to the Massachusetts state line, where it continues as Route 32 in that state.

Willimantic is a census-designated place located in Windham, Connecticut. Previously organized as a city and later as a borough, Willimantic is currently one of two tax districts within the Town of Windham. Willimantic is located within Windham County and the Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region. Known as "Thread City" for the American Thread Company's mills along the Willimantic River, it was a center of the textile industry in the 19th century. Originally incorporated as a city in 1893, it entered a period of decline after the Second World War, culminating in the mill's closure and the city's reabsorption into the town of Windham in the 1980s.