Map of pre-1927 state highways. Routes 1 to 16 are in dark red, while Routes 17 to 20, unnumbered highways, and extensions defined in 1922 or later are lighter.

New Jersey was one of the first U.S. states to adopt a system of numbered state highways. New Jersey's original numbered highway system was first legislated in 1916, succeeding another proposal submitted in 1913 by the State Highway commission. By 1923, 24 routes had been numbered. Due to a lack of central organizing oversight, many routes were legislated, but not numbered. A partial renumbering was proposed in 1926 to eliminate duplicates and give numbers to all routes, and in 1927 a full renumbering was carried out.

History

The earliest efforts for the state of New Jersey to maintain a network of highways dates back to 1891, when law was passed allotting funds for the construction of highways. This was bolstered in 1894 with the creation of a Commissioner of Public Roads, which evolved into the State Highway Commission in 1909. The first highways the commission created were the Ocean Highway and the Delaware River Drive, created in 1909 and 1911 respectively. The first effort at a state-wide highway network was begun by the commission in 1912 and submitted for approval in 1913. This system was never put in place; instead, the first permanent system to define a system of highways in the state was created by the Egan Bill (1916 state laws, chapter 285), which designated the initial system of 13 routes, bolstered by the Edge Bill (L. 1917 c. 14), which went into more detail on funding, maintenance, and similar issues.[1] At this time most primary roads in the state had trail numbers which bore no resemblance to the highway numbers; these were soon obsoleted by the new system.

However, after 1921, the process was less coordinated, as local politicians tried to get their route built without concern for duplication of numbers. The State Highway Commission was not allowed to change the numbers; the best they could do was assign suffixes. Where multiple routes existed with the same number, suffixes of N and S were used for the northernmost and southernmost. Starting in 1923, various unnumbered routes were also assigned; none of these were taken over by 1927.

Construction and maintenance transfers began by 1917 with Route 13 (the Lincoln Highway, now Route 27) north of Kingston; the routes were marked by 1922.

In 1926, a partial renumbering was proposed to eliminate duplicates and assign a number to every route; this would have given the system numbers from 1 to 30. Instead, a total renumbering was adopted in 1927 as public law chapter 319. This system - the 1927 renumbering - assigned numbers from 1 to 12 in northern New Jersey, 21 to 28 roughly radiating from Newark, 29 to 37 from Trenton, 38 to 47 from Camden, and 48 to 50 in South Jersey. Portions of the pre-1927 routes that had been taken over or built, but were not assigned new numbers, kept their old numbers. These four routes - Route 4N, Route 5N, Route 8N and Route 18N - were all assigned the suffix N (as the only suffixed one to remain was 18N, and the others needed to be distinguished from the new routes of the same number).

List of Routes

Route From Through To Existing Roads Used Legislation Extensions Status (1927) Modern Designation
Route 1 Elizabeth Line Rahway - New Brunswick Line; New Brunswick Line - Hightstown Trenton Line Rahway Ave, Essex and Middlesex Turnpike, New Brunswick and Cranbury Turnpike, Greenwood Ave Egan Bill (1916, c. 285) Elizabeth - Newark - Jersey City (1922) 25, 27, 25, 33 I-78, 139, US-1/9, 27, US-130, 33
Route 2 Trenton Line Burlington Camden Line Broad Street, White Horse Road, Farnsworth Ave, Burlington-Bordentown Road, Westfield and Camden Turnpike Camden - Philadelphia (1922) 37, 39, 25 US-206, US-130, US-30
Route 2 Spur Five Points Palmyra Westfield and Camden Turnpike Spur 1922, c. 265 S41 Former 155
Route 3 Camden Line Berlin - Hammonton - Egg Harbor City Absecon White Horse Pike Egan Bill (1916, c. 285) Thru Camden (?) 43 US-30
Route 4 Rahway Perth Amboy - Asbury Park - Point Pleasant - Lakewood - Toms River Absecon St. George's Road, Perth Amboy Ave, Stephens Ave (Main St), Keyport Road, Middletown-Red Bank Road, Red Bank-Eatontown Road, Eatontown-Long Branch Road, Monmouth Road, Cedar Ave, Norwood Ave, Main St, Belmar and Manasquan River Road, Lakewood-Tom's River Road, Main Shore Road, Chestnut Neck Road 4, 35, 4N, 35, 4 35, 71, 35, 88, US-9
Route 5 Newark Line Morristown - Denville - Dover - Hackettstown Darlington's Bridge Springfield Ave, Morris Ave, Madison Ave, Speedwell St, Parsippany and Rockaway Turnpike, Blackwell St, Dover Turnpike, Morris-Sussex Turnpike, Denville Road, Buttzville Road, Buttzville-Belvidere Road, Delaware Road Through Newark (1926) 24, 32, 5N, 6 CR-603, 124, US-202, 53, US-46
Route 6 Camden Line Westville - Mullica Hill - Pittsgrove Bridgeton Broadway, Gloucester and Woodbury Turnpike, Woodbury and Mullica Hill Turnpike, Camden - Philadelphia (1922), Salem - Bridgeton (1922-1925) 45, 46, 49 Broadway, 45, 77, 49
Woodstown Salem
Route 7 Hightstown Freehold Asbury Park Manapalan Road, Manapalan-Freehold Road, Freehold-Jerseyville Road, Jerseyville-Hamilton Road, Corlies Ave, Main St 33, 4N 33, 71
Route 7 Spur Freehold Adelphia Lakewood Old Stage Road 1925, c. 24-25 4 US-9
Route 8 Montclair Sussex Unionville, New York Newark and Pompton Turnpike, Paterson and Hamburg Turnpike, Stockholm-Franklin Furnace Road, Unionville Road Egan Bill (1916, c. 285) 23, 8N 23, 284
Route 8 Spur Franklin Furnace Monroe - Lafayette - Branchville Dingman's Ferry Franklin Road, Church Road, Union Turnpike, Tuttles Corner-Dingman's Ferry Road 1926, c. 256 31, S31 CR-631, 94, 15, US-206, CR-560
Route 9 Elizabeth Line Somerville Phillipsburg Line Westfield Ave, South Ave, Front Street, Lincoln Road, Union Ave, Gaston Ave, Jersey Turnpike Egan Bill (1916, c. 285) 28 28, US-22, 173, I-78
Route 10 Paterson Hackensack Fort Lee Ferry Hackensack and Paterson Turnpike, Bergen Turnpike 5 Market St, Essex St, Hudson St, Bergen Turnpike, Edgewater St, 5
Route 11 Paterson Line Belleville - Nutley - Passaic Newark Main St, Passaic Ave, Kingsland Road, Washington Ave 7 7
Route 12 Paterson Denville - Dover - Hackettstown Phillipsburg Union Ave, Main St, Little Falls Road, Fairfield Road, Clinton Road, Oak Road, Rockaway and Parsippany Turnpike, Blackwell St, Dover Turnpike, Morris-Sussex Turnpike, Denville Road, Washington Turnpike (and spur) 6, S24, 24 62, CR-631, CR-615, 159, US-46, 182, 57
Route 13 New Brunswick Line Princeton Trenton Line Lincoln Highway (Somerset Street, Lawrenceville-Trenton Road) 27 27, US-206
Route 14 Egg Harbor City Mays Landing - Seaville - Rio Grande Cape May May's Landing Road Edge Bill (1917 c. 14) 50, 4 50, US-9, 109
Route 15 Bridgeton Millville Rio Grande Bridgeton and Millville Turnpike, Delsea Drive 49, S49 49, 47
Route 16 Morristown Line Somerville Princeton Thru Morristown (1925) 32, 31 US-202, US-206
Route 17N Hackensack Maywood - Ridgewood - Ramsey Suffern, New York Franklin Turnpike, Paramus Road, Passaic St 1923 c. 5, 177, 181, 183, 184 Reduced from Newark (before 1925) 2 17
Route 17S Westville Thorofare - Paulsboro - Gibbstown - Bridgeport Penns Grove 1923 c. 199 44 44, US-130, 49
Route 18 Camden Mount Holly Toms River 1923 c. 184 38, 40, 37 CR 537, CR 612, 38, CR 530, 70, 37, CR 527
Route 18N Hoboken Fort Lee Alpine Bergen Turnpike 1923 c. 197 18N US-9, US-9W
Route 18S Penns Grove Woodstown - Pittsgrove - Malaga - Mays Landing - Pleasantville Atlantic City Harding Highway, Black Horse Turnpike 1923 c. 181, 183 48 48, US 40
Route 19 Seaville Pleasantville Absecon 1923 c. 182, 183 4 US-9
Route 20 Berlin Haddonfield Camden Haddon Ave (Haddonfield-Berlin Road) 1923 c. 177
Route 20 Westville Malaga Millville 1923 c. 182 47 47
Berlin Blue Anchor Mays Landing Berlin-Blue Anchor Road, Mays Landing Road 1923, c. 201 CR-561, 73
Five Points Moorestown - Evesboro - Medford - Atsion Hammonton Church St, Medford-Evesboro Road, Stokes Road, Trenton Road 1923, c. 202 CR-541, US-206
(Spur) Evesboro Merchantville Church Road
Trenton Pennington - Woodsville - Ringoes - Flemington - Clinton - Glen Gardner - Hampton - Washington Buttzville Pennington Road, Pennington-Hopewell Road, Marshall's Corner-Woodsville Road, Rocktown Hill Road, Spruce Run Turnpike, Buttzville Road 1924, c. 233 30 31
(Spur) Lambertville Ringoes Old York Road 29 179
(Spur) Flemington White House Station Flemington-Whitehouse Road CR-523
Sussex High Point Port Jervis 1925, c. 158 23 23
Freehold Mount Holly Old Monmouth Road 1925, c. 222 38 CR-537
Atlantic Highlands Keyport Ocean Boulevard 1925, c. 224 36 36
Far Hills Chester - Flanders - Netcong - Andover - Newton - Rosses Corner - Branchville - Hainesville Tri-State Morris Turnpike, Deckertown and Newton Turnpike, Union Turnpike 1925, c. 225 31, S-31 US-206
Morristown Mendham - Chester - Long Valley Hackettstown Washington Turnpike 1925, c. 230 24 CR-510, CR-513
South Amboy Cheesequake - Matawan Keyport Main St, Cheesequake Road, Mount Pleasant Road, Old Bridge-Matawan Road, Main St, Maple Place 1925, c. 235 4 US-9, 34, CR-689, CR-516
Camden Mt. Ephraim - Chews - Blackwood - Turnersville - Cross Keys - Williamstown - Cecil - Weymouth - McKee City - Pleasantville Atlantic City Black Horse Turnpike 1925, c. 240 42, 48 168, 42, US-322, US-40
Trenton New Brunswick Trenton and New Brunswick Straight Line Turnpike 1926, c. 14 26 US-1, 26
Roselle Park Union Township Hillside Township Chestnut St, Salem Road, Liberty Ave 1926, c. 46
Stockton Flemington - Somerville - Finderne - Millstone New Brunswick Seargantsville Road, Voorhees Corner Road, Old York Road, Main St, Finderne Ave, Main St, Millstone River Road, Amwell Road 1926, c. 104 12, 28 CR-523, CR-650, CR-613, CR-567, CR-626, 28, CR-533, CR-514
Jersey City North Bergen - East Rutherford Passaic Paterson and New York Plank Road 1926, c. 108 3, 1 120, CR-681
Kearny Bellville - Montclair - Verona Caldwell Belleville Turnpike, Belleville Ave, Bloomfield Ave 1926, c. 124 7, 9 7, CR-506
Jersey City Newark - Livingston - Hanover Dover Newark-Jersey City Turnpike, Newark-Mount Pleasant Turnpike, 1926, c. 126 25, 10 CR-577, 10
Jersey City North Bergen - East Rutherford Passaic Paterson and New York Plank Road, Tonelle Ave 1926, c. 140 3 120, CR-681, US-9
Newton Swartswood Lake Swartswood Road 1926, c. 167 CR-622
Kingston Trenton-New Brunswick Pike 1926, c. 185 Never built
Jersey City Bayonne Bayonne Bridge Hudson Boulevard 1926, c. 194 1 CR-501, 440
West Long Branch Long Branch Wall St 1926, c. 259
Hackettstown Rockport Rockport Road 1926, c. 323

See also

References

  1. Goldmann, Sidney (1942). The organization and administration of the New Jersey State highway department, 1941, by Sidney Goldmann and Thomas J. Graves. Prepared for Roger Hinds, governor's examiner of the New Jersey State highway department. Trenton, N. J. hdl:2027/mdp.39015030778644.
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