List of state highways in New Jersey before 1927

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

19th century

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.

20th century

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. 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, known as the 1927 renumbering, assigned numbers from 1 to 12 in North 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 since 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

• U.S. Roads portal
• New Jersey portal
• New Jersey State Routes
• 1927 New Jersey State Route renumbering
• 1953 New Jersey State Route renumbering

External links

• New Jersey Highways