New Jersey Route 17 - History

History

Route 17N was defined in 1923 to run "from Newark, by way of Kearny, Rutherford, Hackensack, Ridgewood and Ramsey to the New York State Line". However, only the road north of Route 10 (Essex Street) in Hackensack was shown on the 1925 New Jersey State Highway Department Official State Map, running north along existing roads - First Street and the Franklin Turnpike (now partly called Passaic Street and Paramus Road) - to the state line. The 1927 Tydol Trails Map shows the route running south to Newark, continuing south across Essex Street on Polifly Road, Terrace Avenue and Hackensack Street to East Rutherford, where it followed Meadow Road, Rutherford Avenue, Ridge Road, Kearny Avenue, 4th Street, and the Newark Turnpike to Newark.

In the 1927 New Jersey state highway renumbering, Route 17N received the Route 2 designation, and was defined to run from Route 7 in North Arlington to the New York border near Suffern, New York. By 1937, the whole old road north of Rutherford was bypassed by a new four-lane divided highway with the exception of the 1927 bridge over the Saddle River in Ridgewood, north of the Paramus Road interchange. This old alignment joins at Paramus Road and leaves just north of the bridge at Franklin Turnpike, which only has access to the southbound lanes through a RIRO intersection. A short-lived spur of Route 2, Route 2N, was defined in 1938 to run from Route 2 (Ridge Road) in Lyndhurst west along Kingsland Avenue and over the Passaic River on the Park Avenue Bridge into Nutley, where it would end at Union Avenue (west of Route 7). In the meantime, New York had numbered its state routes, and the extension of Route 2 north and west to Westfield, New York was numbered as New York State Route 17. New Jersey had not assigned a Route 17 in the 1927 renumbering, and so in March 1942, Route 2 was numbered Route 17 to match and provide a single number for military caravans during World War II.

Since at least 1936, Route 17 (then Route 2) was planned for upgrading to a freeway, not only north of U.S. Route 46, but also south to the Newark area. The first plan for a freeway along the length of the route was halted due to World War II, and the second plan for a freeway in the 1960s was cancelled due to the disruption it was projected to cause to businesses and residents along its path. In 1972, there were plans to extend Route 17 past Route 3 to Interstate 280 in Harrison. The plans for this five-mile (eight kilometer), $50 million extension were cancelled due to the defeat of a transportation bond that would have funded the proposed freeway. The interchange at Route 3 was built to allow for this southern extension. Another extension of Route 17 to the New Jersey Turnpike was brought up in 1987, but was ultimately scrapped.

The road north of Route 3 was gradually rebuilt to higher standards between 1953 and 1960; most of this portion of Route 17 was upgraded to six lanes and most at-grade intersections were removed north of Interstate 80 in Lodi. The northern 0.39 mi (0.63 km) of Route 17 in Mahwah was incorporated into Interstate 287 in 1994. The Route 4 interchange in Paramus was rebuilt at a cost of $120 million in 1999, replacing the 1932 cloverleaf interchange by adding several flyover ramps. In 2008, construction was completed at the interchange with Essex Street on the Lodi/Maywood border, which involved replacing the Essex Street bridge over Route 17 and improving the interchange ramps, at a cost of $68 million. On January 14, 2008, Governor Jon Corzine announced plans to reduce congestion and improve safety along the portion of Route 17 between Williams Avenue in Hasbrouck Heights to south of Route 4 in Paramus by making it a consistent six lanes. Also, a $14.7 million effort, begun in September 2008, is currently being undertaken to improve safety and reduce bottlenecks along the section of Route 17 between Route 3 and U.S. Route 46.

Route 17 has been the object of several studies exploring a Bergen BRT, a bus rapid transit system that would potentially alleviate some traffic congestion and decrease automobile dependency. While funding has not been identified, the potential routes of the system have eminent from the vicinity radiating from the malls of Paramus.