New Jersey Route 179 - History

History

The current alignment of PA 179 and Route 179 was a part of Old York Road, a historical 18th-century road that connected Philadelphia to New York City. With the establishment of the U.S. Highway System in 1926, the route was designated as a part of US 122, which became US 202 in the mid 1930s. In Pennsylvania, the route was initially cosigned with PA 52; that designation was removed by 1930. Prior to the 1953 New Jersey state highway renumbering, today's Route 179 was composed of three state routes: Route S29, designated in 1949 from the New Hope-Lambertville Bridge into Lambertville, a part of Route 29 from Lambertville to Ringoes that was designated in 1927, and a concurrency of Routes 29 and 30 northeast from Ringoes that was also designated in 1927. In the original 1927 plan, Route 29 would have continued northeast from the end of Route 179 along current CR 514, but it was instead modified to continue north with Route 30 to Flemington and using what had been planned as Route 12 to Somerville.

In the 1953 renumbering, the Route S29 and Route 29 designations were removed from the route in favor of US 202, with Route 29 was realigned to follow former Route 29A to Frenchtown. In addition, Route 30 became Route 69 (now Route 31) to avoid conflicting with US 30 in South Jersey. The bypass of Ringoes for US 202 and Route 69 was opened in the 1960s, and Route 179 was designated along the old alignment of US 202 within Ringoes. The new US 202 freeway between the New Hope-Lambertville Toll Bridge and Route 179 southwest of Ringoes was completed in October 1974. As a result, Route 179 was extended along the old US 202 alignment to the state line in Lambertville and PA 179 was designated along the former US 202 through New Hope. Solebury Township is pushing for a roundabout at the intersection of US 202 and PA 179.