New Jersey Route 29 - History

History

The current route was originally legislated in 1911 as part of the Delaware River Drive, a named state highway that was proposed to run from along the Delaware River from Trenton to the New York border in Montague Township. Route 29 was originally defined in 1927 to run from Trenton to Newark. The original route ran from downtown Trenton along State Street and Sanhican Drive. From there, it followed its current alignment to Lambertville, where it followed present-day Route 179 to Ringoes to present-day County Route 514, which it followed to Woods Tavern. The route turned north on U.S. Route 206 (also designated Route 31) and followed that route to Somerville, where it followed U.S. Route 22 to Newark. The current alignment of Route 29 from Lambertville to Route 12 in Frenchtown was designated Route 29A in 1927.

The alignment of Route 29 between Ringoes and Somerville was eventually shifted to follow present-day U.S. Route 202, which was also Route 30 (now Route 31) between Ringoes and Flemington and Route 12 between Flemington and Somerville. In 1938, Route 29B was planned as an extension of Route 29A from Frenchtown to Route 28 (now Route 122) in Alpha. While this road was never built, much of the alignment north of Milford is served by County Route 519. In 1948, a spur route, Route S29, was created, running along U.S. Route 202 (Bridge Street) in Lambertville to the New Hope-Lambertville Bridge.

In the 1953 New Jersey state highway renumbering, Route 29 was redefined to continue north from Lambertville to Frenchtown on Route 29A, and the Route 29 designation between Lambertville and Newark was removed in favor of U.S. Route 202 between Lambertville and Somerville and U.S. Route 22 between Somerville and Newark. The section of former Route 29 between Route 29A and Route S29 became Route 165.

Plans for a limited-access route along the Route 29 corridor go back to 1932, when a parkway was proposed along the Delaware River between Trenton and Lambertville; this proposal never materialized. Plans for a freeway were resurrected in the early 1950s to construct a road, the John Fitch Parkway, that was to run from Hamilton Township to Interstate 95 in Ewing Township. This road was built between 1954 and 1957 from South Warren Street in Trenton to present-day Interstate 95 in Ewing Township. Construction of this portion John Fitch Parkway took up much of Trenton’s available waterfront along the Delaware River. The former alignment of Route 29 in the northern part of Trenton and in Ewing Township became Route 175.

Between 1990 and 1995, the Route 29 freeway was built between the Interstate 195/Interstate 295 interchange and Route 129 in Hamilton Township. A two-lane street, Lamberton Road, connected the two freeway sections. Plans were then made to fill the gap between the two freeway sections in Trenton. Construction began in 1997 on the Route 29 freeway between Route 129 and the Morrisville-Trenton Railroad Bridge. The road was to include two traffic lights at Cass Street and South Warren Street and a tunnel which was to be built as a covered roadway on the bank of the Delaware River. The tunnel was originally scheduled to be complete by 2001 but was delayed after the Army Corps of Engineers discovered many environmental violations that occurred with construction of the tunnel. The roof was put in place in October 2001 and the tunnel officially opened to traffic on March 2, 2002. A restriction to trucks over 13 tons was put in place and made permanent in November 2002.

By the 2000s, the state gave the part of Route 29 (South Main Street) between Route 165 and Route 179 in Lambertville to the city, and Route 29 was rerouted to use all of Route 165 and one block of Route 179. Prior to this, South Main Street had been turned one-way southbound. Route 165, which is only signed on overhead street signs, still exists, though it is fully concurrent with Route 29.