New Jersey Route 41 - History

History

Route 41 was legislated in 1927 to run from Route 47 in Fairview in Deptford Township to Route 38 in Moorestown along its current alignment, except through Haddonfield, which it was to bypass to the east. Also legislated in 1927 was a spur of Route 41, Route S41, which was to run from the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge to Berlin. Later spurs of Route 41 included Route S41A, which was a southern extension of Route S41 from Berlin to Route 42 (now U.S. Route 322) in Folsom proposed in 1938. In the 1953 New Jersey state highway renumbering, Routes S41 and S41A became Route 73 and Route 41 was legislated along a county-maintained temporary route between Route 168 in Runnemede and Route 70 in Cherry Hill Township, signed Route 41 Temporary, when it became the apparent the bypass around Haddonfield would not be fully completed. Only the northernmost section of the bypass between County Route 561 and Route 70 had been built and this eventually became Route 154. The county-maintained section of Route 41 also became known as County Route 573.

Since 1953, many changes have occurred along Route 41. Following reconstruction of the traffic circle between Routes 38, 41, and 73 into an interchange by the 1990s, Route 41 was relocated to a new alignment that bypassed the original traffic circle and extended north a short distance on Kings Highway to just south of the County Route 608 (Lenola Road) intersection in Maple Shade Township. The Ellisburg Circle at the intersection of Routes 41, 70, and 154 was reconstructed into an intersection with jughandles and traffic lights by the 1990s also. This reconstruction involved realigning Route 41 to form a brief concurrency with Route 154 just south of Route 70. In the early 2000s, the Route 41 interchange with Route 42 in Deptford Township was, along with the County Route 544 interchange with Route 42, reconstructed to ease traffic movements in the area. Signs for Route 41 Temporary and County Route 573 still remain along this stretch of Route 41, which today is officially considered to be a part of mainline Route 41.