New Jersey Route 53

New Jersey Route 53

Route 53 is a state highway in Morris County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It runs 4.66 mi (7.50 km) from U.S. Route 202 in Morris Plains north to Bloomfield Avenue in Denville Township. The route, which is a two-lane undivided highway most of its length, intersects with Route 10, Interstate 80, and U.S. Route 46. For most of its length, the route runs a short distance to the east of New Jersey Transit's Morristown Line. It passes through industrial areas and wooded residential neighborhoods along its route.

From 1916 to 1927, the route was a part of pre-1927 Route 5, which ran from Delaware in Warren County east to Newark. In 1927, the portion of pre-1927 Route 5 that is today Route 53 was not made a part of a different route and became Route 5N to distinguish it from a newly created Route 5. In 1953, the route became Route 53. A freeway was planned for the route in 1966, running from a planned Route 24 freeway in Morris Plains north to a planned Route 208 freeway in Greenwood Lake in Passaic County. This planned freeway was scaled back in 1967 to end at Interstate 80. It was later designated Route 178 before being canceled in 1975. There are plans to improve the interchange with Route 10 with construction starting in 2009.