New Jersey Route 70 - History

History

The Camden, Ellisburg, and Marlton Turnpike was chartered in 1849 as a turnpike that was to run from Camden east to Marlton along what is today Route 70 and CR 601. The Marlton Pike was taken over by the county in 1907 at a time many other turnpikes became public roads. The current alignment of Route 70 between Whitesbog (the west end of the CR 530 concurrency) and Lakehurst was legislated as a part of pre-1927 Route 18 in 1923, a route that was to run from Camden to Toms River. In the 1927 New Jersey state highway renumbering, Route 40 was designated to run from Camden to Lakewood along the current alignment of Route 70. In addition a spur of this route called Route S40 (now Route 72) was designated to head from the route at Four Mile to Manahawkin. Eventually, the eastern terminus of Route 40 was moved to the Laurelton Circle in Brick Township, where it intersected Route 35 (now Route 88) as well as Route 34, which continued north from this point; the western terminus was placed at the Airport Circle with U.S. Route 30 and U.S. Route 130 in Pennsauken, ending concurrent with Route 38. In the 1953 New Jersey state highway renumbering, Route 40 was renumbered to Route 70 in order to avoid the conflict with U.S. Route 40 in the state. Also, Route 70 was designated onto its current alignment between Route 38 in Pennsauken and Route 34 and Route 35 at the Brielle Circle, removing the concurrency with Route 38 and replacing the portion of Route 34 between the Laurelton Circle and the Brielle Circle.

Since 1953, many changes have occurred to Route 70. Several traffic circles that had existed on the road had been either modified or replaced by at-grade intersections. The Marlton Circle at Route 73 in Marlton was modified in 1974 to allow Route 73 to run directly straight through the circle. This circle became known for traffic backups and was replaced with an interchange. Construction on this interchange, which cost $31 million, began in April 2009. In May 2010, the circle was eliminated with a temporary at-grade intersection constructed while the Route 73 bridge over Route 70 was being built. The interchange was completed in June 2011. Also, the Race Track Circle at the intersection with CR 644 (Haddonfield Road) was eventually replaced by an at-grade intersection. The Laurelton Circle at Route 88, built in 1937, was replaced by the 1990s. The Ellisburg Circle at Route 41 and Route 154, was replaced by an intersection with jughandles. The Brielle Circle at the eastern terminus was also converted to an intersection with jughandles in 2001. In conjunction with eliminating the Brielle Circle, Route 70 was also widened between the intersection with Jack Martin Boulevard in Brick Township and the former circle. In July 2004, floods caused by heavy rain washed away a bridge along the route in Southampton Township, leading for it to be replaced. The New Jersey Department of Transportation replaced the September 11th Memorial Bridge over the Manasquan River in a $52 million project that increased capacity on the bridge and added monumental decorations and increased pedestrian access. Construction was scheduled to be complete in December 2010; however, the project was completed ahead of schedule in September 2008.