New Jersey Route 91 - History

History

Route 91 is the northernmost portion of the Trenton and New Brunswick Turnpike, a turnpike originally envisioned in 1795 to connect to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with New York City. However the $300,000 project only received minimal support and died later. Nine years after the original proposal was brought up, the New Jersey State Legislature developed a charter for a new turnpike from Trenton to New Brunswick. The charter passed on November 14, 1904, for a term of 99 years. The roadway itself was to be 66 feet (20 m) wide, running from Warren and Green Streets in Trenton to an unspecified location in New Brunswick. Construction progressed, and by 1806, the turnpike company started tolling the new roadway. A portion of Route 91 and Route 91 Connector was also the site of one of at least three tollgates on the turnpike. After construction of the Pennsylvania Railroad during the 1800s, the railroad was asked by locals to buy the turnpike. Plans fell apart soon after, and in 1903, when the charter term ended, the old turnpike was turned over to the locals.

The New Jersey State Highway Department used the alignment of the Lincoln Highway to designate State Highway Route 26 during the 1927 state highway renumbering from Trenton to New Brunswick. The route continued into New Brunswick, where it would end at Mill Run. As Route 26 left the path of the Trenton and New Brunswick Turnpike to cross the railroad, State Highway Route 26A was designated in 1941 legislature to continue on the former turnpike to a former railroad crossing in North Brunswick Township. There, State Highway Route 26A continued, splitting onto a new alignment to stay northwest of the railroad, ending at Van Dyke Avenue. The existing Jersey Avenue beyond Van Dyke Avenue was taken over by Middlesex County as County Route 3R20, later renumbered County Route 693.

During the second state highway renumbering in January 1953, the designation of Route 26 was truncatd from Trenton to U.S. Route 1 in North Brunswick Township. With Route 26A no longer terminating at its parent highway, the suffixed spur was renumbered to Route 91, heading from U.S. Route 1 in Adams to Van Dyke Road. The route has changed little since designation.