State Highways in New Jersey - History

History

The initial system of state highways was legislated in 1916, and by 1917 the state began to take over roads from the counties. By 1922, the routes were marked. U.S. Route numbers were added to some of the main routes in 1927.

After a failed renumbering in 1926, a completely new numbering was instituted in 1927, with only four sections of pre-1927 routes remaining as their old numbers suffixed with N - Route 4N, Route 5N, Route 8N and Route 18N. The new numbers followed a general geographical pattern from north to south - 1-12 in northern New Jersey, 21-28 roughly radiating from Newark, 29-37 from Trenton, 38-47 from Camden, and 48-50 in southern New Jersey. Every state highway, even those forming parts of U.S. Routes, was assigned a number. Some short routes were assigned prefixes of S; for instance, Route S26 was a spur of Route 26 south of New Brunswick. One prefixed and suffixed route - Route S4A - was also defined as a second spur of Route 4. As the system grew, some numbers beyond 50 were used, but most new routes received prefixed or suffixed labels.

On January 1, 1953, the second renumbering was implemented. This was not a complete renumbering; instead, the only renumbered routes were those that violated a few guidelines — primarily long concurrencies, especially with U.S. Routes; duplication of numbers with U.S. routes; suffixed routes; and number changes across state borders. Some routes were shortened to remove concurrencies, while others, like Route 25, completely disappeared. Numbers from 53 to 93 were assigned to renumbered routes, while shorter ones received numbers from 152 to 165. The two planned toll roads — the Garden State Parkway and New Jersey Turnpike - received only those names; they had been numbered 4 Parkway and 100.

The majority of new numbers assigned since the 1953 renumbering have been from 166 to 185, with some short routes instead receiving numbers based on their parents (for instance, an old section of U.S. Route 9 became Route 109). Minimal disruption was caused by the assignment of Interstate Highway numbers in the late 1950s. In the 1990s, the majority of bannered U.S. Routes were renumbered as state routes.