New Jersey Route 33

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Route 33

Length:

42.03 mi (67.68 km)

Formed:

1927

West end:

US 1/NJ 129 in Trenton

Major
junctions:

I-295 in Hamilton Twp

US 130 in Washington Twp

I-95/NJTP in East Windsor

NJ 133 in East Windsor

US 9 in Freehold Twp

NJ 34 in Howell

GSP in Tinton Falls

NJ 18 in Neptune Twp

East end:

NJ 71 in Neptune Twp

New Jersey State Highway Routes
< NJ 32		NJ 34 >

Route 33 is a state highway in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The highway extends 42.03 miles, from Trenton at an intersection with U.S. Route 1 and Route 129 to an intersection with Route 71 in Neptune Township.

It tranverses 3 counties: Mercer, Middlesex, and Monmouth. Beginning in Trenton, Route 33 is two-lane road, with one lane in each direction. Once it merges with U.S. Route 130 in Washington Township, 33 has 2 lanes in each direction. After crossing into East Windsor, Route 33 bears off and becomes a local road going into Hightstown. After passing through the center of town, 33 re-enters East Windsor, right at the Turnpike interchange. After the overpass for the turnpike interchange, Route 33 becomes an avenue with at least a total of 4 lanes, with at least 2 lanes in each direction. Route 33 then traverses into Monroe Township, which is slowly becoming a residential access road for new communities. It then continues into Millstone Township, as a rural avenue (but not for long). Continuing into Manalapan Township, the avenue is becoming another residential access road for new communities. At the ramp for Route 33(Business), the avenue turns into a freeway/bypass, known as the Freehold Bypass.

In Freehold Borough, a highway marked Route 33 Business exists. It is the original alignment of Route 33 before a freeway was built to bypass Freehold. This business route stretches 6.89 miles through Manalapan Township, Freehold Township, Freehold Borough and Howell Township.

The bypass of Freehold is the partial alignment of what would have been a Route 33 freeway from Neptune to Trenton. As time went on, a scaled back version of just a bypass was agreed upon. The western start of the freeway is just east of CR 527, and was built from Business 33 to U.S. Route 9 in the 1970s. The next section was built from U.S. Route 9 across Route 79 to Halls Mill Road (CR 55), and this remained its terminus from the late 1980s until January 17, 2003 when the final leg of the bypass was opened. It is a two-lane freeway with a westbound entrance at Howell Road, and full access from Brickyard Road.

1 Howell Road exit ramp
2 Future improvements
3 Abandoned segments
4 Gallery
5 Mile Posts where Route 33 passes through
6 References
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] Howell Road exit ramp

The Howell Road eastbound exit ramp has been closed since the bypass opened, because of safety concerns. The interchange was originally planned to be a partial cloverleaf, but the residents of Howell Road were concerned of sprawl, and forced the NJDOT to scale back the plans. Instead a diamond ramp went straight off and forced drivers to only make a left turn which proved to be dangerous because of the limited sight distance caused by the overpass. Now because the New Jersey Department of Transportation does not want to pay to fix the problem, the exit has been barricaded since the freeways extension was opened. The ramp has guardrails blocking access and the NJDOT intends on bulldozing what is left.

[edit] Future improvements

Heavy traffic and recent studies hint at a possible widening of Route 33 all the way to Route 34 in Wall Township, however this is still only in the proposal phase. Monmouth County is performing a corridor study on Route 33 to determine if any action should be taken.

The Collingwood Circle is planned to be replaced with a smaller roundabout starting Fall 2006. The idea is to slow the traffic down before it enters the new intersection, but with such heavy traffic on both Route 33 & Route 34. It doesn't seem likely that this will solve the congestion issue and the NJDOT will likely reconstruct it a decade from now like the former Route 35 and Route 36 Circle in Eatontown.

There is a planned Route 33 bypass of Washington Township that will run from Washington Boulevard and link up with U.S. Route 130 at South Gold Drive. The former alignment of Route 33 will likely become a Main Street for the new Washington Town Center.^[1]

Route 33 is being widened from Route 35 to Route 71 in Neptune to provide a center turning lane as well as shoulders. Signals will be modified to provide proper movements.

[edit] Abandoned segments

For such a small freeway, the Route 33 bypass has more abandoned segments then any other state freeway in New Jersey. Comparatively, Route 15, 18, 21, & 24 each only have one abandoned portion to them. Here are the three segments in eastbound order.

Cloverleaf ramp from Route 79 southbound to Route 33 freeway eastbound has been mostly destroyed, to make way for a new reverse jughandle for U.S. Route 9 northbound to Schanck Road. The merging part of the ramp still remains abandoned along the right side of the eastbound freeway.
The original alignment for the freeway east of Halls Mills Road (CR 55) can be seen now as an NJDOT maintenance shed. The new alignment curves to the left after the interchange, in order to avoid what the NJDOT believed to be a suspected (but never identified) Turtle Bog habitat. The pavement is accessible from the eastbound on ramp, but is fenced off.
Howell Road was never given access from Route 33 eastbound and thus the ramp still remains barricaded off and slowly decaying. Even the plans the NJDOT had for bulldozing the ramp don't seem to be happening anytime soon.

[edit] Gallery

Route 33 westbound on the new bypass segment, and the right lane is only an entrance ramp not a second travel lane	Route 33 westbound at CR 537, on the older four lane segment	Route 33 westbound at the Wemrock Road (northbound) interchange	Route 33 eastbound at the split with Route 33 Business
Route 33 eastbound from Howell Road (Note the Super 2 status)	Route 33 eastbound at the Howell Road exit ramp, which still remains closed	Fairfield Road intersecting Route 33 Business and the freeway bypass

[edit] Mile Posts where Route 33 passes through

Municipality	Mile Marker
City of Trenton	00.00-01.46
Hamilton Township	01.46-06.90
Washington Township	06.90-11.70
East Windsor Township	11.70-13.38
Boro of Hightstown	13.38-14.68
East Windsor Township	14.68-16.42
Monroe Township	16.42-18.94
Millstone Township	18.94-21.10
Manalapan Twp	21.10-26.27
Freehold Twp	26.27-29.34
Howell Twp	29.34-35.23
Wall Township	35.23-36.24
Boro of Tinton Falls	36.24-37.79
Neptune Township	37.79-42.03