New Jersey Route 17

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Route 17

Length:

27.20 mi (43.77 km)

Formed:

1942 (1927 as NJ 2)

South end:

NJ 7 in North Arlington

Major
junctions:

NJ 3 in Rutherford

I-80 in Hackensack
GSP in Paramus

NJ 4 in Paramus

North end:

I-287/NY 17 in Hillburn, NY

New Jersey State Highway Routes
< NJ 15		NJ 18 >

Route 17 is a 27.20-mile (43.77 km) state highway in New Jersey, United States, providing a major route from the George Washington Bridge, Lincoln Tunnel and other northeast New Jersey points to the New York State Thruway at Suffern, New York. The route begins at the Belleville Turnpike (Route 7) in North Arlington and runs north to Route 3 in Rutherford as a local road. From Route 3 north to the junction with U.S. Route 46 in Hasbrouck Heights, the road is a suburban arterial with jughandles. The rest of Route 17, from US 46 to Interstate 287 in Mahwah, near the state line, resembles a freeway in that all cross traffic is handled by interchanges, but many driveways and side streets are accessed via direct RIRO ramps from the right lane. For three miles north of Route 4, well over a hundred retail stores and several large shopping malls line the route in the borough of Paramus. This is known as one of the largest concentrations of retail shopping districts in the state. Unlike most divided highways with businesses, access to u-turns in order to get to the other side of the highway can only be gained through several interchanges. Once Route 17 leaves Paramus, only a few businesses line the remainder of the highway. The last bit, from I-287 to the state line, is concurrent with I-287, as it was upgraded on the spot when the rest of I-287 was built. New York State Route 17 continues the number north after a short concurrency with Interstate 87 along a non-tolled section of the New York State Thruway.

The 0.39-mile (0.63 km) section from the I-287 merge to the state line was upgraded in 1994 to I-287. Just across the state line, the freeway ends at Interstate 87 (the New York State Thruway) at exit 15 between Suffern and Hillburn while New York State Route 17 runs north on I-87 to the Ramapo interchange (exit 15A). Route 17 then heads north as a 2-lane road alongside the Thruway to Harriman and turns west onto a freeway. The old road through Hillburn still has access, now southbound only, to I-287 and Route 17 at the state line.

Originally Route 17 continued through over 350 miles of New York state and into Pennsylvania, merging with Interstate 90 near Erie, Pennsylvania; this is in the process of being upgraded to Interstate 86. Once this happens, Route 17 will end in Harriman, New York.

1 Route description
2 History
- 2.1 Route 2N
3 References

[edit] Route description

Route 17 begins at the Belleville Turnpike (Route 7/County Route 506/County Route 507) on the border of Kearny and North Arlington and heads north through North Arlington and Lyndhurst on Ridge Road, a two-lane local street with speed limits of 25 to 35 mph (40 to 60 km/h). At Rutherford Avenue, on the border of Rutherford, it turns east to parallel the Route 3 freeway to the south and head for the edge of the New Jersey Meadowlands. Route 17 makes a curve to the south and then a hairpin turn into the Route 3 interchange, which was built ca. 1972 with the intent of building a new road south from Route 3 through the Meadowlands.

At the Route 3 interchange, NJ 17 becomes a six-lane divided highway with a 50 mph (80 km/h) speed limit and jughandles. It passes north through Rutherford, East Rutherford, Carlstadt, Wood-Ridge and Hasbrouck Heights, with interchanges at Route 120 in East Rutherford and Moonachie Road in Wood-Ridge, both built ca. 1971. With the exception of a short stretch in Rutherford with a median strip, the road is divided by a Jersey barrier.

At the 1937 interchange with U.S. Route 46, Route 17 drops to two lanes in each direction and the lanes split. The Bendix Diner is located between the traffic lanes at the intersection of Williams Avenue, the last traffic light on Route 17 before the state line. The lanes merge briefly as the road passes under Terrace Avenue (interchange built ca. 1933) and enters Hackensack, but split again for the long interchange with Interstate 80 (built 1964). Along this strip, the road is again three lanes in each direction, including an interchange with Summit Avenue (originally built ca. 1933) while I-80 is in the median, but when the lanes rejoin, in Lodi, a lane drops at the ca. 1933 Essex Street interchange on the Maywood border.

Through Maywood and Rochelle Park, the four-lane divided highway cannot be widened without considerable expense due to structures, such as overpasses and underpasses that would require complete replacement, and businesses that would encroach upon an expanded right-of-way. The result is a bottleneck and a persistent slowdown of traffic through the ca. 1933 interchanges with East Passaic Street and Farview Avenue, the latter in Paramus.

At the Farview Avenue interchange, the road regains a third lane in each direction. The interchange with Route 4 adjacent to the Garden State Plaza shopping mall was rebuilt in 1999, replacing the 1932 cloverleaf interchange by adding several flyover ramps. Route 17 is flanked by businesses and shopping malls for most of its length in Paramus, and it gains additional traffic through its 1955/1957 interchange with the Garden State Parkway (exit 163). Halfway between Route 4 and the Garden State Parkway is a ca. 1960 interchange with Century Road. North of the Parkway in Paramus are two other ca. 1960 interchanges with Midland Avenue and Ridgewood Avenue, and in between is a ca. 1971 interchange with the Paramus Park industrial park.

At Linwood Avenue, the border of Ridgewood (interchange ca. 1964), the penetration of businesses along the side of the road lessens dramatically. North of this point, the speed limit is 55 mph (90 km/h). There are no businesses along the road in Ho-Ho-Kus, Waldwick, or Saddle River, although side streets continue to intersect at-grade (with cross traffic blocked by a Jersey barrier). Interchanges are provided with Paramus Road (replaced a traffic circle ca. 1964) in Linwood, Hollywood Avenue (County Route 502, built ca. 1966) in Ho-Ho-Kus, Sheridan Avenue (ca. 1970) in Waldwick, and Allendale Avenue (ca. 1970) in Saddle River. The bridge over the Saddle River in Ridgewood, north of the Paramus Road interchange, dates from 1927, and was part of the through road prior to the current 1930s alignment. This old alignment joins at Paramus Road and leaves just north of the bridge at Franklin Turnpike, which only has access to the southbound lanes. On the Ridgewood/Ho-Ho-Kus border is an intersection with Racetrack Road, with cross traffic blocked by the Jersey barrier. This was originally a traffic circle and later one of the last traffic lights north of US 46, but was cut ca. 1986 and a pedestrian bridge was added.

Businesses resume along the road in Allendale, Upper Saddle River, Ramsey and Mahwah, but traffic generally flows freely through the area. Interchanges are provided with Lake Street/Crescent Avenue on the Upper Saddle River/Ramsey border (built ca. 1992), Franklin Turnpike (County Route 507) and Spring Street (both ca. 1955, the former originally a traffic circle) in Ramsey, and Central Avenue and Ramapo Avenue (also ca. 1955) in Mahwah. The Lake Street interchange was the last traffic light north of U.S. Route 46. North of Ramapo Avenue, Route 17 crosses the Ramapo River and U.S. Route 202 at a ca. 1933 interchange, before the final ca. 1955 interchange with Stag Hill Road just before merging with Interstate 287 (built 1993).

[edit] History

Route 17N was defined in 1923 to run "from Newark, by way of Kearny, Rutherford, Hackensack, Ridgewood and Ramsey to the New York State Line". However, only the road north of Route 10 (Essex Street) in Hackensack is shown on most maps, running north along existing roads - First Street and the Franklin Turnpike (now partly called Passaic Street and Paramus Road) - to the state line.

In the 1927 renumbering, 17N received the Route 2 designation, and was defined to continue south from Hackensack to Route 7 at North Arlington. The extension continued south across Essex Street on Polifly Road, Terrace Avenue and Hackensack Street to East Rutherford, leaving on Ridge Road to its end at Route 7. A bypass from Ridge Road at the Lyndhurst/Rutherford line to Terrace Avenue in Hasbrouck Heights was soon completed, and by 1936 the whole old road north of Rutherford was bypassed by a new four-lane divided highway. The road from U.S. Route 46 to Route 4 was built with all cross traffic handled by bridges, while, north of Route 4, frequent U-turn ramps, rather than standard intersections, provided a means of crossing the highway.

In the meantime, New York had numbered its State Routes, and the extension of New Jersey's Route 17 north and west to Westfield, New York was numbered Route 17. New Jersey had not assigned a Route 17 in the 1927 renumbering, and so in March 1942, New Jersey's Route 2 was numbered Route 17 to match and provide a single number for military caravans during World War II.

The road north of Route 3 has been gradually rebuilt to higher standards, with the last traffic light north of U.S. Route 46 (Lake Street in Ramsey) eliminated ca. 1990 by an interchange.

Since at least 1936, Route 17 was planned for upgrading to a freeway, not only north of US 46 but south to the Newark area. This plan was later refined for a southern terminus of Interstate 280 in Harrison, but was canceled. The ca. 1972 interchange at Route 3 was built to allow for this southern extension.

In 1972, there were plans to extend Route 17 past Route 3. The plans for the five-mile extension were cancelled, then brought up again in 1987, then finally scrapped.

[edit] Route 2N

Route 2N was defined in 1938 to run from Route 2 (Ridge Road, now Route 17) in Lyndhurst west along Kingsland Avenue and over the Passaic River on the Park Avenue Bridge into Nutley, where it would end at Union Avenue (west of Route 7). It does not appear to have been taken over or signed.