New Jersey Route 25

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Route 25
Formed: 1927-1953
New Jersey State Highway Routes
< NJ 24 NJ 26 >

Route 25 was a major state highway in New Jersey, United States prior to the 1953 renumbering, running from the Benjamin Franklin Bridge in Camden to the Holland Tunnel in Jersey City. The number was retired in the renumbering, as the whole road was followed by various U.S. Routes - U.S. Route 30 coming off the bridge in Camden, US 130 from the Camden area north to near New Brunswick, US 1 to Tonnelle Circle in Jersey City, and US 1 Business (since renamed NJ 139) to the Holland Tunnel.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Routes 1 and 2: 1916-1927

In 1916, two routes were defined by the state legislature:

Route 1 used the existing Lincoln Highway from Elizabeth to New Brunswick, except for two sections between Rahway and New Brunswick (where the Lincoln Highway largely used the old Essex and Middlesex Turnpike). A new alignment was built on the northwest side of the Pennsylvania Railroad (now Amtrak's Northeast Corridor) in Woodbridge Township and Edison to avoid two grade crossings, and a detour over existing streets was made in Metuchen to avoid another one in favor of an underpass. This route, including the realignments, was taken over in 1919, except between the south border of Rahway and downtown Metuchen, which was acquired in 1918.

South of New Brunswick, Route 1 used the old New Brunswick and Cranbury Turnpike (Georges Road) to Cranbury and the Bordentown and South Amboy Turnpike to Robbinsville. At Robbinsville it turned west on Nottingham Way, running to the Trenton line on Greenwood Avenue. This section was all taken over in 1919.

Route 2 left Trenton on Broad Street, known as the White Horse Road to White Horse. At White Horse it turned south on what was known as the White Horse Road Extension and Trenton Road, intersecting the Bordentown and South Amboy Turnpike northeast of Bordentown. There it turned southwest along the turnpike, named Park Street in Bordentown, continuing on the Florence Road (old Burlington Turnpike) through Florence Township to Burlington. From Burlington Route 2 kept going southwest on the Westfield and Camden Turnpike, ending at the Camden border at Westfield Avenue. This was also taken over in 1919.

Several amendments in 1922 added to the routes. Route 2 was extended southwest through Camden to the proposed Ben Franklin Bridge, and a spur was added from Five Points northwest to the Tacony-Palmyra Ferry. More important was the extension of Route 1 north to the planned Holland Tunnel.

[edit] Route 1 Extension: 1922-1932

A map of the extension
A map of the extension

The Route 1 Extension is considered to be the first "super highway" in the United States. [1] The highway was built to carry large amounts of traffic from the Holland Tunnel to the rest of the country. The south end of the extension was at Edgar Road in Linden, just south of Elizabeth and the Bayway Circle. Edgar Road had been built as a shunpike in the 1800s, and now serves as part of U.S. Route 1/9 south of the extension.

The road was built from 1927 to 1932, with all but the Pulaski Skyway finished by 1930. It was a full freeway, mostly elevated, from four blocks west of the Holland Tunnel to Newark Airport, and a high-speed surface road from there to Elizabeth (and beyond).

In summer 1923 the Highway Commission decided that it would be an entirely new route, from the Lincoln Highway (Route 1) southwest of Elizabeth to the Holland Tunnel. Existing roads, which passed through downtown Newark, were already experiencing major congestion. Frederick Lavis, Assistant Construction Engineer of the New Jersey State Highway Department, explained this decision:

The new highway will be the easterly end of the Lincoln Highway and will carry the greater part of the travel between New Jersey coast resorts, and Trenton, Philadelphia and points south of New York. It was to be made part of one of the main through routes from and to New York. It was stated that this route would undoubtedly be used as a main artery of transportation by trucks carrying freight from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and adjacent points to and from New York.
It was reported that the highway will assume many of the characteristics of a railway, except that the rolling stock will be autos and auto trucks. It was pointed out that in order that the maximum amount of traffic could pass, the highway would have to be free from interruption.

It was also decided that the road would have a minimum width of 50 feet, which would be enough room for five lanes (presumably with a center suicide lane). At the time, it often took two or three hours to go the fifteen miles from New York City to the far border of Elizabeth, and the new highway would take off over an hour. Grades would be at most 3.5%, and curves would have radii of at least 1000 feet.

[edit] Construction

As part of the Holland Tunnel project, the Interstate Tunnel Commission widened the four blocks of 12th and 14th Streets in Jersey City from Jersey Avenue to Provost Street. 12th Street was widened to 100 feet west of Grove Street, with the remaining block, at the toll plaza, being 160 feet wide. 14th Street, and the two blocks of Jersey Avenue carrying westbound traffic to the 12th Street Viaduct, were widened to 100 feet. The Port of New York Authority later built the 14th Street Viaduct to avoid the turns to and from Jersey Street, but turned it over to the New Jersey State Highway Commission.

As part of the project, current U.S. Route 1-9 Truck was built under the Pennsylvania Railroad at Charlotte Circle and east to Tonnelle Circle. This was bypassed by the Pulaski Skyway, the last part of the route to be built; prior to its completion, traffic used what is now US 1-9 Truck.

The city of Elizabeth opposed the alignment along Spring Street, preferring the use of Division Street, but lost the argument.

section opening date
Section 20 - Edgar Road to Jersey Street, including the Elizabeth River Viaduct between June 29 and July 4, 1930
Jersey Street to North Avenue used the existing Spring Street
North Avenue Elizabeth to South Street Newark
Section 5 - from South Street to Wilson Avenue
Section 4 - north of Wilson Avenue		 December 16, 1928 (northbound side 1949)
Pulaski Skyway November 24, 1932
The underpass under the Pennsylvania Railroad at Charlotte Circle, now U.S. 1-9 Truck soon before March 17, 1929
Section 3 - now U.S. Route 1-9 Truck from Charlotte Circle to Tonnelle Circle
Section 2 - cut through the Palisades (now NJ 139)		 December 16, 1928
Section 1 - 12th Street Viaduct July 4, 1927 (parallel 14th Street Viaduct February 13, 1951)
Holland Tunnel November 13, 1927

[edit] Route 25: 1927-1953

In the 1927 renumbering, the majority of the Jersey City-Camden corridor, made of Routes 1 and 2, was assigned Route 25. The one major difference was near Trenton; the new Route 25 bypassed Trenton via the old Bordentown and South Amboy Turnpike, cutting from Route 1 at Robbinsville southwest to Route 2 at Bordentown. Route 1 west from Robbinsville to Trenton became part of Route 33, and Route 2 became part of Route 37 from Trenton to White Horse and Route 39 from White Horse to Bordentown. Additionally, the former Route 1 between Elizabeth and New Brunswick became part of Route 27; a new alignment was planned from Elizabeth to south of New Brunswick, running east of the existing road and connecting directly with the Route 1 Extension. The short spur to the Tacony-Palmyra Ferry became Route S41N.

Also in 1927, U.S. Route 1 was assigned to Route 25 north of the New Brunswick area (temporarily signed along Route 27 until Route 25 was finished) and U.S. Route 130 was assigned south to Camden.

North of New Brunswick, the new 50 foot (15 m) wide alignment was completed September 27, 1930; the last part to open was the reconstruction of Edgar Road through Linden, held up by a grade crossing elimination with the Baltimore and New York Railroad. The part of old Route 1 to the south border of New Brunswick became Route 25M. The Pulaski Skyway opened in 1932; sources disagree about whether the old route (U.S. Route 1-9 Truck) became another Route 25M, Route 25T, or an un-suffixed section of 25. (The eastern half of the old road was part of post-1927 New Jersey Route 1.)

The embankment in Newark was doubled ca. 1949, with a new four-lane northbound roadway. The 12th Street Viaduct in Jersey City was supplemented with the 14th Street Viaduct, opened on February 13, 1951.

Many bypasses were built south of New Brunswick:

In the 1953 renumbering, the whole route was decommissioned in favor of the U.S. Routes that were signed along it - US 30, US 130, US 1 and US 1 Business.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

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