New Jersey Route 7
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
|||||||||
| Route 7 |
|||||||||
| Maintained by NJDOT, Passaic County, and Township of Nutley | |||||||||
| Length: | 10.10 mi[1] (16.25 km) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| East end: |    US 1-9 TRUCK in Jersey City |
||||||||
| Major junctions: |
 CR 508 in Kearny NJ 17 in North Arlington NJ 21 in Belleville |
||||||||
| North end: | Clifton/Nutley town line | ||||||||
|
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||
Route 7 is a state highway in New Jersey, United States. It has two sections, an east-west alignment from Jersey City to Belleville, and a north-south alignment from Belleville to Nutley. Even though the section from Jersey City to Belleville is signed east-west and does not connect directly to the other segment, the New Jersey Department of Transportation lists Route 7 as a single north-south highway with a small gap between alignments. The entire highway has a combined length of 10.10 miles (16.25 km).
[edit] Route description
The eastern segment of Route 7 is signed in an east-west alignment that runs from U.S. Route 1-9 Truck in Jersey City to Route 21 in Belleville. (This route was once the route of an aqueduct carrying water to Jersey City.) This stretch of road is known for most of its length as the Belleville Turnpike. East of its intersection with County Route 508, its name changes to Newark and Jersey City Turnpike. Route 7 crosses the Hackensack River between Kearny and Jersey City on the Wittpenn Bridge.
The western segment of Route 7 is signed in a north-south alignment that runs from the Newark/Belleville town line to the Clifton/Nutley town line. This section uses Washington Avenue in Belleville, Nutley, and Clifton, Kingsland Road in Clifton, Kingsland Street and Cathedral Avenue in Nutley, and the section ends at the Essex/Passaic county boundary less than one-half mile from Route 3. Prior to the 1950s, this segment of Route 7 had been extended south to Newark and north to Paterson.
Rutgers Street in Belleville, is used to connect the two sections, and is named for Colonel Henry Rutgers, an American Revolutionary War hero and benefactor of what is now Rutgers University. It is signed as part of NJ 7, but it is officially part of County Route 506. Section 2 of NJ 7 is not signed between the Second River and Rutgers Street except on overhead signs suspended from traffic signals.
