New Jersey Route 94

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Route 94

94th Infantry Division Memorial Highway
Maintained by NJDOT

Length:

45.94 mi^[1] (73.93 km)

Formed:

1953 (1927 as Route 8)

South end:

Near

PA 611 in Knowlton

Major
junctions:

US 46 in Knowlton

I-80 in Knowlton

US 206 in Newton

NJ 15 in Lafayette

NJ 23 in Hamburg

North end:

NY 94 in Vernon

New Jersey State Highway Routes
< NJ 93		I-95 >

Route 94 is a state highway in New Jersey, United States, running 45.94 miles (73.93 km) from the Portland-Columbia Toll Bridge over the Delaware River in Knowlton Township near the Pennsylvania border, to the New York state line in Vernon Township. New York State Route 94 then continues to Newburgh, New York.

1 Route description
2 History
3 Major intersections
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Route description

While the route always went southwest to northeast it was originally designated as an east/westbound road. By the early 1970s though the direction of the road is the same its designated now as a north/south route in New Jersey.

The Portland-Columbia Toll Bridge northbound aligns with Route 94 northbound at its southern terminus in Knowlton Township, which is largely rural, and then into Blairstown Township, where there are some businesses as well as homes.^[1] It runs concurrently for a few hundred yards to County Route 521 in Blairstown, and then Route 521 eventually heads northeast through Hardwick Township. Route 94 continues northeast through Frelinghuysen Township as it leaves Warren County and enters Sussex County at Fredon Township.^[1]

The road continues as a two-lane road and enters the town of Newton, New Jersey.^[1] A mile into Newton, Route 94 runs into County Route 519 which runs northbound. The roads at the point begin to run concurrent. Less than a mile in downtown Newton, both Routes 94 and 519 intersect with U.S. Route 206. At this point all three roads run concurrent for a few hundred yards. Then Route 519 turns to the left on Mill Street. Routes 206 and 94 continue their concurrent run out of Newton and into Hampton Township, where a small shopping district with some large businesses line the road. The road is a two-lane road with a third middle lane used as a turning-only lane. As the businesses become less abundant in Hampton Township the routes separate as Route 206 stays straight north and Route 94 turns right and continues its northeast direction.^[1]

NJ 94 north turns off on Route 15

Route 94 heads into Lafayette Township and several miles later intersects with Route 15.^[1] The roads run concurrent for a quarter of a mile. Route 15 stays straight and heads southeast as route 94 turns at a right hand jug-handle and heads left and northeast. The two roads are for this portion in a wrong-way concurrency, as Route 94 is listed as North and Route 15 as South. The route enters Sparta Township and then Hardyston Township. The road then goes through Hamburg and back into Hardyston Township. Several miles later the route enters Vernon. At this point a few businesses line the road and the speed limit goes down to 35 to 40 MPH. In Vernon, County Route 517 intersects with Route 94 and for about half a mile Route 94 north runs concurrent with County Route 517 south. Route 517 then turns right and heads south. Route 94 passes Mountain Creek, Crystal Springs, and several other businesses. Several more miles northeast route 94 runs into County Route 515 at a three-way intersection. Route 515 south heads right and routes 94 and 515 north head left and run concurrently for several miles. Route 515 then turns left while route 94 heads straight for several more miles to its north end at the New York State line.^[1]

Route 94 continues as NY-94.^[1] In New York State, the road goes through the Town of Town of Warwick including Warwick Village and Florida. The road continues through Chester, Blooming Grove, Washingtonville, Vails Gate, New Windsor, and Newburgh. The New York road ends at the intersection of U.S. Route 9W on the west side of the Hudson River.^[2]

At Route 94's south end, the road connects directly to US 46 east and less than half a mile there is an exit to the Portland-Columbia Bridge, which crosses the Delaware River, connecting to Pennsylvania Route 611. Also, in a complex interchange, it connects to Interstate 80 east and west.

[edit] History

In the 1927 renumbering, Route 8 was defined to run from Route 6 (now U.S. Route 46) at the Delaware Bridge northwest to Columbia and then northeast to Route 31 (now U.S. Route 206) in Newton. Past Newton, Route 31 continued northeast to the New York state line (current US 206 was Route S31). In the original version of the renumbering bill, Route 31 was to reach the border via Sussex, incorporating pre-1927 Route 8 (now Route 284) from Sussex to the line. However, in the final version, Route 31 ran via Hamburg, using the same alignment as a planned spur of pre-1927 Route 8 from Lafayette to North Church.

Route 8 was taken over by the state from 1928 to 1933, except in Newton, where it was taken over in 1951. On the other hand, by 1953, only one section of Route 31 north of the Route S31 (now U.S. Route 206) split had been taken over - |North Church to Hamburg in 1930.

In the 1953 renumbering, Route 8 was renumbered to Route 94, which was extended northeast past Newton along former Route 31 to the New York state line, matching New York State Route 94 across the border. It was initially only marked south of Hamburg, as none of the route north of Hamburg was state-maintained. Originally Route 94 began in the south end at the now razed Delaware Bridge where US 46 would cross into Pennsylvania. Route 94 would wind right and north-east a few miles onto its original route and a small river road known as Old Mine Road would continue straight. That year though a several mile section of Old Mine Road was rebuilt and aligned as a four lane freeway toward one of two new toll bridges. In late 1953, the new Portland-Columbia Toll Bridge and Delaware Water Gap Toll Bridge opened. U.S. Route 46 was rerouted over the first several miles of Route 94 to end at the New Jersey side of it, and Route 94 was truncated to the same spot. Route 46 would then end and the road would become a four lane road as Route 611 would turn on it at the Portland-Columbia Toll Bridge. Almost immediately after that Route 94 would turn left and northeast at a three way intersection with a caution light. Straight ahead though Route 611 would become as divided freeway crossing several miles later at Delaware Water Gap Toll Bridge. When U.S. Route 611 was removed from the bridge in the very early 70's, Route 94 was technically extended to the state line. By 1973 this whole area was realigned into a complex interchange as the New Jersey portion of Interstate 80 was completed.

The route north of the U.S. Route 206 split, except where it was already state-maintained (North Church to Hamburg), was taken over May 3, 1963.

[edit] Major intersections

County	Location	Mile^[1]	Roads intersected	Notes
Warren	Knowlton Township	0.00	near PA 611	Pennsylvania border
		0.12	US 46
		0.47	I-80	Exit 4B (I-80)
	Blairstown	9.16	CR 521	Begin/end concurrency
	Blairstown	9.43	CR 521	Begin/end concurrency
Sussex	Newton	22.16	CR 519	Western terminus of CR 519.
	Newton	22.47	US 206	Begin/end concurrency
	Hampton Township	24.91	US 206	Begin/end concurrency
	Lafayette Township	27.70	NJ 15	Begin/end concurrency
	Lafayette Township	28.00	NJ 15	Begin/end concurrency
	Hamburg	35.61	NJ 23
	Vernon Township	38.23	CR 517	Begin/end concurrency
		38.62	CR 517	Begin/end concurrency
		41.76	CR 515	Northern terminus of CR 515.
		45.94	NY 94	Northern terminus of NJ 94.