List of unused highways in New Jersey

An unused highway may reference a highway or highway ramp that was partially or fully constructed but was unused^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]} or later closed.^[10][11][12] An unused ramp can be referred to as a stub ramp,^[13] stub street,^[2][14][15] stub-out,^[2] or simply stub.^[16][17] The following is a list:

New Jersey

Aberdeen

• There is unused pavement between an exit ramp and the southbound local lanes of the Garden State Parkway at exit 117. The exit ramp from Lloyd Road formerly ended here, but currently merges with the Parkway further east, after crossing over railroad tracks.

Bass River

• New Jersey Route 167 is a non-contiguous two-lane road separated by stub ends in Bass River Township and Port Republic, which was the original alignment of Route 9 prior to the construction of the Garden State Parkway bridge over the Mullica River in 1954. There is a 1.99-mile (3.20 km) gap in the roadway, which consisted of a former iron truss bridge over the Mullica River. The truss bridge was dismantled in 1962, and sold to the state of Virginia and the National Park Service for the National Wildlife Refuge.^[18] The abandoned pavement and ancillary bridges were torn up in 1984 as part of wetlands mitigation, but the road grading is still visible, parallel to the Parkway.

Bayonne

• Route 440 was meant to continue around the west side of Bayonne as a freeway. It originally existed as a trumpet interchange, with traffic forced to exit onto Route 169. When Route 169 was redesignated Route 440 on May 14, 2001,^[19] the trumpet was reconfigured to a U-shaped curve,^[20] removing paved ramp stubs but leaving some clearing and extra land in the Port of Bayonne.

Bedminster

• Interstate 78 has an abandoned clover ramp at the interchange with Interstate 287. The ramp was temporarily used during rehabilitation on the flyover ramp in the 1990s.^[21]

Beesleys Point

• The Garden State Parkway crossed the Great Egg Harbor River on the Beesley's Point Bridge on U.S. Route 9 while the Great Egg Harbor Bridge was being built. Once the Egg Harbor Bridge was completed, the ramps from the Parkway to U.S. 9 on the south end were left as stubs.^[22] Related to this, the Beesley's Point Bridge is now closed as of June, 2004^[23] due to expensive maintenance that has not yet begun.^[24]

Berkeley Township

• A section of CR 642/Mule Road between CR 530 ^[25] and St. Maximilian Lane ^[26] is cleared and graded, but gated off. The most common explanation given for this is that the road would pass through habitats used by the Northern Pine Snake. The Berkeley Master Plan ^[27] indicates that this is to be used for emergency access and evacuations in the event of a major storm.

Bridgewater

• The U.S. Route 202 and U.S. Route 206 concurrency has an abandoned ramp north of U.S. Route 22, as can be seen here . It was closed off between 1986 and 1995 to eliminate weaving when the Commons Way interchange was built, according to this.

Burlington

• There is an unused bridge adjacent to southbound U.S. Route 130 as it passes over the Assiscunk Creek. U.S. 130 formerly used this bridge for both directions. State Route 25 was eventually routed concurrently in the 1940s and later a new bridge to carry southbound traffic was built just to the north to dualize the route. As part of the 1953 New Jersey state highway renumbering, northbound was rerouted to a parallel street to the south,^[28] leaving the former northbound bridge unused.

Cape May Court House

• A piece of the Garden State Parkway used to begin just north of the city. It came out of U.S. Route 9 and went south. The dual carriageway configuration from US 9 was reconfigured as a southbound on-ramp to the Parkway, but the northbound ramp feeding into US 9 still exists as a stub.^[29]

East Brunswick

• A wide bridge sits over the Mill Brook adjacent to the off-ramp from Interstate 95 (New Jersey Turnpike) southbound to Route 18 (exit 9) It was used as the southbound mainline Turnpike prior to the expansion of the car/truck lanes in the 1970s.

Elizabeth

• Interstate 278 was originally planned to continue past U.S. Route 1, where there is currently a wide median and grading (but no ramp stubs), to Interstate 78 at its interchange with Route 124, where until recently there were ramp stubs between I-278 and I-78 to the west.^[30][31]
• On Interstate 278 at exit 13 with Interstate 95 (The New Jersey Turnpike), there are ramp stubs where Route 81 was originally planned to continue north. Instead, a new interchange, 13A, was constructed further north, leaving several ramp stubs and wide bridges and shoulders. One exists as a proposed ramp to I-278 eastbound , and the other exists as a proposed left exit from I-278 westbound to the proposed highway. ^[31][32] A ramp stub from I-95 to the proposed northbound Route 81 was removed sometime after 1995, at which time the merge to eastbound I-278 was realigned to merge earlier. Grading for the elevated ramp still remains.
• The northbound express lanes of U.S. Route 1/9 in front of Newark Airport formerly had a pavement stub for a future connection ramp from northbound Route 81. The majority of the pavement has since been removed but overhead lighting still follows the ramp's alignment.

Ewing

• Interstate 95 north of Trenton was supposed to turn north between exit 4 and 5 as part of the unbuilt Somerset Freeway. Evidence of this can be seen today in the form of grading for ramps to and from the Somerset portion. Ramp stubs formerly existed for all the unbuilt ramps but were eliminated when I-95 was widened from two lanes to three (sometime after the Somerset potion was canceled in 1983). Old photos of the proposed interchange show the ramp stubs in full; I-295 northbound to I-95 northbound and I-95 southbound to I-295 southbound seen here and the mainline I-95 connections can be seen here.
• Just to the west of the proposed Somerset Freeway interchange, grading remains from an old configuration of exit 4 on I-95 (Route 31). The northbound to northbound cloverleaf ramp was replaced by making the formerly south-only ramp into both north- and southbound.
• The Ewingsville Bypass was proposed and to be signed Route 31. It would have connected U.S. Route 1/the Trenton Freeway at the current Business U.S. Route 1 (Brunswick Pike) and U.S. Route 206 (Lawrenceville Road) exit with County Route 546, intersecting Interstate 95 near the current Route 31 exit. While the plans were eventually cancelled, the New Jersey Department of Transportation did go so far as to buy the right-of-way (ROW) for the freeway, which remains an empty corridor of land today,^[33] and build a ramp stub at its northern terminus. A small example of the ROW is here and the ramp is shown here but has since been removed when I-95 was widened.

Freehold

• Route 33 has unused pavement along its route. The first is a ramp from southbound Route 79 that has since been demolished. A stub is all that remains. This is the current view and the old configuration can be seen here (before the Super-2 was finished). Another ramp existed at Howell Road, where the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) kept a ramp from the newly completed bypass closed since 2003.^[34] The ramp was a concession with the Howell Road residents and as such, was found to have safety problems, so it has been blocked off on both ends. Also in this area is a small stub of pavement that suggests there was to be a Howell Road on-ramp to westbound Route 33. The last is the old alignment of the freeway: the current bypass was rerouted to avoid a turtle bog and left the originally-laid pavement vacant.^[35] The NJDOT used the segment as a maintenance yard but the now-completed new alignment has eliminated some of the extra pavement and relocated the yard access to the eastbound on-ramp. Currently, this is the scene, but it looked like this in 1995 prior to the alignment switch and this during construction of the new alignment, which shows the original maintenance yard access.

Hillsborough Township

• The New Jersey Department of Transportation is attempting to build a bypass adjacent to heavily congested U.S. Route 206 through Hillsborough and Montgomery Township in Somerset County, which had been in plans since 1974.^[36] Due to funding issues and local objections, construction is in phases with currently a "center" section of approximately 1.5 miles between Amwell Road and Hillsborough Road completed and opened to traffic on October 28, 2013.^[37]

Kearny

• Grading exists for a cloverleaf ramp from the westbound Newark Turnpike (Hudson County Route 508) to Interstate 280 west. A flyover ramp was built east of this interchange carrying the same movement that this ramp would have carried. This ramp may have been graded for while I-280 was planned to continue past the New Jersey Turnpike to the Holland Tunnel, but the cancellation of that extension and routing required by vehicles traveling between the tunnel and I-280 would have made that ramp a traffic issue and the flyover ramp was constructed instead.

Lacey

• Exit 74 on the Garden State Parkway used to be a partial Diamond interchange. The interchange was recently upgraded to build toll booths and additional ramps,^[38] one of which replaced the southbound exit ramp leaving grading and a clearance where the old ramp was. The current view can be seen here.

Madison

• Eisenhower Parkway, or Triborough Road, was never fully realized as planned. It was supposed to run from Passaic Avenue just north of Bloomfield Avenue in West Caldwell on the north end to Route 124 at the south end.^[39] The route built is only from South Orange Avenue in Livingston (southern terminus) to just north of Interstate 280 (northern terminus), serving an office park.^[39] At the north end, there is a small pavement stub hidden behind a fence and right-of-way clearing most of the way to the intended northern terminus. The southern end has Cit Drive on its right-of-way for 1/2 mile with a clearing continuing further south. Further south, there is a full unused cloverleaf interchange with Route 24, which was built in 1974, in anticipation of the southern extension.^[39] It is currently being used as an all-terrain vehicle trail.^[40]

Unused Tri-Borough Road overpass over Route 24

Millburn

• Canoe Brook Road was supposed to run from the Poet's Section neighborhood, along the perimeter of the Canoe Brook Country Club, out west to the Short Hills Mall. The section running along the country club (about 700 to 800 feet of road) is closed, but is still paved. A knoll blocks off Canoe Brook Road at the west end, and a chain blocks it off at the east end.^[41]

Neptune

• There was a gated-off road between Route 33 and Route 66 formerly named Victoria Boulevard.^[34] It was opened in 2008 and renamed Hovchild Boulevard (After a nearby office complex) when the Jersey Shore Premium Outlets opened.^[42]

Newark

• Interstate 280 was meant to connect with a Newark freeway at exit 13, Route 75. Route 75 was never built, leaving an unused on-ramp from Gould Place and six-lane ramp stub out of the center of I-280 and straight into the city, although it has since been reconfigured to an exit. Pre reconstruction shot I-280 still follows a pair of two-lane ramps to connect to the old Route 58 section. Route 75 was also proposed to intersect Interstate 78 at exit 56. The large flyover ramps constructed were converted to exit ramps to surface streets.^[43]
• There is an unused bridge over some railroad tracks in northern Newark that once carried Route 58 before it was extended and upgraded to interstate standards, eventually becoming Interstate 280.^[44] It connects to Orange St., but trees obstruct view and entry from the street.
• A ramp along the left side of eastbound U.S. Route 22 was abandoned when the Newark Airport Interchange was rebuilt in 2002.^[45] Most of the unused ramp has been removed, but an elevated portion remains as a stub ramp. This ramp formerly led to a state building and parking lot and led to northbound Route 21 and northbound U.S. Route 1/9 (for the merging southbound Route 21 traffic).
• A parking lot west of the airport was removed sometime after 1995 to add an on-ramp for U.S. Route 1/9 northbound, but a large section of pavement was left behind.

Ridgefield

• Interstate 95 (New Jersey Turnpike) originally ended at U.S. Route 46, interchange 68, in a trumpet interchange. The original U.S. 46 westbound to the I-95/Turnpike southbound ramp was mostly demolished, but an underused bridge exists over U.S. 46 as I-95 north to U.S. 46 west.^[46]

Rutherford

• Route 17 has an interesting interchange with Route 3, where it makes an abrupt direction change from its general north/south alignment to go east/west just south side of the interchange. It was first planned to intersect Interstate 280 in Harrison but this was cancelled due to a failed transportation bond referendum. A shorter extension to the New Jersey Turnpike was planned in 1987 but was not completed either.^[47]

South Brunswick

• Exit 8A on the New Jersey Turnpike originally had an exit ramp from the tollgate to Route 32 west. However, this was changed due to heavy congestion at the ramp. The turnpike ramp to Route 32 westbound was closed and a new, two-lane ramp to County Route 535 was built. The pavement from the old ramp still remains but it unaccessible.

Sparta

• Route 15 has two partially built cloverleaf interchanges along the Sparta freeway bypass.^[48] One at Blue Heron Drive has obvious ramp stubs and grading , while the other at County Route 517 has only the merge part of the ramp built. They were once used but have since been abandoned after upgrades in the '90s

Summit

A bridge to nowhere in Summit,^[49] walled off on both ends

• An unused overpass over Route 24 for Brantwood Terrace is walled off between the northbound and southbound lanes of the Morris Turnpike.

Wall Township

• Route 18 ends suddenly at the interchange with Route 138 in Wall Township. The former configuration is here . There were plans to extend Route 18 to the Brielle Circle (Route 34/35/70) but with the construction of a new ramp through the right of way as of 2003 and a plan to use the right of way as a bike path, it islikely to happen.^[50] This is the new configuration.

See also

• List of unused highways
• List of ghost towns in New Jersey

References

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