The current route was originally legislated in 1911 as part of the
Delaware River Drive, a named state highway that was proposed to run from along the Delaware River from Trenton north to the
New York border in
Montague Township. Route 29 was originally defined in 1927 to run from
Trenton to
Newark. The original route ran from downtown Trenton along State Street and Sanhican Drive. From there, it followed its current alignment to
Lambertville, where it followed present-day
Route 179 to
Ringoes to present-day
CR 514, which it followed to Woods Tavern. The route turned north on
US 206 (also designated Route 31) and followed that route to
Somerville, where it followed
US 22 to Newark. The current alignment of Route 29 from Lambertville to
Route 12 in
Frenchtown was designated Route 29A in 1927. The alignment of Route 29 between Ringoes and Somerville was eventually shifted to follow present-day
US 202, which was also
Route 30 (now
Route 31) between Ringoes and
Flemington and Route 12 between Flemington and Somerville. In 1938, Route 29B was planned as an extension of Route 29A from
Frenchtown to
Route 28 (now
Route 122) in
Alpha. While this road was never built, much of the alignment north of
Milford is served by
CR 519. In 1948, a spur route,
Route S29, was created, running along US 202 (Bridge Street) in Lambertville to the
New Hope–Lambertville Bridge. In the
1953 New Jersey state highway renumbering, Route 29 was redefined to continue north from Lambertville to Frenchtown on Route 29A, and the Route 29 designation between Lambertville and Newark was removed in favor of US 202 between Lambertville and Somerville and US 22 between Somerville and Newark. The section of former Route 29 between Route 29A and Route S29 became Route 165. Plans for a limited-access route along the Route 29 corridor go back to 1932, when a
parkway was proposed along the
Delaware River between Trenton and Lambertville; this proposal never materialized. Plans to construct a freeway from
Hamilton Township to
I-95 (now I-295) in
Ewing Township were resurrected in the early 1950s. This road was built between 1954 and 1957 from South Warren Street in Trenton to present-day I-295 in Ewing Township. From just south of Calhoun Street north to I-295, Route 29 utilized the right-of-way of what remained of the Trenton Water Power Canal, a 19th century waterway utilized by the mills of Trenton for water power. The freeway's construction resulted in the filling of the canal, and also took up much of Trenton’s available waterfront along the Delaware River, destroying a Stacy Park, a major waterfront park, despite
protests, which contributed to the population decline and economic impoverishment of Trenton over the ensuing decades. The former alignment of Route 29 in the northern part of Trenton and in Ewing Township became
Route 175. Between 1990 and 1995, the Route 29 freeway was built between the I-195/I-295 interchange and
Route 129 in Hamilton Township. A two-lane street, Lamberton Road, connected the two freeway sections. Plans were then made to fill the gap between the two freeway sections in Trenton. Construction began in 1997 on the Route 29 freeway between Route 129 and the
Morrisville–Trenton Railroad Bridge. The road was to include two traffic lights at Cass Street and South Warren Street and a tunnel which was to be built as a covered roadway on the bank of the Delaware River. The tunnel was originally scheduled to be complete by 2001 but was delayed after the
Army Corps of Engineers discovered many environmental violations that occurred with construction of the tunnel. The roof was put in place in October 2001 and the tunnel officially opened to traffic on March 2, 2002. A restriction to trucks over 13 tons was put in place and made permanent in November 2002. By the 2000s, the state gave the part of Route 29 (South Main Street) between Route 165 and
Route 179 in
Lambertville to the city, and Route 29 was rerouted to use all of Route 165 and one block of Route 179. Prior to this, South Main Street had been turned one-way southbound. Route 165, which is only signed on overhead street signs, still exists, though it is fully concurrent with Route 29. During the 1960s the War Memorial and the surrounding circle were bypassed by a realignment of Route 29 closer to the Delaware River. In 1960, the
New Jersey Legislature designated the portion of Route 29 north of Trenton as the
Daniel Bray Highway to commemorate
American Revolutionary War Captain
Daniel Bray, a native of Kingwood Township. In talks since the 1980s, the section of Route 29 in Trenton has been considered being redeveloped in order to connect city residents with the waterfront once again. In July 2023, Trenton was granted $1.016 million from the
Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission to study proposals for redevelopment of the waterfront. The main plan is to turn Route 29 into an urban boulevard, as well as build a new
mixed-used community adjacent to the waterfront, which includes a few new streets. The new layout for Route 29 would veer the road slightly inland to open up the waterfront between the
State House and
Route 1, aligning the new boulevard with the original road along Stacy Park. Additionally, the area around Riverview Plaza is supposed to receive pedestrian and cycling improvements as a part of the new
Delaware River Heritage Trail. The main area of redevelopment, which mostly consists of parking lots surrounding governmental buildings, will include various developments, including low and mid-rise mixed use residential buildings, an office building in the lot adjacent to the
NJ Department of Labor building, a
public square, expansion of greenery around the
William Trent House, and a new
parking facility. There is currently no timeframe for when construction would begin. ==Major intersections==