Routes 1 and 2: 1916-1927 In 1916, two routes were defined by the state legislature: •
Route 1, from the south border of
Elizabeth via
Rahway and
Metuchen to the north border of
New Brunswick, and from the south border of New Brunswick via
Hightstown and
Robbinsville to the east border of
Trenton. •
Route 2, from the south border of Trenton via
White Horse,
Bordentown and
Burlington to the north border of
Camden.
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 around existing streets was made in Metuchen to avoid another one in favor of a
tunnel. 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
Benjamin 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.
Route 1 Extension: 1922-1932 The
Route 1 Extension is considered to be the first
controlled-access highway or "super-highway" in the United States. The highway was built to carry large amounts of traffic from the
Holland Tunnel to the rest of New Jersey. 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
turnpike in the 19th century, and now serves as part of
U.S. Route 1/9 south of the extension. The road was built from 1925 to 1932. All, but the
Pulaski Skyway, was finished by 1930. It was a full
freeway, mostly elevated on
embankments or
viaducts, from four blocks west of the
Holland Tunnel to just north of
Newark Airport, and a high-speed surface road from there to Elizabeth (and beyond). In summer of 1923, the NJ State Highway Commission decided that it would be an entirely new route, from the
Lincoln Highway (Route 1) southwest of Elizabeth to the Holland Tunnel. It was also decided that the road would have a minimum width of , which would be enough room for five lanes. The center one was intended as a vehicle breakdown lane since there were no
shoulders, but was used as a
"suicide lane" for passing slower traffic. At the time, it often took two or three hours to go the from New York City to the far border of
Elizabeth, and the new highway would reduce travel time by over an hour. largely became Route 25 in the
1927 renumbering and Route 1 again in the
1953 highway renumbering in New Jersey. 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 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 Railway. 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 in 1949 with a new four-lane northbound roadway. The
Port of New York Authority, which superseded the two state tunnel commissions and took over authority for the Holland Tunnel, built the 14th Street Viaduct in order to avoid the turns to and from Jersey Avenue, but turned over authority over the viaduct to the New Jersey State Highway Commission. The four-lane, westbound viaduct, which was connected to the 12th Street Viaduct, was opened on February 13, 1951. Many bypasses were built south of New Brunswick: •
Burlington, (as Route 2), (ca. 1925) •
Pennsauken Township to
Airport Circle east of Camden, (ca. 1927) •
Bordentown, (ca. 1928) • Completed from Airport Circle west to the
Benjamin Franklin Bridge, (now
U.S. Route 30), (ca. 1929) •
Hightstown and
Cranbury, (ca. 1937) •
South Brunswick Township, (ca. 1942) •
Yardville, (the old road became
Route 156), (ca. 1952) 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. ==Major intersections==