New Jersey State Highway 17
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New Jersey State Highway 17 is a state highway in New Jersey, United States. It runs from the Belleville Turnpike (New Jersey State Highway 7) in North Arlington, New Jersey to a multiplex with Interstate 287 (see Interstate 87) in Mahwah, New Jersey at the border with the State of New York. It loosely connects with New York State Highway 17. Total length of the road is 27.2 miles (43.77 km), all in Bergen County.
History
Prior to 1928, a state highway designated 17 ran from Hackensack to Mahwah along local roads. Legislation in 1923 authorized a Route No. 17N to begin in Newark and continue to the New York state line. In 1928, the current highway was commissioned as NJ 2, with the section north of Hackensack generally paralleling old NJ 17. The road was complete by 1934.
During World War II, New Jersey changed the number back to NJ 17 in order to make its connection to NY 17 clear.
Since the 1970s, a road through the New Jersey Meadowlands between I-280 and NJ 3 has been proposed. The NJ 17/NJ 3 interchange was designed to accommodate this extension, but the road has never been built.
Route Description
Starting from the Belleville Turnpike, NJ 17 heads north-northeast on Ridge Road, a two-lane local street with speed limits of 25 to 35 mph (40 to 56 km/h), through North Arlington and Lyndhurst. At Rutherford Avenue, on the border of Rutherford, it turns right and heads for the edge of the New Jersey Meadowlands. A complicated interchange takes the highway onto the course NJ 17 might follow if it is ever built through the Meadowlands.
At the NJ 3 interchange in Rutherford, NJ 17 becomes a divided four-lane highway with a 50 mph (80 km/h) speed limit. It expands to six lanes just north of the interchange, and remains at that width through East Rutherford, Carlstadt, Wood-Ridge, and into Hasbrouck Heights. With the exception of a short stretch in Rutherford with a median strip, the road is divided by a Jersey barrier.
Approaching the 1932-vintage interchange with US 46, NJ 17 drops to two lanes in each direction and the lanes split. The landmark Bendix Diner is located between the traffic lanes at the intersection of Williams Avenue, the last traffic light on the road before the state line. The lanes merge briefly as the road enters Hackensack, but split again for the long interchange with Interstate 80. Along this strip, the road is again three lanes in each direction, but when the lanes merge, in Lodi, a lane drops at the Essex Street interchange on the Maywood border.
Through Maywood and Rochelle Park, the four-lane divided highway cannot be widened without considerable expense due to structures, such as overpasses and underpasses that would require complete replacement, and businesses that encroach upon the right-of-way. The result is a bottleneck and a persistent slowdown of traffic.
Finally, in Paramus, the road regains a third lane in each direction. The interchange with NJ 4 adjacent to the Garden State Plaza shopping mall was rebuilt in 1998, replacing the 1932 cloverleaf with flyover ramps. NJ 17 is flanked by businesses and shopping malls for most of its length in Paramus, and it gains additional traffic through its interchange with the Garden State Parkway (exit 163).
At Linwood Avenue, the border of Ridgewood, the penetration of businesses along the side of the road lessens dramatically. North of this point, the speed limit is 55 mph (88 km/h). There are no businesses along the road in Ho-Ho-Kus, Waldwick, or Saddle River, although noise barriers now partially block what once was a view of mostly trees.
There are businesses along the road in Allendale, Ramsey, Upper Saddle River, and Mahwah, but traffic generally flows freely through the area. Half a mile from the state line, NJ 17 merges into Interstate 287 and the two highways run concurrently into Suffern, New York, where there is an interchange with the New York State Thruway. The road continues as New York State Highway 17.
External link
- NJ 17 (http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/sldiag/00000017__-.pdf) (NJDOT straight line diagram) (PDF file)