New Jersey State Highway 19
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New Jersey State Highway 19 is a mostly freeway-standard state highway in New Jersey. It runs from a complicated interchange with US 46 and the Garden State Parkway in Clifton, past an interchange with I-80, to Main Street (unsigned CR 509) in downtown Paterson, with the Inner Loop Road continuing straight. Its main purpose is to connect the Parkway to I-80 and downtown Paterson. The south end of the road is just south of the US 46 overpass, with Broad Street (CR 509) continuing south.
History
What is now NJ 19 was once planned as the Paterson spur of the Garden State Parkway. In addition, NJDOT planned an extension of NJ 20 around the west side of Paterson, which was to connect to the spur at I-80. The Parkway only built the first bit of the spur, connecting to Broad Street, and NJDOT decided to build the rest and extend the NJ 20 designation along it.
The Parkway spur, connecting the Parkway to Broad Street, opened on January 4, 1955 along with the adjacent Parkway section. The exit from the spur to Broad Street (onto which traffic was forced) was numbered exit 155P; this number has since been shifted to the mainline exit for NJ 19.
The road was built to I-80. By 1988, the plan to connect the road to NJ 20 was cancelled, and on January 5, 1988 it was renumbered to NJ 19. The unconnected ramps at I-80 were connected to a new road into downtown Paterson.
External links
- NYCroads.com - NJ 19 Freeway (http://www.nycroads.com/roads/NJ-19/)
- NJDOT - NJ 19 (http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/sldiag/00000019__-.pdf) straight line diagram (PDF)
References
- Struggles Beset Jersey Parkway, New York Times January 5, 1955 page 84