New Jersey State Highway 81
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New Jersey State Highway 81 is a state highway in New Jersey, United States. It is the unsigned short connector between Exit 13A of the New Jersey Turnpike and the multiplex of U.S. 1 and U.S. 9 near Newark Airport. It runs for 1.18 miles (1.90 km), entirely within the City of Elizabeth.
The original plan, floated about 1965, was to connect the airport with Elizabeth Seaport, bypassing Humboldt Avenue, which at the time was designated as NJ 164. The road would run parallel to the Turnpike from Exit 13 north to the vicinity of North Avenue, and then head west along the southern edge of the airport to U.S. 1 & 9, which was already being upgraded into a freeway. There are still ghost ramps standing that would have accommodated this alignment.
The city of Elizabeth had already been split by the Turnpike and resisted the notion of a parallel highway tearing the city up further. As a compromise, the Turnpike Authority built interchange 13A as a connection to a shorter NJ 81, which opened in June 1982. The only designation of the road on state signage is an overhead traffic light sign at Dowd Avenue and one of the highway's ramps.
Exit 13A, in turn, revitalized the Elizabeth Seaport area. A retail center has arisen on the east side of the Turnpike, accessible via North Avenue, one of the exits off NJ 81.
External links
- NJ 81 Straight Line Diagram (http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/sldiag/00000081__-.pdf) (NJ Department of Transportation - PDF file)
- NJ 81 (http://www.nycroads.com/roads/NJ-81/) (NYC Roads)