New Jersey Roads - NJ 439

NJ 439


NJ 439 is a remnant of when Staten Island had both NY 439 (the Goethals Bridge and Verrazano Narrows Bridge) and NY 440 (the Bayonne Bridge and Outerbridge Crossing), and both of those routes came into New Jersey on bridges that ended in traffic circles. When I-278 came through and took over both of NY 439's bridges (wiping out the related circle in the process), NYSDOT gave up the surface route to local control, but NJDOT kept the semicircular route. Interestingly, originally NJ 28 turned onto 439 and was the route to the Goethals, until New Jersey in 1953 renumbered several border-crossing routes to match New York.


Nonreflective LGS, southbound at CR 623 (N. Broad St.).


Old Verrazano Narrows Bridge sign on NJ 439 SB, possibly dating from before I-278 was patched onto the Goethals Bridge and across Staten Island. No idea why the bridge from Staten Island to Brooklyn is signed here in NJ when one must first cross the Goethals Bridge to get there at all.


Off I-278 Exit 2, the Bayway is NJ 439 from here northward in a half-circle around Elizabeth, so the TO plate should move one shield down. The Bayway meets US 1 and US 9 in a converted circle (now just a wide intersection with left-turn queuing room in the middle). Whatever you do, don't stay on the Bayway eastward past I-278, because going straight and/or turning around is accomplished via deeply rutted roads.


Another old bridge shield, at the southern end of NJ 439 and the onramp to I-278 EB.


Saving the best for last, even if it might be slightly north of the above photo (I don't remember), this is a mixed LGS and BGS the equal of which I've never seen in NJ. Any BGS this old would have button copy, but no LGS has panels across it. To me, that makes this Port Authority signage (non-trapezoidal, sadly), probably from the late 1960's or early 1970's. Yes, it could date from when this interchange was completed and I-278 designated across the Goethals Bridge.

Continue east on North Avenue
Onto I-278
Onto CR 514
To US 1-9
To the Garden State Parkway
See more of Elizabeth
Into Union County
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