Because trucks just can't handle the Pulaski Skyway.

Signage on the EB Ferry Street approach, the local Newark street that feeds directly into the old Lincoln Highway aka US 1-9 Truck.


As soon as you drop down from the local lanes of US 1-9 NB, you're immediately bombarded by a bunch of signage. This is because while Exit 13A on the NJ Turnpike is at the south end of Newark Airport (NJ 81), and Exit 14 is at the north end of the airport and just two miles south of here at I-78, that's not enough, we need yet another exit, so let's call this one 15E. And for good measure, until I-280 was built in 1970, Exit 15W, another couple of miles up the road, took motorists to CR 508, which runs straight into NJ 7, which as you'll see below ends at US 1-9 Truck.


NB on Doremus Avenue in the complicated double-trumpet of the I-95/US 1-9 Truck/Doremus interchange that is due for a rebuild and a general port-area rethink. The TRUCK banner for US 1-9 SB is superfluous at this point, with barely a quarter-mile to go before it merges in with US 1-9 (which is passing overhead in the second photo).


SB on US 1-9 Truck, same area, with the last photo on the Doremus/Turnpike ramp and missing its I-95 shield. NJDOT needs to wake up and realize the NJ Turnpike is not a destination - and that including it on every sign with a shield is ridiculously redundant. How about telling motorists that the Turnpike is a good way to get to, say, New Brunswick, or Trenton, or Camden? Or, gee, New York City. Oh wait, no one would recognize that one.


Next to the second Doremus Avenue photo, in the great tangle of roadways that occurs as SB US 1-9 Truck tries to sort itself out between Newark-bound traffic along Raymond Blvd. and Airport/SB traffic along US 1-9. Same comment as before - don't need the TRUCK anymore.




For a road that spends its short life suffixed and used primarily by trucks, US 1-9 Truck sure is important, spawning a major E-W route across the Meadowlands and an even more major N-S route that goes through Staten Island and eventually becomes I-287. Now... what's US 1&9T? Hopefully, it's just one contractor's interpretation of how to sign a Truck route, because I much prefer the method of sticking a TRUCK banner above the shields, and the ampersand was ditched for the hyphen by NJDOT years ago. The shields here are generally wonky; those on the BGS stick out beyond their black backgrounds (and why does an Interstate shield need a white background, RIDOT? I mean NJDOT?), and the new-style NJ 440 shield (the last 440 photo) is much boxier and less elegant than the normal one (first 440 photo) or the old one (middle photo). All five photos taken SB.


On Communipaw Ave. WB, which goes straight into US 1-9 Truck SB, which leads to the routes on this city-installed sign. There should be an NJ 440 there too.


Hey look, a picture from the Skyway snuck in here! The LGS on the right corresponds to the Tonnele Avenue exit from the Skyway, where US 1 and 9 drop off the Skyway and spawn NJ 139 toward the Holland Tunnel. The LGS's on the left were on US 1-9 Truck, hence their inclusion. Just as on US 46, there are two arrows pointing to one lane, although of course it refers to the fact that two lanes will go toward the Holland. Interestingly, there's no mention that the road one takes to the Lincoln Tunnel is US 1-9.


Same photo, taken more recently, and the Lincoln Tunnel overhead is gone.


Right before the end, you can see on the left that there are a lot of directions to turn. Actually, the middle lane's straight and the right lane's bent right are the same direction - due to the construction of the Skyway overhead, the two lanes separate around a support column, then rejoin and merge with the Skyway ramps to become NJ 139 Lower.


Best for last! I'll just let you savor these ancient signs at the Tonnelle Circle, with NJ 139 EB straight or to the right (two roadways are needed due to the pillars holding up the Skyway approach). This is it, the northern end of US 1-9 Truck. See a closeup of the 1930's-original gantry or the 1960's overhead signs by clicking on either side of the photo.

Back to US 1-9 main page
Onto US 1-9 NB
Onto US 1-9 SB
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Onto NJ 7
Onto NJ 440
Onto the NJ Turnpike, I-95
Onto NJ 139
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