New Jersey Roads - US 22
The free bridge between Easton, PA and Phillipsburg, NJ, that was once NJSHR 28/US 22.
The signals WB, strange in that red is to the right of green. Of course, all lanes can be closed if needed, and the leftmost lane is always off limits.
From the free bridge, the current US 22 toll bridge. This would have been I-78 had NJ been able to upgrade the three miles of US 22 between here and I-78, eliminating traffic lights and businesses. With Phillipsburg's and Alpha's livelihoods in the balance, that upgrade never came about, and the admittedly substandard US 22 freeway in Pennsylvania lost its chance at being I-78. The current alignment of 78 is much more suited to the traffic generated by development since then, anyway, since it combines more capacity with being a separate road (meaning that there are at minimum four lanes in each direction between 78 and 22, versus just the limits of one corridor).
On the WB toll bridge approach, just after the toll, reminding you just what the keystone shape means.
But I took that photo from the last exit in New Jersey, where I continued straight (first photo - Hillcrest Blvd.) and then turned left toward the free bridge (second photo - Broad St.). When the toll bridge opened, the roads in the area were reconstructed in concrete; US 22 followed the divided highway down here, curving left to the old tollbooth (now part of a parking lot next to the new one), then tying into the bridge at the curve just to the east. The proof is that the name Memorial Parkway, US 22 west of NJ 57, follows Hillcrest Boulevard to its end instead of using the new bridge. This image, courtesy SPUI, shows the various routings of US 22, and why Morris Street, which continues straight from Memorial Pkwy. at the bridge, was never part of 22. (22 or its Alternate always followed NJSHR 28, and NJSHR 24 is now mostly NJ 57.) There are still stubs for Main St. NB: one where it bore right at an entrance to the toll plaza parking lot, and one across from what is now the beginning of N. Main St. That's why Main and N. Main are so far apart now.
Courtesy SPUI, these signs were once located on 3rd St./Hillcrest Blvd. at the last entrance to the toll plaza. The EB sign is notable for button copy, and the WB sign is notable for including I-78. I-78 was removed from the PA side of US 22 in the 1970's when it was clear the freeway would never be completed into New Jersey.
Eastbound beginning of NJ 57, which was once NJ 24 all the way to Morristown. Click on second photo for closeup. It's interesting that US 22 is signed as exiting from itself; while the 22-57 movement mirrors the original state highway (US 22/NJSHR 28 followed what is now NJ 122 and was US 22 Alternate), it's certainly not overwhelmingly the through movement, and much more traffic is following 22.
WB in Phillipsburg, at a Warren County route that should be proud of its county and not hide the name.
Former US 22 Alternate, the original route into Phillipsburg, now truncated before it ever gets to the free bridge.
Back to US 22, EB. The I-78 shield is on the left side of the highway at the first BGS.
This abandoned driveway connector is right by the second NJ 122 sign above, on the EB side of US 22. Abandoned driveways aren't amazingly special, but brand-new STOP and DO NOT ENTER signs erected at the end of a glorified sidewalk merit inclusion here. Notice the stop bar.
WB exiting I-78, starting at the merge with NJ 173 (old US 22).
EB just past NJ 122, where US 22 joins I-78 for 15 miles. I-78 was upgraded on the spot from US 22 for much of this length, leaving NJ 173 behind as a two-lane remnant and frontage road.
WB at the beginning of that same multiplex, where I-78 Exit 18 joins the roadway briefly to share the Annandale exit (Beaver Road).
If you take the US 22 East exit from I-78, only at the bottom of the grade do you find out that you can make a U-turn to either get into Annandale from heading eastbound, or end up heading westbound from exiting Annandale. And there's a state-name shield, too! US 22 East is straight ahead.
On Main Street in Lebanon, an old alignment of US 22.
Old sign EB at the US 202/US 206 multiplex.
Heading east from there, I vastly prefer the assembly-on-a-sign in the first photo to the NJ shield errors in the other photos. Hey, there's even a state-name Interstate shield there! The second of the four NJ 22 photos shows how inane the whole detour is. Right there is a jughandle which makes a U-turn easy, but inexplicably traffic is signed to continue straight! I understand if the Thompson Ave. detour needs to use CR 527 for the U-turn, but any other traffic looking to head west instead of east should not face conflicting messages from signs and reality. Reality needs to win.
Original NJSHR 29 county line sign still stands. Figure out where the county line is, you'll find this on the EB side of US 22. Click either photo for a cast-iron closeup.
From the Land of U-Turns, west of the Garden State Parkway (GSP) on WB 22, where the median widens for a couple of miles. There are so many ramps snaking their way between parking lots for strip clubs, they have to be lettered.
Old street sign on US 22 EB in Union County.
Stuyvesant Avenue SB in Union (carrying NJ 82 EB traffic to the Garden State Parkway SB), which alerts you to be SLOW, because there's a SIDE ROAD AHEAD. I'm sure this "sign" dates from the construction of US 22 as an expressway through the area (it's now a Jersey freeway from here on east). It's very reminiscent of the former overpass along RI 403 that carried US 1.
The WB progression of signs at the GSP and NJ 82. US 22 WB runs along the GSP SB for a short distance, and EB follows NB. Slip ramps between those two highways and scattered ramps to and from NJ 82 squeeze in where possible; U-turn ramps (from WB, you take EB 82 to EB 22, and from EB, it's signed as WB 82 and SB GSP) complete the movements. From the GSP, some movements are made on local roads, such as NB GSP-WB 82.
Signage from the EB side through this area, but only the middle (little) sign is left now. You can't really be sure of what's going on; signage is great for getting you to the right route, but terrible at telling you what route you're actually on - NJDOT hadn't heard of the word TO at the time, apparently (as an extreme example, the last photo is for a U-turn to US 22 EB). Note in the first picture that the GSP shield on the left is new, while the one on the right is original and fading, yet strangely more legible. Old shields were also round, but there were square ones made for BGS's, while NJ doesn't make the squares anymore. Good for them.
On US 22 EB just before the brief freeway through Newark. I snapped this one out the window, over my shoulder, without looking, heading the opposite direction. Even though I got a slightly better one actually heading EB, I prefer this shot.
Just west of Weequahic Park is this parking lot overpass with nothing on the right end (you're facing EB here) to connect to. According to the Straight Line Diagrams (thanks to Bill Mitchell for looking this up), this is a railroad bridge, and then Charles Lamb has told me that this is a remnant of the Union Line streetcar route from Newark to Somerville. Dan Moraseski says the bridge is from where the trolley left Broad Street (to the west) to cross the railroad tracks that parallel US 22. Anyone else want to chime in? By now, there is no trace of other embankment or connection anywhere else.
Then, the entrance to Weequahic Park is underneath an active but equally old railroad trestle, which itself is beneath the entrance to the park, which is at street level. Is it any wonder US 22 floods in this area?
They spelled it right! Frelinghuysen is NJ 27 right now, but you wouldn't know it; the sign atop this page is EB at the same exit, and there's only one LGS before it mentioning the exit as Frelinghuysen. It ends fairly silently at NJ 21 just to the north, and good signage doesn't really start until you get into Elizabeth to the south. Note that this new sign has no black square behind the shield. If one part of NJ signage is going to fall by the wayside, I'd pick the bland circular state route signage, but black squares behind shields would be a close second. (Lack of button copy is my third gripe, but I can only ask for so much.)
Old shield EB at the gore to the NJ 27 exit (barely signed at all, and certainly no NJ 27 shields in this direction).
EB approaching the end of US 22, with new signage a result of the new NJ 21 viaduct, but the contractor forgot two things: the ampersand should be the same size as the numerals "1" and "9", and the sign should be reflective.
Super-bonus from Mike Traverse's collection.
Onto I-78 and 22/78 multiplex
Into PA on US 22
Onto NJ 57
Onto CR 519
Onto NJ 173
Onto NJ 31
Onto I-287
Onto CR 527
Onto the Garden State Parkway
Onto NJ 82
Onto Frelinghuysen Ave., NJ 27
Eastward onto US 1-9
East/northward onto NJ 21
Back to NJ Roads
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