It's usually a faster way to get from the NJ 21 freeway to the Newark Airport and associated mess of highways than taking the McCarter Highway, 21 itself. But don't go making my shortcut slow. Photos progress from north to south.


North of city center at Clay Street, Broad Street turns one-way NB, and Bloomfield Avenue begins along with Spur CR 506. City-spec LGS doesn't look like others further south on Broad.


Two historic buildings, the 1850 House of Prayer Episcopalian Church and the even older (and now affiliated) Plume House, both just north of I-280. The Plume House is a major historical constraint that has delayed the now-underway completion of the I-280/NJ 21 interchange.


Looking north and east at the railroad that crosses just south of I-280, carrying the NJ Transit Gladstone, Montclair-Boonton, and Morris & Essex Lines.


Washington St. NB, a shortcut for CR 508 EB rather than going southeast to NJ 21 and back north to Bridge St.


The first photo is where traffic from 21 naturally wants to go - there's a small one-way street that SB traffic can skip down (Lombardy Street) while traffic waits at the next light. The light at Broad isn't much better, but once you get clear of the NJPAC/Park Place area, the lights are sequentially timed, unlike on 21, so you move much faster. The second photo shows the oversize novelty arrows that Newark seems to love right now.


From just south of Park Place and then north for some distance to Clay Street (where Broad St. and Broadway become a one-way pair), Broad Street's three middle lanes were all reversible until 2007, and thus had this overhead arrow signage. The last picture is facing NB just before Park, while the first two (same place, different time) are SB. You can see that in the first pic, only one lane gets SB traffic, while not only do two get it in the second pic, but left turns are only allowed when that fourth lane is carrying traffic. That left turn, by the way, is onto Park Place:


The first picture is facing away from Broad Street, and the second is the other side of the gantry. The signs are made of removable lettering on slatted metal, to reduce sun glare (there aren't wind loads in Newark). The secondary effect is that they're see-through!


Two views (the second one is in the lower right-hand corner) of Newark's Bright Shiny Signage (which generated the round arrow below the I-78 shield at the top of the page). These are both facing NB on Park, so traffic to I-78 still has to make a left onto Broad - but see that this routing is preferred to NJ 21 SB.


This freeway-size sign on a traffic light looks even more out of proportion when you pass it in real life.


Nice old directional signage with the fat arrows and the black circle. Holland and Lincoln Tunnels are both accessible via I-280 EB, but this sign probably predates that; traffic would follow CR 508, and then have the option of entering the NJ Turnpike at interchange 15W (which is now for 280).

Onto Bloomfield Ave., Spur CR 506
To I-78
To I-280
To Newark Airport
Into Newark
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