CR 508 is mostly boring in Essex County. This old EB Whittingham Place (note the second H) shield, probably long gone by now, is the only interesting photo I have. CR 508 uses assorted streets to jog between Northfield Road/Avenue and Central Ave., leaving a tiny Spur CR 508 at the end of Northfield.


The most exciting sign in Essex County is this embossed county route shield on Lincoln Ave. in Orange. It's exciting because all of the other ones are gone - and yet every time I say that, I manage to come across just one last example. I hope I never do run out of them.


One of the last old white signs in the county, Western Ave. SB.


At the end of Central, CR 508 jogs on NJ 21 to get to this drawbridge on the aptly named Bridge St., here photographed westbound with NJ 21 in the background at the traffic signal. In its current configuration, 21's interchange with I-280 is missing three movements, and those three are all signed via CR 508/Bridge St. Recently, however, construction at I-280 Exit 16 in Harrison (where 508 is known as Harrison Avenue) has closed the key ramp to I-280 WB, meaning that a substantial amount of traffic has to follow residential back roads in either Newark or Harrison.


The Bridge St. bridge seen from the parallel rail bridge.


And from NJ 21 NB/CR 508 EB with sloppy-second shields.


And, finally, looking north from this bridge at the NJ Transit draw span in front of the I-280 Stickel Bridge, one of the last Interstate drawbridges.


Older but not too old signs, westbound underneath I-280. The RIDOT (aka non-cutout) shield in the second photo indicates that the normal ramp onto I-280 West is closed. Of course, it would be nice if the detour were actually signed with arrows. (It is, a few blocks back, so this sign probably is part of another detour and should be covered better.)


An older look at the first photo above, showing an additional (Turnpike) shield on the assembly.


Another old shield manifests on 1st St. NB just west of the interchange.


This contractor has otherwise been using rectangular white shields, so how did this 2-digit width shield get stuck into the mix? This is the actual signed detour I mentioned.


A different detour with different shield problems. This hand-drawn shield takes traffic up NJ 21 (I believe) to I-280, then along CR 508 and NJ 7 toward the Tonnele Circle.


Detours with bad signs are apparently quite popular on this road. These are EB approaching NJ 7 from I-280, where I guess both E-W ramps were subject to closures for repairs (most likely overnight).


The new VMS all along the Turnpike look great, but only from below do you see that the ones on the elevated Westerly Alignment (and elsewhere the road is on structure) have their own new columns all the way down. This is not cheap. This is a luxury only a toll agency can afford (or the whole system of full-color VMS in general).


EB and WB at NJ 7, where CR 508 ends. Despite the fact that it ends here, there is a U-turn ramp on NJ 7 for the few people needing to access the industries along the old Newark Turnpike, which mostly became CR 508 but has a short cobblestoned section cut off by railroad tracks and a former grade crossing now eliminated. This U-turn ramp is located on the west side of the interchange, meaning CR 508 has already begun and the photo belongs here. CR 506, on the other hand, hasn't begun yet, though it once did start here, or further east, or at least might have. The missing shield is for the Turnpike.

Onto I-280
To the Garden State Parkway
Onto NJ 21
To the New Jersey Turnpike, I-95
Onto NJ 7
To US 1-9
To CR 506
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