New Jersey Roads - CR 553



Note in the above photo, courtesy Scott Colbert, the patched-over 3 on this CR 656 WB shield. Cumberland Co. has more of these patched shields than most counties have total shields. Please, someone tell me the real reason for this, because I can speculate all day (and have on many pages).


The southern end of CR 553, the former Cumberland CR 632 NB (now just Ogden Ave.). The AAA helped put up road signs into the 1950's, so this probably was born sometime between 1930 and 1950. Unlike state-installed and county-installed signs of the same time, this is not embossed.


An old reassurance shield left over from county maintenance, courtesy William Gresham.


Past a rusted-out sign from the Keystone Auto Club (with all the AAA signs still up, I wonder if there was some sort of failed rivalry, or else friendly cooperation) to Dragston Rd. where we learn why not to use red paint on regulatory signs. Click on the AAA sign for a closeup.


NB at the beginning of the important CR 555, where the much less important CR 664 takes front stage (you'll see this again in the SB direction). CR 664 bears left in the third photo and gets a AAA sign, whereas CR 555 only gets a patched shield. I rant a lot about those, but I'm starting to realize that Cumberland Co. just does not know how to make a three-digit sign that wears equally among all three digits.


As you'll find out, this page would be better oriented starting in the north than the south, but anyway, here's the southernmost run of SB signage on the page, all the way down to the end of the route (and almost the road, too). Thrown in is a AAA ("a Triple-A", not "an aaaaaaa") sign and a Cumberland Co. guide sign of a rarely seen pattern. The CR 676 shield is courtesy Scott Colbert.


Thrown out is the AAA sign, sadly replaced with this Cumberland knockoff. I want the real thing back, and I want whoever removed 99% of Cumberland's AAA signs (not just here) strung up on a pole and forced to eat every square inch of every replacement.


SB to Clarks Pond, where the only old bridge parapet is on the east (NB) side of the road. Nothing on the west side.


The first four are southbound from the top of Cumberland Co., including an over-the-shoulder look at a NB side-road shield, and then the last photo is on CR 670 (the wonderfully named Buckshutem Rd.) EB.


The end of the short CR 540/553 duplex - left is south, because the signs won't tell you. Note the old LBS.


A long stretch of SB photos in Gloucester Co. (well, all were taken SB), ending with a hamlet reminiscent of southern Delaware, where the scenery is farm-farm-crossroads-farm-farm-farm.


Another long SB run, from Pitman Rd. to Heston Rd. (where CR 553 leaves NJ 47, collects its Alt. route, and continues south), to the ugliness at US 322. The High St./Main St. corner is just south of 322 in Glassboro.


SB from Elm Ave. in Woodbury Heights (CR 652) to a better look than before at an original-spec CR shield, with old street signs as well.


Throwing in some NB signs from CR 632, Mantua Ave. in Wenonah, to Elm Ave. in Woodbury Heights.


A SB run from the top of the route, with an oversized JCT banner and one of those old original shields, up to CR 650 where there's a gas station inside a traffic circle. I'm sure they get good business, but it strikes me as a little precarious traffic-wise.

One last NB sign, at Red Bank Ave.

Onto Alt. CR 553

Onto CR 555
Into Cumberland County
Onto CR 540
Onto CR 611 (into Salem Co.)
Onto CR 538
Onto US 322
Onto CR 534
Onto CR 652
Onto CR 650
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