NJ 167 is Old New York Road (well, mostly, I'll get to that bit later). As you can guess, New York Road connected South Jersey to New York. Add in "Old", and it becomes the former alignment of US 9. On the south shore, it's NJ 167; this is looking southward on the north shore, where the road dead-ends, then resumes as abandoned pavement/grading in three sections (two of which are cut off by small rivulets). The south shore is much cooler, because NJ 167 follows a newer alignment (Chestnut Neck Road), whereas Old New York Road is... an old alignment of an old alignment! To make matters even better, an old hard left on Old New York just east of US 9 has been smoothed, making the old corner... an old alignment of an old alignment of an old alignment!! By the way, the speed limit on both northern and southern halves of NJ 167 is officially 50 MPH (from the NJ Straight Line Diagrams), even though they're rutted to barely-paved dead-ends.

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South of the Mullica River


First, the very beginning of NJ 167 NB as seen while turning from US 9 SB after it has left the Garden State Parkway. Then, the only other milemarker on the road, southbound.




Northbound, the pavement dwindles away as Chestnut Neck Road/Old New York Road meets the embankment of the Parkway.




Turned around, back down to the end of the road, where you see the pavement trace that went straight into US 9.

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North of the Mullica River

NJ 167 was decommissioned north of the Mullica River except for the tiny piece still open right by US 9. For the last few miles leading up to the first now-gone bridge, there is nothing but trees. And a lot of puddles, nowadays.


As far as I can drive, southbound.


Past the gate, past the end of pavement, past even the end of rubble, to where only the dirt roadbed remains. I decided to stop jogging about a mile in, with still plenty more distance to go - should've brought a bike. Oh, and that's a UFO in the last photo. Not a bird at all. (Birds don't look like they're perched when they fly, do they?)


Through the trees, the Garden State Parkway (carrying US 9) prepares to leave the ground to cross the Mullica River. Old US 9/old NJ 167 is in no such hurry, and that's why I turned around here.


On my way back, I found a couple of guiderail posts, one with the mysterious number 5. It could be the first digit for milepost 54, which would have fallen about here.


Why did the DOT spend money to pave part of old 167 with asphalt (even if they had done so when it was still a piece of NJ 167), and not finish the job? There was no need to have bothered in the first place - once the road was gated, there would be no traffic to complain about the condition of the concrete.


Past the mound, the concrete would have continued straight onto Old New York Road, then bent at Hammonton Road to follow present-day US 9 (with a few fun detours from realignments).

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Onto US 9
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