New Jersey Roads - NJ 59

NJ 59

Another route you've never heard of. NJ 59 was meant to be a much-needed north-south highway, splitting the difference between the Garden State Parkway (or NJ 27 if you prefer to stick to surface roads) and US 202/I-287. Unfortunately, it would have required extensive neighborhood demolitions even just for the two-lane road, and no one knows anymore if more than that was planned for it. Amazingly, exactly one block of this highway was constructed as a railroad underpass, along with a special bridge at NJ 28. Enough talking.


Southbound, mile 1. I assume this was meant to be MILE .1 of NJ 59, but it's the only marker I found.


Cranford's special street signage. Running down the left side is the North Ave. sign turned upside-down. Read from top to bottom and you can make out the bumps of the letters: HEMLOCKCIRCLE. No space - maybe that's why it was repurposed.


At the northern end of Lincoln Ave., note the NJSHD sign post, which signified a state route-state route junction.


Also note the brand-new (in 2008) overhead signage with, finally, an NJ 59 shield for the one-block state highway.


The Lincoln Ave. is NJDOT-spec, on the west side of the intersection south of the railroad bridge, but the South Ave. is definitely county-installed, on the east side. This is the end of NJ 59 - it just went from North Ave. to South Ave.


The northeast and southwest bridge railings - the entire intersection is one four-cornered bridge over a small creek. Except it's only a three-cornered intersection, because Lincoln Ave. ends at NJ 28. In other words, as you see in the first photo, the bridge turns the corner as a grassy stub of NJ 59 protrudes toward a parking lot, but it cannot be traveled. This of course hints at what NJ 59 was planned for.


Stampings on the southwest bridge railing. NJ 28 has been NJSHR 28 since the First Renumbering in 1929, so this can only mean that there was another route here. You guessed it.


Now stampings on the northeast bridge railing.

Onto NJ 28
Onto CR 610
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