New Jersey Roads - US 322/CR 536

and US 322/CR 536


Button copy falls out, reflective lettering peels off, I suppose. The above is courtesy Scott Colbert.


EB across the Commodore Barry Bridge. There were once six lanes, or at least enough sets of lane use signals for that many, but clearly there are only five now. Five 12-foot lanes is a lot more pleasant than six 10-foot lanes, especially when traffic never even fills four of the five. Searching for answers on the decorative vents? birdhouses? on the girders.


WB photos entering PA and a video that does the same.


EB off of the bridge with ugly DRPA (Del. River Port Authority) signage. They should have to obey the MUTCD like any other state agency. Why, out of all of the shields, does only the first NJ 44 get a black background?


Westbound onto the bridge, with the same lane-assignment button copy to be found on other DRPA bridges (I-76, I-676).


Older stuff heading through the US 130 interchange; the welcome sign is non-reflective and unique as far as surviving signs go (which photo do you like better - larger or clearer?), and the exit gore matches the westbound one immediately below as the only pieces of button copy left at the interchange.


And the westbound US 130 exit gore sign.

EB.


Westbound at CR 653, in all directions. Actually, the new 653 shield on the left replaces a CR 538 shield that would have been as old as the shield on the right. 538 was truncated to CR 551 in Swedesboro for no good reason.


WB nearing Kings Highway. The circle suggests that this isn't an NJDOT I-295 assembly, but why would the Turnpike pay for a reassurance to the free highway that sucks its revenue away?


The first photo is an error by laziness, as it should read "TO" NJ 77. The other photos are errors by historical circumstance, as US 322 now bypasses downtown Glassboro and avoids an NJ 45 multiplex. Actually, none of these were ever on US 322. The first two photos are WB on the spur of Mullica Rd. that served traffic between NJ 45/77 to the south and US 322 to the east, and the last is on NJ 45 before US 322 (on Mill Rd.) merged in. The spur was briefly posted as CR 322, but I'm sure that's not right.


All this work is to tie a new Mullica Hill bypass into the northern US 322/NJ 45 intersection. 322 will glide straight across, skipping town and meeting the old alignment at Clem's Run. The sign at the left of the construction driveway shows that this is a county project, despite the end product being a state highway. For that matter, Gloucester Co. will continue to maintain the road.


There was one cross street open during construction, Earlington Ave. Looking west, you can see straight through to US 322.


Looking east, there's a lot of clearing with no road taking shape. Actually, there's a cemetery in the back, and several of the graves had to be moved to make way for the new road.


US 322 EB at its future self, coming in from the left. In that future, the new poles will have signal heads on them.


In March 2011, a small piece of bypass had already opened up to Walters Rd., maintaining access while the rest was worked on. Photos head northwest from US 322.


Silt fence lays out the future course of the road into the forest, though more bends hide the line of sight to Earlington Ave.


The old looks a lot better than the new; these are eastbound heading into Glassboro, the location of Lehigh Rd.


Same location, different times, and the nice old shield is gone in favor of horribly tumescent ones. The milepost isn't close to NJDOT standards either, nor is it clear which shield it goes with (47). And all this time, CR 536 is unsigned.


US 322 EB finally leaves CR 536 alone in Williamstown, courtesy Lou Corsaro. It looks like it's picking up a friend, but CR 536 Spur actually begins at NJ 42, not from its own parent.


Westbound, the beginning of NJ 42, which heads straight northwest out of US 322 toward Camden, while US 322 heads more westerly after this point along the route of CR 536 (they multiplex all the way to the state line, technically, meaning all of the photos up till now have been on both routes). The significance of this point awaits...


This is east of the above point, again from Scott. Obviously NJSHR 42 followed US 322 all the way to US 40 (and upon historical inspection, followed that multiplex into Atlantic City). Another telltale sign is that the Black Horse Pike starts in Washington Twp. on NJ 42, and US 322/40 entering Atlantic City has that same name. Once New Jersey un-Georgia-ed itself and took needless state-US multiplexes out of the system, NJ 42 was truncated to the first photo.


Old EB signs approaching the railroad bridge just before the NJ 54 interchange, then an error a little farther east. What's labeled CR 561 was actually Spur 561, but then NJ 73 was extended over it, so now Spur CR 561 may or may not exist. How much does a 73 shield cost that it can't be signed properly from its terminus?


Original 1950's Jersey barrier heading toward NJ 50 (the second bridge in the background), back when NJ was still experimenting with the height and the width of the barrier. As you can see, the stretch is only about a mile long before more modern barrier appears.


The first reassurance west of the US 40 duplex, out of what was once a circle but now involves, feh, jughandles, is unfortunately also peeled like the shield atop this page.


WB unripped reassurance, courtesy Scott Colbert.

US 40 and US 322/40
Onto CR 536 alone
NJ 324, old US 322

Into Pennsylvania on US 322
Onto US 130
To NJ 44
To I-295
Onto CR 653
Onto NJ 45
To NJ 77
Onto CR 667
Onto NJ 47
Onto Spur CR 536
Onto NJ 42
Onto NJ 54
Onto NJ 73/Spur CR 561
Unbuilt US 322 freeway on Steve Anderson's phillyroads.com
Back to New Jersey Roads
Back to Roads