State Highways of New Jersey

Actually, the river often flooded as it took a wide turn, and the Army Corps of Engineers was called in to fix the flooding. The river was rerouted to the east for a stretch between the Gregory Avenue and Market Street bridges connecting Passaic and Wallington. This required the demolition of a number of Wallington houses. The road was then built over the newly drained land; the stretch up to Monroe Street (exit 12) opened in 1974.

However, the statutory county and municipal lines were not moved. As a result, a 0.16-mile stretch of NJ 21 (as measured at the centerline) crosses into Wallington. The NJDOT control section number, which is 1603 on either side of this stretch, is 0200 within it, with the 02 designating Bergen County.

As an aside, a Wallington water pumping station which used to be on the east bank of the river now found itself on the west bank and is visible from the highway near the northbound on-ramp from River Drive (CR 624).

The original plans for NJ 21 north of Passaic had the road crossing into Bergen County in the vicinity of Garfield and Elmwood Park, using a right-of-way that had been proposed for NJ 3 as early as 1931, when that highway used McLean Boulevard in Paterson and then cut through Clifton and Passaic before crossing the river at the Gregory Avenue bridge. It took 26 years for the 1¾-mile “missing link” between Monroe Street and US 46 to be completed; the road finally opened in December 2000, on the Passaic side of the river.

For some reason, the mile markers in the NJDOT straight-line diagram do not agree with those posted on the freeway; the road appears longer in the field by about 0.18 mile.

Mile	Street Name	Feature
	Road continues northward as
14.35	Northern terminus of , Clifton City, Passaic Co
14.35			merge
14.24			underpass
14.03		Randolph Ave EXIT 14
13.52		Ackerman Ave EXIT 13	overpass	EXIT 13 Ackerman Ave
13.22		Clifton City, Passaic Co Passaic City, Passaic Co
12.66		Dayton Ave EXIT 12	overpass	Dayton Ave
12.60		Monroe St	overpass	EXIT 12 Monroe St
12.36		Hope Ave	overpass	Hope Ave
12.32		Madison St	overpass	Madison St
12.23		Jefferson St	overpass	Jefferson St
12.16		Washington Pl	overpass	Washington Pl
12.07		Passaic St	overpass	Passaic St
11.98		Passaic City, Passaic Co Wallington Boro, Bergen Co
11.82		Wallington Boro, Bergen Co Passaic City, Passaic Co
11.74		State St	underpass	EXIT 11B State St
11.66		River Dr	underpass	River Dr
11.56		Gregory Ave	underpass	Gregory Ave
11.41		Paulison Ave EXIT 11	underpass	Paulison Ave
11.27		River Dr	overpass	EXIT 11A River Dr
10.78		Van Houten Ave	underpass	River Dr north
10.38		Brook Ave EXIT 10	overpass	EXIT 10B River Dr north
10.10		Passaic City, Passaic Co Clifton City, Passaic Co
9.94	New Jersey Freeway	Connector to	underpass	EXIT 10A Connector to
9.47	New Jersey Freeway	Ramp from to north	underpass	Ramp from to north
9.41	New Jersey Freeway	Ramp from north to	underpass	Ramp from north to
9.28	New Jersey Freeway	EXIT 9	underpass	EXIT 9
9.09	New Jersey Freeway	Lackawanna Railroad	underpass	Lackawanna Railroad
8.90	New Jersey Freeway	Third River	bridge	Third River
8.84	New Jersey Freeway	Clifton City, Passaic Co Nutley Twp, Essex Co
8.00	New Jersey Freeway	Park Ave EXIT 8	overpass	EXIT 8 Park Ave
7.72	New Jersey Freeway	Stream	bridge	Stream
7.63	New Jersey Freeway	Nutley Twp, Essex Co Belleville Twp, Essex Co
7.53	New Jersey Freeway	Creek	bridge	Creek
7.39	New Jersey Freeway	Creek	bridge	Creek
7.02	New Jersey Freeway	Ramp from Little St to north	underpass	Ramp from Little St to north
6.73	New Jersey Freeway	Terry St EXIT 7
6.17	New Jersey Freeway	Rutgers St	underpass	EXIT 6 Rutgers St
5.83	New Jersey Freeway	Mill St EXIT 5
5.68	New Jersey Freeway	Belleville Twp, Essex Co
		Second River	bridge	Second River
		Newark City, Essex Co
5.46	New Jersey Freeway	Erie Railroad	underpass	Erie Railroad
5.32	New Jersey Freeway	Ramp to McCarter Hwy	underpass	EXIT 5
4.73	New Jersey Freeway	Erie Railroad	overpass	Erie Railroad
4.62	New Jersey Freeway	Chester Ave EXIT 4	overpass	Riverside Ave
3.90	McCarter Hwy	3 Ave		3 Ave
3.64	McCarter Hwy	Gouverneur Ave		Gouverneur Ave
3.37	McCarter Hwy	SPUR Clay St		Clay St
3.20	McCarter Hwy		underpass
3.18	McCarter Hwy	Ramp from east to south
3.16	McCarter Hwy	Lackawanna Railroad	underpass	Lackawanna Railroad
2.98	McCarter Hwy	Bridge St		Bridge St
2.85	McCarter Hwy	Lombardy St		Lombardy St
2.55	McCarter Hwy	Center St		Center St
2.33	McCarter Hwy	Raymond Blvd		Raymond Blvd
2.25	McCarter Hwy	Pedestrian crossing	underpass	Pedestrian crossing
2.33	McCarter Hwy	Raymond Blvd		Raymond Blvd
2.21	McCarter Hwy	Market St		Market St
2.15	McCarter Hwy	Edison Pl		Edison Pl
2.10	McCarter Hwy	Pennsylvania Railroad	underpass	Pennsylvania Railroad
2.00	McCarter Hwy	Lafayette St		Lafayette St
1.94	McCarter Hwy	Green St		Green St
1.85	McCarter Hwy	Elm St		Elm St
1.79	McCarter Hwy	Walnut St		Walnut St
1.74	McCarter Hwy	Cottage St		New York Ave
1.65	McCarter Hwy	Kinney St		Kinney St
1.60	McCarter Hwy	Oliver St		Oliver St
1.55	McCarter Hwy	Chestnut St		Chestnut St
1.41	McCarter Hwy	Pennington St		Pennington St
1.31	McCarter Hwy	South St		South St
1.10	McCarter Hwy	Murray St		Murray St
1.00	McCarter Hwy	Emmet St		Emmet St
0.90	McCarter Hwy	Miller St		Miller St
0.85		Ramp from north to Broad St north	underpass	Ramp from north to Broad St north
0.76			overpass
0.53		Pennsylvania Railroad	overpass	Pennsylvania Railroad
0.22			overpass
0.06
0.00			overpass merge
0.00	Southern terminus of , Newark City, Essex Co