Highways of Bergen County, New Jersey

For the primary routes, the Planning Board recommended the use of mostly existing county roads, but they also included existing municipal roads and new rights-of-way. The new rights-of-way (ROW) were mostly in undeveloped or underdeveloped sections of the county, although some of them are hard to imagine today. While the Planning Board cited a threefold increase in average county road traffic between 1938 and 1958, it may not have foreseen the continued development that has made Bergen County the state’s largest by population, estimated in 2008 to exceed 900,000. Most of the Planning Board’s recommendations for new county roads (either over municipal roads or new ROWs) were not implemented.

In the early 1960s, the state was also revising its 500-series system of secondary highways, most of which are maintained by the various counties. (There are a few exceptions. Some 500 routes run on municipal roads, while some overlay state routes.) Some of the finished 500-series roads utilize the routes envisioned by the Planning Board as county primary routes. Most of the rest of the recommended primary routes were eventually established and signed, with numbers below 25 which follow the rule of cardinal direction. (The lowest existing county route number was 25, as the route system was established prior to 1927, when no state highway route had a number above 20.)

Of course, this choice of low numbers for the primary routes means that some of them have numbers that coincide with state highways (such as 3, 4, 5, and 17).

Signs on many of the primary routes bear the primary route number rather than the official number which is carried by the State of New Jersey in its straight-line diagrams (and, apparently, by the county for internal inventory purposes). Some of them, however, are signed with both the inventory number and the primary route number, particularly where a primary route encompasses parts of several previously existing county roads.

Here is a description of the primary routes, both as they were originally envisioned by the Planning Board and as they are signed today:

Proposed: From Franklin Lakes to Mahwah, using High Mountain Road, CR 89, out of North Haledon, then Ewing Avenue, CR 97, up to Franklin Avenue; then via a new ROW to the corner of Pulis Avenue and Campgaw Road (may have incorporated Green Ridge Road, a local street), and then up Campgaw Road, CR S-89 to Darlington Avenue, Primary Route EW-1. Implemented: There is a lonely CR 3 sign at the corner of High Mountain Road and Ewing Avenue, so this portion did become part of the route. Ewing Avenue from Franklin Lake Road to Franklin Avenue is CR 502, so CR 3 may have followed Summit Avenue, CR S-89, instead. ROW was never acquired in Franklin Lakes; CR 3 was posted along Pulis Avenue and Campgaw Road, CR S-89, but no signs currently exist.

Proposed: From North Arlington to Ridgewood along River Road, Riverside Avenue, Jackson Avenue, Carlton Avenue, Locust Avenue, Midland Avenue, River Drive, River Road, Wagaraw Road, and Lincoln Avenue, CR 69. Implemented: CR 507 was shifted to this route between the Belleville Turnpike and the Maple Avenue bridge in the early 1960s. North of the Maple Avenue bridge, CR 69 is signed as CR 5.

Proposed: From Fair Lawn to Upper Saddle River along Maple Avenue, Sheridan Avenue, and West Saddle River Road, CR 77. Implemented: CR 507 was shifted to this route between the Maple Avenue bridge and Franklin Turnpike in the early 1960s. North of Franklin Turnpike, CR 77 is signed as CR 7.

Proposed: From Fair Lawn to Ridgewood, along Saddle River Road, CR 79, north of NJ 4, and Prospect Street, CR S-79, ending at NS-4. Implemented: Entire route is signed as CR 9; however, CR 9 and CR 79 are jointly posted south of where Ackerman Avenue splits off from Prospect Street.

Proposed: To be implemented as secondary route in original 1959 plan. Implemented: CR 11 is signed along Schuyler Avenue, Page Avenue, and Orient Way, CR 130. This may have occurred after CR 507 was shifted to the Passaic River route along CR 69 (see NS-3, above).

Proposed: From Maywood to Westwood, along Maywood, Forest, and 4th Avenues, CR 59, then over section of Forest Avenue in Westwood under municipal control, then Lafayette Avenue, CR 110, ending at EW-2. Implemented: CR 13 is signed along entire route of CR 59, Maywood Avenue, Forest Avenue, 4th Avenue, and 3rd Avenue. The municipal section of Forest Avenue in Westwood was acquired by the county, but as CR S-59.

Proposed: From Ridgewood to Old Tappan, using Bergen Turnpike, CR 124; Ridgefield Avenue, CR S-124; a new ROW adjacent to the West Shore tracks; Railroad Avenue and River Road, CR 41; local streets through Oradell (probably Elm and 1st); Lake Shore Drive in Haworth; a new ROW to the corner of Old Hook and Schraalenburgh roads; then Schraalenburgh Road, CR 39, Lafayette Street, CR 109, a new ROW up to Old Tappan Road, DeWolf Avenue, and Orangeburgh Road, CR S-106. Implemented: None of the new ROWs was implemented. As posted, CR 17 uses Bergen Turnpike, CR 124; then Teaneck Road, CR 39; then Mount Vernon Avenue, Railroad Avenue, and River Road, CR 41; then Madison Avenue, CR 74; then Washington Avenue and Schraalenburgh Road, CR 39; then Lafayette Avenue, Blanch Avenue and Cripple Bush Road, CR 109; then Washington Avenue and Old Tappan Road, CR 110; then Orangeburgh Road, CR S-106.

Proposed: From Mahwah to River Vale, starting at NS-1, using Darlington Avenue, CR 98; a new ROW bridging the Erie tracks in Ramsey; then Lake Street, CR S-81, Crescent Avenue, CR 81, Ramsey Road (today's Lake Street in Upper Saddle River), CR 96, Grand Avenue and Blue Hill Road, CR 94. Implemented: CR 2 was signed along this entire route, except that the new ROW in Ramsey was never acquired. Instead, CR 2 was signed along Central Avenue, CR 85, and Main Street, which was acquired as an extension of CR 87.

Proposed: From Oakland to Alpine, starting at NS-1, using Franklin Avenue, CR 84, Hollywood Avenue, a new ROW to bypass Wierimus Road in Ho-Ho-Kus, then Washington Avenue, Old Hook Road, High Street, and Closter Dock Road. Implemented: Franklin Avenue was signed as CR 4 up from US 202 to Ewing Avenue. The rest of the route is CR 502, except that the new ROW was not acquired.

Proposed: From Wyckoff to Demarest, starting with a new ROW from the proposed interchange of Cedar Hill Avenue and NJ 208 (which was still under construction) to a bend in Wyckoff Avenue; then Wyckoff Avenue and Lake Street, CR 87; then Godwin Avenue, Franklin Avenue, Maple Avenue, Ridgewood Avenue, and Oradell Avenue up to the Boulevard in New Milford, all CR 80; then a new ROW along the Oradell-Haworth line, New Street, Massachusetts Avenue, Lenox Avenue (the last three all municipal roads), and County Road (a portion of CR 501), ending at NS-10. Implemented: The new ROW from NJ 208 was never acquired. Unsure if CR 6 was ever posted west of Goffle Road; then uses Lake Street and all of CR 80 from Lake Street to Kinderkamack Road. May never have been connected to eastern stretch, but then is signed along Madison Avenue and Hillside Avenue, CR 74, which was part of the old Route 200.

Proposed: From Hackensack to Englewood Cliffs, starting from NS-7 just north of Sears and using Hackensack Avenue, CR 49, New Bridge Road, then CR 68, a new ROW between the Northern Railroad tracks and Teaneck Road, then Liberty Street (CR 68 again) and Palisade Avenue (municipal from Knickerbocker Road to Engle Street and then CR 66), ending at Hudson Terrace. Implemented: CR 10 is signed along New Bridge Road and Liberty Street, CR 49. The section south of Main Street in River Edge is part of CR 503, while the section east of Knickerbocker Road is part of the old alignment of CR 503 and is now part of CR 505, including the portion that was controlled by the City of Englewood.

Proposed: From East Paterson to Fort Lee, using Market Street, Essex Street, Court Street, a new ROW jumping from Fort Lee Road to Main Street Extension in Bogota, DeGraw Avenue, a new ROW in Teaneck east of Teaneck Road, then Fort Lee Road, ending at US 46. Implemented: CR 12 is signed along just about all of CR 56, which follows the route above and continues eastward to Hudson Terrace. The new ROW in Bogota was never acquired, so eastbound CR 12 follows Fort Lee Road, CR 56, and River Road, CR 41, before joining Main Street. Westbound CR 12 traffic continues across the Midtown Bridge and then uses East Salem Street (a section of CR 56), River Street, CR 503, East Kansas Street, CR C-4, and Hudson Street, CR 124, to get back to Essex Street. The new ROW in Teaneck was acquired in conjunction with the construction of the Bergen-Passaic Expressway; it is called DeGraw Avenue Extension and is included as both CR 56 and CR 12.

Proposed: From Wallington to Carlstadt/East Rutherford, using Paterson Avenue, CR 120, Hoboken Road, CR S-55, and Paterson Plank Road, ending at NS-7. This was the posted path of NJ 3 in the 1930s. EW-7 and NS-7 share a terminus, the northern edge of NJ 20. Implemented: CR 14 is signed along Paterson Avenue, CR 120, for its entire length, rather than Hoboken Road. Paterson Plank Road from NJ 17 to NJ 20 was taken over by the state in the early 1970s as an extension of NJ 20 to accommodate the Sports Complex; it is now NJ 120.