Dyl's Roads & Travels: CR 533

A north-south 500-series county route with some oddities. The route serves as a bypass of Trenton in Mercer County, and a major main street in Manville and Bound Brook in Somerset County. We will get to the oddities as we go along CR 533.

Mercer County:

The start of CR 533 in White Horse, coming off its first junction with US 206.

CR 533 bypassing Trenton by following a route through Hamilton Township. At the junction with US 1, CR 533 becomes unsigned until Somerset County. Along the unsigned section, CR 533 intersects unsigned CR 569, poorly-signed CR 583, and US 206 again.

The final CR 533 sign in Mercer County.

Unsigned CR 533 at the southern terminus of unsigned CR 569, Province Line Road.

CR 533 along the Delaware and Raritan Canal.

CR 533 at CR 583.

Quaker Road / CR 533 after CR 583.

The first major oddity of CR 533: CR 533 has a northbound one-way only section on Quaker Road in Princeton just before its second junction with US 206, and there is no officially designated southbound path for CR 533. Meaning that one cannot clinch CR 533 SB! However, CR 533 in Mercer County is unsigned after US 1, including at its junction with unsigned CR 569, poorly-signed CR 583, and US 206. Meaning this is no longer CR 533 de facto.

Solution: Transfer CR 533 onto Province Line Road (present-day CR 569, unsigned) and sign the route as CR 533 up to the US 206 junction. On a side note, properly sign CR 569 on Fackler from CR 583 to US 206, and properly sign CR 583 as such along the Princeton Pike. Existing CR 533 is to be downgraded to a 600-series CR.

My fix as shown on a map. Red is the current routing of CR 533 to be downgraded; blue is my proposed routing of CR 533. CR 569 is on Fackler Road and will end at CR 583 / Princeton Pike.

This leads directly to the next one.

The second major oddity of CR 533: CR 533 overlaps with US 206 for 6.59 miles. That's nothing new, CRs do that all the time. But this one is particularly odd because not only is this where CR 533 crosses into Somerset County, there are no signs for CR 533 along this overlap, and CR 533 is signed as "starting again" where it becomes independent of US 206 once more. The mileposts in Somerset County indicate this overlap, though. So CR 533 has a de jure overlap with US 206, while it de facto ends and starts again.

Photos along this overlap are on the US 206 page.

Solution: Keep CR 533 unsigned along the overlap. No need to sign CR 533 and add confusion.

Alternate solution 1: Sign CR 533 along the overlap. If NJDOT can co-sign CR 521 with US 206 on an even longer overlap (9.65 miles shared between US 206 and CR 521), what more is 6.59 miles?

Alternate solution 2: Create a new alignment using existing roads for CR 533. From Province Line Road, CR 533 can follow Province Line Road, Rosedale Road, and Elm Road / Great Road across the Mercer/ Somerset County line, Skillman Road, and Orchard Road to connect with existing de facto CR 533 in Somerset County.

My fix for Alternate Solution 2 as shown on a map. Red is the current routing of CR 533; blue is my proposal. Anything from my first solution for Problem 1 applies to this one.

Somerset County:

The third and final junction of CR 533 and US 206. CR 533 re-emerges as a signed route here.

CR 533 is a scenic byway parallel to the Millstone River.

The namesake millstone in Millstone.

CR 533 in Millstone. There is also a bypass route that avoids Millstone and provides an additional connection to CR 514, known as CR 533 Bypass.

CR 533 in downtown Manville.

CR 533 crosses Van Veighten's Bridge across the Raritan. This bridge is a historic site, as predecessors to the modern bridge at this site were important crossings during the Revolutionary War.

The de facto end of CR 533 in Bound Brook at CR 527. De jure, CR 533 extends along CR 527 in a wrong-way overlap, CR 527 splits to go to South Bound Brook, and CR 533 then reaches the Middlesex County line where it ends.