Dyl's Roads & Travels: NJ 24

NJ 24 currently is a freeway between I-287 and I-78. Historic NJ 24 was much longer. Historic NJ 24 went between Phillipsburg and Newark (does this sound familiar?). But NJ 24 also went through Hackettstown and used county routes to connect from Hackettstown to Morristown. The modern freeway was built in response to the congestion in all of the towns 24 ran through, and this is what we have today. However, this freeway would have extended westward (at least to Mendham or Chester), yet the extensions have been cancelled. The exit numbers also used to be 7 miles greater than they actually are with the assumption that the freeway extension would end in Mendham. Until NJDOT vacated the right-of-way, an arc (from the air) of green space was the ROW for the proposed 24 freeway extension. The historic route of NJ 24 would become NJ 57 from Phillipsburg to Hackettstown, CR 517, CR 513, and CR 510 from Hackettstown to Morristown, and NJ 124 from Morristown east.

The western terminus of NJ 24 at I-287.

On the NJ 24 WB ramp to I-287 SB. This is extra-wide because there was a planned westward extension of NJ 24 as a northern bypass of Morristown, and this would have handled through traffic.

On the NJ 24 WB ramp to I-287 NB. There is an odd turn because this ramp was built to accommodate a ramp from I-287 NB to NJ 24 WB (Exit 37B?) had the NJ 24 western extension been built.

A milepost on the NJ 24 WB to I-287 NB ramp.

NJ 24 junctions CR 511, but to and from the east only (NJ 24 WB to CR 511 only, and CR 511 to NJ 24 EB only). I don't know if this would've been built as a complete interchange had the western extension been built.

How badly faded is this sign!

NJ 24 EB right after the I-287 junction. Why do both of the digits look to be two different fonts, one bold and the other not, on this sign?

NJ 24 junctions CR 510.

Discovering something that doesn't exist: Triborough Road. This is a remnant of a failed attempt to extend the current Eisenhower Parkway in Essex County south to Morris County. A cloverleaf interchange is graded and the overpass was built, but that's about it for a road that was never built.

A vacant gantry for the Triborough Road junction. This would have been Exit 12 with the originally planned western extension accounted for yet would be Exit 5 today. This would have provided another connection between NJ 24 and Madison / Chatham.

More of what doesn't exist.

NJ 24 at a large, 5-leaf clover junction with JFK Parkway and NJ 124. NJ 124 WB even has a brief concurrency with the NJ 24 WB C-D (collector-distributor) roadway.

Another unused bridge, Brantwood Drive. But at least it served as a crossover and was used until sound walls were built, yet the connection couldn't be kept.