U.S. Route 30 in New Jersey

Route description

Camden County

US 30 crosses the Delaware River into New Jersey on the Benjamin Franklin Bridge from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, along with I-676 and the PATCO Speedline. The road continues east into the downtown area of Camden in Camden County as a seven-lane freeway maintained by the Delaware River Port Authority that passes to the north of the Camden Athletic Complex, located at the former site of the Campbell's Field baseball stadium, and comes to the westbound toll plaza for the bridge. Past the toll plaza, US 30 splits from I-676 at an interchange and heads southeast on the six-lane, divided Admiral Wilson Boulevard maintained by the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) and named for Henry Braid Wilson. This portion, formerly known as Bridge Approach Boulevard, is an early example of a roadway designed for the automobile, and was home to the first drive-in movie theatre. Along Admiral Wilson Boulevard, the route passes under a railroad line carrying Conrail Shared Assets Operations' Vineland Secondary and NJ Transit's River Line and has an interchange with CR 537 before widening to eight lanes and crossing the Cooper River. The road runs east through urbanized sections of Camden along the north bank of the Cooper River, interchanging with CR 608. After this interchange, US 30 enters suburban Pennsauken Township and comes to the Airport Circle, which has been modified to include ramps. Here, US 30 meets US 130 and the western terminus of Route 38 and turns south to form a concurrency with US 130 on Crescent Boulevard, a six-lane divided highway that narrows to four lanes. The road crosses the Cooper River into Collingswood, running to the east of Harleigh Cemetery before interchanging with CR 561 and passing under the PATCO Speedline.

At the former Collingswood Circle, US 30 splits from US 130 by heading south-southeast on two-lane, undivided White Horse Pike. The road passes homes and some businesses before crossing the Newton Creek into Oaklyn, where it passes suburban residential and commercial development. US 30 forms the border between Oaklyn to the west and Haddon Township to the east before heading into Audubon. At the border of Audubon and Haddon Heights, the route crosses CR 551 Spur. In this town, the White Horse Pike reaches an intersection with Route 41 at a modified traffic circle and an interchange with I-295 within a close distance of each other in Barrington. At this point, the route is four lanes wide, with a short divided portion immediately south of I-295.

US 30 continues into Lawnside, becoming a four-lane undivided road. It passes under the New Jersey Turnpike, but there is no interchange present between the two roads. Past here, the road enters Magnolia, where it crosses CR 544. Following this intersection, the route heads through Somerdale before turning more southeast and forming the border between Stratford to the southwest and Somerdale to the northeast. US 30 entirely enters Stratford as it intersects CR 673 and passes near the Lindenwold station, which is a stop on NJ Transit’s Atlantic City Line and the terminus of the PATCO Speedline. The White Horse Pike turns back to the south-southeast and forms the border between Laurel Springs to the west and Lindenwold to the east before continuing fully into Lindenwold. The route later turns southeast and enters Clementon. After a turn to the east, US 30 runs along the border of Lindenwold to the north and Clementon to the south and fully enters Lindenwold again prior to the border with Berlin. In Berlin, the White Horse Pike becomes concurrent with CR 534 and then CR 561 a short distance later. US 30 turns to the south-southeast and passes through the downtown area of Berlin as a two-lane road. Past the downtown area, CR 534 and CR 561 split from US 30 at the same intersection, with CR 534 heading east on Jackson Road and CR 561 heading southeast on Tansboro Road, and US 30 widens back to four lanes. The White Horse Pike encounters Route 73 and CR 536 Spur at a cloverleaf interchange.

Following the interchange, US 30 enters Waterford Township, as it passes near the community of Atco. The road turns south as it passes Atco Lake and continues into more wooded areas with some development, eventually heading south-southeast again. NJ Transit’s Atlantic City Line runs a short distance to the northeast of the route at this point. US 30 continues through Chesilhurst before it enters Winslow Township. Here, the route intersects CR 536 and forms a short concurrency with that route before it heads to the east. From this point, the road continues into a mix of woodland, farmland, and development. US 30 intersects Route 143 and passes over the Atlantic City Line as it turns southeast. The road makes another turn to the south as it crosses CR 723 and passes under an abandoned railroad line.

Atlantic County

Following this intersection, US 30 continues southeast past wooded residential neighborhoods to the northeast, becoming a divided highway again. The route comes to a partial interchange with the Garden State Parkway, with access to and from the northbound direction of the parkway. Past this interchange, the road heads through commercial areas and continues into Absecon. In Absecon, the White Horse Pike widens to six lanes and crosses CR 651 before intersecting US 9. After passing near the Absecon station along the Atlantic City Line, US 30 crosses Shore Road, which heads north as Route 157 and south as CR 585. The road turns south, narrowing back to four lanes before entering marshland to the west of Absecon Bay. There is a northbound exit and southbound entrance to CR 646 before US 30 crosses the Jonathans Thorofare into Atlantic City, where the name becomes Absecon Boulevard as it turns to the east. Absecon Boulevard crosses Newfound Thorofare before heading south and passing over Duck Thorofare. The road passes by the Jersey-Atlantic Wind Farm and heads southeast across Beach Thorofare. At this point, US 30 widens to six lanes and passes to the north of residential neighborhoods, with maintenance of the road switching from NJDOT to the South Jersey Transportation Authority. After crossing the Penrose Canal, the route passes over the tunnel carrying the Atlantic City–Brigantine Connector and intersects the southern terminus of Route 87, where there is a ramp to the northbound Atlantic City–Brigantine Connector. The road passes areas of development and intersects an access road to the southbound Atlantic City–Brigantine Connector as well as Route 187. Two blocks later, US 30 ends at the intersection with Virginia Avenue and Adriatic Avenue, where Absecon Boulevard continues east as an unnumbered road.

History

US 30 followed the course of an old Lenape trail running from what is now Camden to the Absegami lands, in what is now Absecon. This later became the White Horse Road. The White Horse Turnpike Company was incorporated January 27, 1854 with the authority to convert White Horse Road into a turnpike, running from Camden to Stratford and eventually to Atlantic City. By 1913, maintenance of the White Horse Pike became public, and the road was incorporated into an auto trail, signed as the White Horse Trail. The route of US 30 today in New Jersey was designated as pre-1927 Route 3 from 1916 to 1927 between Camden and Absecon.

In the 1953 New Jersey state highway renumbering, which eliminated several concurrencies between U.S. and state routes, the designations of routes 25, 43, and 56 were removed from US 30. In the late 1960s, a freeway was proposed for US 30 in Camden County by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission. The freeway, which was to cost $40 million, was to run from the Benjamin Franklin Bridge to I-295 in Barrington with a $16 million extension to the planned Route 90 freeway in Berlin. The segment between Camden and Barrington was to be complete by 1975 while the extension to Berlin was to be finished by 1985. However, the NJDOT did not build this US 30 freeway. In 2009, the Collingswood Circle at the eastern end of the US 130 concurrency was replaced with an at-grade intersection with jughandles.{{cite news |last=Rosen|first=Jeremy|access-date=October 28, 2009|title= Marlton Circle in for more changes

Major intersections

References

References

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2. "I-676 Straight Line Diagram". New Jersey Department of Transportation.
3. "overview of U.S. Route 30 in New Jersey".
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5. Snyder, John (1969). "[https://www.state.nj.us/dep/njgs/enviroed/oldpubs/bulletin67.pdf The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries 1606-1968]"
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10. (1916). "1916 Annual Report". New Jersey Department of Transportation.
11. Joint Board on Interstate Highways. (1925). "Report of Joint Board on Interstate Highways, October 30, 1925, Approved by the Secretary of Agriculture, November 18, 1925". United States Department of Agriculture.
12. (November 11, 1926). "United States System of Highways Adopted for Uniform Marking by the American Association of State Highway Officials". [[United States Geological Survey]].
13. (1927). "Map of New Jersey". Tydol Trails.
14. "Laws of 1927, Chapter 319.". State of New Jersey.
15. "1927 New Jersey Road Map". State of New Jersey.
16. "Laws of 1938, Chapter 84". State of New Jersey.
17. "Laws of 1938, Chapter 216". State of New Jersey.
18. "Laws of 1945, Chapter 1". State of New Jersey.
19. (December 16, 1952). "New Road Signs Ready in New Jersey". [[The New York Times]].
20. (1969). "Map of New Jersey". [[Chevron Oil Company]].
21. (1973). "Pennsylvania". [[Exxon]].
22. (1969). "1985 Regional Transportation Plan". [[Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission]].