New Jersey Route 24
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Route 24 |
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| Maintained by NJDOT | |||||||||
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| Length: | 10.42 mi[1] (16.77 km) | ||||||||
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| Formed: | 1974 | ||||||||
| From: |  I-287 in Hanover Township |
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| Major junctions: |
 NJ 124 in Summit |
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| East end: |  I-78 in Springfield |
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Route 24 is a state highway in New Jersey, United States, that extends 10.42 miles from a junction with Interstate 287 in Hanover Township in Morris County, passing through Essex County, and ends at a junction with Interstate 78 in Springfield Township in Union County.
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[edit] Route description
For many years the Route 24 was useful only to local residents and visitors to The Mall at Short Hills, where it ended abruptly at JFK Parkway on the border of Essex and Morris Counties.
The section across Chatham to shortly past the still-existing unused cloverleaf interchange at the Florham Park borough line, once signed as the Tri-Borough Road, a never-built southern extension of the Eisenhower Parkway was cleared and graded at the same time but halted for many years due to legal, environmental and budgetary problems.
Route 24 was finally completed through to the intersection with Interstate 287 in Hanover Township in the early-1990s, and at that time the 24 designation was limited to strictly that freeway, while the old Route 24 through downtown Madison and Chatham was resigned as Route 124. Route 24 is sometimes called the Morris-Essex Turnpike Bypass.
Ironically, the first section to be upgraded to a freeway is today the only remaining section that follows the highway's original route.
An earlier proposal to extend the freeway beyond the Western junction with Interstate 287, to allow a bypass completely around Morristown, where it would rejoin the old two-lane route in Mendham, has been scrapped as there was no politically feasible route to the north of the Morris County seat.
At the other end, Route 24 was originally to continue eastward across Union County as I-278, but that 7.2-mile section between I-78 and the current end of I-278 has never been built.
The former signed route was redesignated as Route 124 from the junction with U.S. Route 202 in Morristown, eastward to the boundary between Maplewood and Irvington.
Signs for Route 24 can still be seen along the old route from west of Morristown until the Morris County/Warren County border near Hackettstown. Along this route, the road is known as County Road 510 (from Morristown through Chester Borough) and County Road 513 (from Chester Borough until the Long Valley section of Washington Twp.), and also as Old Route 24.
[edit] History
Originally, NJ 24 ran from Phillipsburg, New Jersey to Newark. In 1974, that route was split into Route 57 at Hackettstown, and the rest from the Musconetcong River eastward still known as 24. The western portion is a decommissioned section still signed as NJ 24 even though the road has never been state-maintained. New Jersey Department of Transportation has tried to remove signs from the county-maintained section, but locals protested because they know it as 24.
At that time, 24 ran across Morris County through Long Valley (Washington Township), Chester, Mendham, Morristown, Madison and Chatham, to the old Morris and Essex Turnpike along the Union-Essex county line between Short Hills and Summit, then Morris Avenue in Springfield and eventually making its way to Newark along Springfield Avenue.
During the American Revolutionary War, Hessian General Baron Wilhelm von Knyphausen attempted to seize the Hobart Gap in the Watchung Mountains, now present day Route 24, in order to attack American headquarters in Morristown. He was met with resistance by General Nathanael Greene, and was eventually defeated by the Continental Army and the New Jersey militia at the Battle of Springfield.
[edit] Exit list
| County | Location | Mile | # | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morris | Hanover Twp | 0.39 |  I-287 to I-80 – Somerville, Mahwah |
Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | |
| 0.70 | 1 |  CR 511 – Morristown, Whippany |
Westbound exit and eastbound entrance; signed as exits 1A (south) and 1B (north) | ||
| 2.09 | 2 |  CR 510 – Morristown, Florham Park |
Signed as exits 2A (west) and 2B (east) | ||
| Essex | Millburn Twp | 6.99 | 7 | NJ 124 west – Chatham |
Westbound exit and eastbound entrance |
| 7.07 | 7B | River Road – Summit | Signed as exit 7 eastbound | ||
| 7.07 | 7C | JFK Parkway – Livingston, Caldwell | Eastbound exit is via exit 7 (River Road) | ||
| 7.99 | 8 | Summit Avenue – Summit, Chatham | |||
| 8.60 | 9B | Hobart Gap Road, Hobart Avenue | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | ||
| Union | Springfield Twp | 9.45 | 9A | Broad Street (CR 512) – Summit, Millburn, Springfield (CR 527) | Signed as exits 9A (Broad Street) and 9B (Millburn, Springfield) eastbound |
| 10.18 |    I-78 to GSP / NJTP / I-95 – Clinton, Newark, Holland Tunnel, New York City |
Eastbound exit and westbound entrance |
[edit] Related routes
[edit] Route 24N
Route 24N was a planning number for the approach to the new Delaware River crossing in Phillipsburg that opened January 17, 1938. However, before the bridge opened, it was instead built simply as an extension of Route 24.
[edit] Route S24
Route S24 was the number given to two spurs of Route 24, both of which were renumbered in the 1953 renumbering. The west spur ran east from Penwell to Hackettstown, and is now mostly Route 57. The east spur ran from Springfield to Elizabeth, and is now mostly Route 82.
[edit] References
- ^ New Jersey Department of Transportation. Route 24 straight line diagram. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
[edit] External links
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