Route 7 is a
state highway in the northern part of
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. It has two sections, an east–west alignment running from
U.S. Route 1/9 Truck in
Jersey City to
Route 21 in
Belleville, and a north–south alignment running from the
Newark/Belleville to the
Nutley/
Clifton border. The
New Jersey Department of Transportation
The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) is the agency responsible for transportation issues and policy in New Jersey, including maintaining and operating the state's highway and public road system, planning and developing transporta ...
(NJDOT) lists Route 7 as a single north–south highway with a small gap between the alignments. The entire highway has a combined length of .
The southern section of Route 7, which runs from Jersey City to Belleville, passes through industrial areas, the
New Jersey Meadowlands
New Jersey Meadowlands, also known as the Hackensack Meadowlands after the primary river flowing through it, is a general name for the large ecosystem of wetlands in northeastern New Jersey in the United States, a few miles to the west of ...
,
Arlington Memorial Park
Arlington Memorial Park is a cemetery located mostly within the Arlington section of Kearny in Hudson County, New Jersey, on Schuyler Avenue.
Prior to its creation the ground was owned by Julius Pratt, who later negotiated the development of t ...
, and some residential and business areas. West of the interchange with
County Route 508 in
Kearny, Route 7 is the Belleville Turnpike, a historic road created in 1759. The northern section of Route 7 runs north through residential and business areas of Belleville and Nutley into Clifton, where it turns west and crosses back into Nutley, briefly turning to the north to come to its northern terminus. A portion of the route in Nutley is municipally maintained while the portion within Clifton is maintained by
Passaic County. The two separate sections of Route 7 are linked by
County Route 506 (Rutgers Street) in Belleville, which is signed as Route 7 despite the fact it is not officially part of the route.
Route 7 was established in 1927 to run from
Jersey City to
Paterson, replacing pre-1927 Route 11 between Belleville and Paterson. The routing was amended in 1929 to head to
Route 3 in
Wallington and was extended north to
Route 6 (now
U.S. Route 46
U.S. Route 46 (US 46) is an east–west U.S. Highway completely within the state of New Jersey, running for , making it the shortest signed, non-spur U.S. Highway. The west end is at an interchange with Interstate 80 in New Jersey, Intersta ...
) in
East Paterson in 1949. In 1953, the route was modified to follow its current alignment.
Route description
Southern section
The first section of Route 7 begins at an intersection with
U.S. Route 1-9 Truck and County Route 645 (Charlotte Avenue) in
Jersey City,
Hudson County
Hudson County is the most densely populated county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It lies west of the lower Hudson River, which was named for Henry Hudson, the sea captain who explored the area in 1609. Part of New Jersey's Gateway Region in ...
, heading to the west on a four-lane highway that is signed east–west.
The route crosses the
Hackensack River
The Hackensack River is a river, approximately 45 miles (72 km) long, in the U.S. states of New York (state), New York and New Jersey, emptying into Newark Bay, a back chamber of New York Harbor. The drainage basin, watershed of the ri ...
on the
Wittpenn Bridge
The Wittpenn Bridge is a vertical-lift bridge that carries New Jersey Route 7 over the Hackensack River connecting Kearny, New Jersey, Kearny and Jersey City, New Jersey, Jersey City, New Jersey. It is named after H. Otto Wittpenn, a former mayor ...
parallel to
Conrail Shared Assets Operations
Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CSAO) is the commonly used name for modern-day Conrail ( reporting mark CRCX), an American railroad company. It operates three networks, the North Jersey, South Jersey/Philadelphia, and Detroit Shared Assets Area ...
'
Passaic and Harsimus Line into
Kearny. Route 7 interchanges with County Route 659 (Fish House Road) and widens to a six-lane
divided highway
A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...
. The route then passes by industrial areas and a Conrail Shared Assets Operations railroad yard before it passes over
NJ Transit
New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit, and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey, along with portions of New York State and Pennsylvania. It operates bu ...
's
Morris & Essex Lines
The Morris & Essex Lines are a group of former Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad (DL&W) railroad lines in New Jersey now owned and operated by NJ Transit. The lines include service offered on the Morristown Line and the Gladstone Branch. P ...
and reaches an interchange with
County Route 508.
Past this interchange, Route 7 becomes the four-lane, divided Belleville Turnpike, with the eastern end of the
Newark Turnpike running in the division between the two sides of Route 7. It then becomes an undivided two-lane road, heading northwest, narrowing to two lanes before it crosses under
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...
's
Northeast Corridor and passes through the
New Jersey Meadowlands
New Jersey Meadowlands, also known as the Hackensack Meadowlands after the primary river flowing through it, is a general name for the large ecosystem of wetlands in northeastern New Jersey in the United States, a few miles to the west of ...
. The route crosses under the Eastern Spur of the
New Jersey Turnpike (
Interstate 95) and then the Western Spur of the turnpike a short distance later before passing over
Norfolk Southern
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31, ...
's
Boonton Line.
Route 7 continues northwest, widens, with a painted median, as it passes through two large cemeteries on the border of Hudson County (Kearny) to the south and Bergen County (
North Arlington) to the north, though the route itself is signed north–south along that border.
After an intersection with Schuyler Avenue (which runs as Hudson
County Route 507
County Route 507 (CR 507) is a County routes in New Jersey, county highway in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The highway extends from Harrison Avenue (County Route 508 (New Jersey), CR 508) on the Kearny, New Jersey, Kearny-Harrison, New Jersey, H ...
to the south of Route 7 and Bergen County Route 130 to the north of Route 7), the road turns NNW, narrowing again to two lanes undivided. In this portion of the route, it had a concurrency with County Route 507 (both Bergen and Hudson counties). It keeps this configuration for about a half mile, as it still runs along the Kearny/North Arlington border. At that point, it meets the southern terminus of
Route 17 (Ridge Road) and the northern terminus of County Route 697 (Kearny Avenue).
Past this intersection, County Route 507 turns away from Route 7, becoming concurrent with Route 17. by heading north on River Road, while Route 7 continues along Belleville Turnpike for another half mile, Route 7 continues another half mile west, crossing the
Passaic River on a
lift bridge
A vertical-lift bridge or just lift bridge is a type of movable bridge in which a span rises vertically while remaining parallel with the deck.
The vertical lift offers several benefits over other movable bridges such as the bascule and sw ...
, known as the
Belleville Turnpike Bridge or Rutgers Street Bridge, into
Belleville,
Essex County, where the local street name changes from Belleville Turnpike to Rutgers Street. The first section of Route 7 ends at an intersection with Main Street underneath the
Route 21 freeway.
Gap in the route
The intersection of Main St and Rutgers Street in Belleville forms the end of one section of Route 7 (signed north, directionally west). Rutgers Street is named for Colonel
Henry Rutgers
Henry Rutgers (October 7, 1745 – February 17, 1830) was a United States Revolutionary War hero and philanthropist from New York City. Rutgers University was named after him, and he donated a bond which placed the college on sound financial f ...
, an
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
hero and benefactor of what is now
Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...
. For its entire length, Rutgers carries Essex
County Route 506, which ends, like Rutgers Street itself, at the Rutgers Street Bridge.
Prior to turning onto Rutgers Street, CR-506 runs along Washington Street concurrent with the northern section of Route 7. Though the northern section of Route 7 begins a few blocks south, it is not readily recognized (minimal signing). As CR-506 runs concurrently with it here, and then turns down Rutgers for the short distance that bridges the gap between the two Route 7 sections, Rutgers/506 is often viewed as if it continues Route 7, while the short portion of the northern section that lies south of Rutgers is sometimes seen as a spur, even though it is part of the main route.
Rutgers' identity has become so closely aligned with Route 7, that though it is not officially part of Route 7, Rutgers, from Washington Avenue to Main Street, is signed as if it is part of Route 7.
Northern section
The second section of Route 7, designated a north–south road, heads north on Washington Avenue from the
Second River crossing on the
Newark/
Belleville border, passing through a business district.
The route intersects
County Route 506 (Belleville Avenue), and that county route then forms a
concurrency with Route 7 along the next block of Washington Avenue, to the intersection with Rutgers Street. At that point, County Route 506 heads to the east, ending at the intersection of Main Street, Rutgers Street, and bridge to Belleville (which is also the other section of Route 7).
Route 7 is not signed on Washington Avenue between the Second River bridge and Rutgers Street, except on some overhead signs suspended from traffic signals.
From the Rutgers Street intersection, Route 7 continues along Washington Avenue for about a mile and a half before reaching
Nutley, still continuing on Washington Avenue into Nutley.
The road crosses Norfolk Southern's Newark Industrial Track line at an intersection with County Route 648 (Centre Street). At the intersection with County Route 646 (Park Avenue), Route 7 turns into a municipally maintained road and enters a more residential area.
Upon intersecting County Route 606 (Kingsland Road), Route 7 crosses into
Clifton,
Passaic County and heads to the west on county-maintained Kingsland Street signed east–west.
Kingsland, carrying Route 7, crosses back into Nutley, regaining state maintenance. When Kingsland becomes County Route 644 at the intersection with Cathedral Avenue, Route 7 turns north from Kingsland onto Cathedral Avenue and comes to its terminus at Orange Street in Nutley. However, signage continues to indicate Route 7 up to the terminus of Cathedral Avenue at interchange with
Route 3 at the intersection of Cathedral Avenue, Passaic Avenue, and Ward Avenue.
Per NJDOT traffic regulations, the portion of Cathedral Avenue and Passaic Avenue within the vicinity of the Route 3 interchange in Clifton is under state jurisdiction.
History
The Belleville Turnpike, which is the majority of the southern portion of Route 7, was created in 1759 as a
turnpike
Turnpike often refers to:
* A type of gate, another word for a turnstile
* In the United States, a toll road
Turnpike may also refer to:
Roads United Kingdom
* A turnpike road, a principal road maintained by a turnpike trust, a body with powers ...
made out of cedar logs. This road was chartered in 1808.
It served as a part of the
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...
route for escaped slaves to get to
Jersey City.
The road west of modern County Route 508 was later incorporated into the
William Penn Highway
The William Penn Highway was an auto trail that ran from Pittsburgh in west to New York City in the east. It served as the Pikes Peak Ocean to Ocean Highway west of Reading and as its branch to New York City. The William Penn Highway Association ...
, which ran from Jersey City to Pittsburgh, PA.
[Rand McNally and Co. "Eastern Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, South East Michigan, Southern Ontario, Western New York: District No. 4". ''Rand McNally Official Auto Trails Map'', 3rd ed., 1924, pp. 168-169. ''David Rumsey Historical Map Collection'', David Rumsey (curator), Cartography Associates, Accessed Nov 4, 2019, www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~201570~3000600:Auto-Trails-Map--Pennsylvania,-New-.]
The northern segment of Route 7 was originally a part of pre-1927 Route 11, which was legislated in 1917 to run from
Newark to
Paterson.
In the
1927 New Jersey state highway renumbering
In 1927, New Jersey's state highways were renumbered. The old system, which had been defined in sequence by the legislature since 1916, was growing badly, as several routes shared the same number, and many unnumbered state highways had been d ...
, Route 7 was designated to run from
Jersey City to Paterson, replacing pre-1927 Route 11 between
Belleville and Paterson.
[State of New Jersey, Laws of 1927, Chapter 319.]
In 1929, the routing was amended to run from
Route 25 (now
U.S. Route 1/9 Truck) in Jersey City to
Route 3 in
Wallington.
[State of New Jersey, Laws of 1929, Chapter 126.] Route 7 was extended north in 1949 to continue to
Route 6 (now
U.S. Route 46
U.S. Route 46 (US 46) is an east–west U.S. Highway completely within the state of New Jersey, running for , making it the shortest signed, non-spur U.S. Highway. The west end is at an interchange with Interstate 80 in New Jersey, Intersta ...
) in
East Paterson (now
Elmwood Park).
[State of New Jersey, Laws of 1949, Chapter 175.]
In the
1953 New Jersey state highway renumbering
On January 1, 1953, the New Jersey Highway Department renumbered many of the State Routes. This renumbering was first proposed in 1951 in order to reduce confusion to motorists. A few rules were followed in deciding what to renumber:
*No state ro ...
, Route 7 was legislated onto its current alignment, with the northern terminus moved to the
Nutley/
Clifton border.
The route was also realigned to head south on Washington Avenue between the Newark border and Rutgers Street in Belleville on what was Route 11N, a remnant of pre-1927 Route 11, making Route 7 discontinuous.
[State of New Jersey, Laws of 1939, complied.] County Route 506 used to follow the southern portion of Route 7 but has been truncated to the intersection with Routes 7 and 21 in Belleville.
Major intersections
See also
*
*
References
External links
New Jersey Roads: Route 7An expanded view of road jurisdiction near the confluence of US 46, I-95 / NJTurnpike, I 280, NJ 7 and CR 508 in KearnySpeed Limits for Route 7
{{DEFAULTSORT:New Jersey Route 007
007
Transportation in Bergen County, New Jersey
Transportation in Essex County, New Jersey
Transportation in Hudson County, New Jersey
Transportation in Passaic County, New Jersey