Route 139 is a

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Pulaski Skyway over

Tonnele Circle The Tonnele Circle is an intersection in Jersey City, New Jersey, United States. It is named after Tonnele TUN-uh-lee"Avenue, the north–south road that runs through it. Entrances and exits Entrances to and exits from Tonnele Circle are lis ...

to the state line with

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 ...

and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

in the Holland Tunnel, which is under the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

, to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The western portion of the route is a two level highway that is charted by 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 transportat ...

as two separate roadways: The lower roadway (Route 139) between U.S. Route 1/9 (US 1/9) over Tonnele Circle and Interstate 78 (I-78) at Jersey Avenue, and the upper roadway (Route 139U or Hoboken Avenue) running from County Route 501 (John F. Kennedy Boulevard) and ending where it joins the lower highway as part of the 12th Street

Viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...

, which ends at Jersey Avenue. The lower roadway is listed on the

federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

and NJ state registers of historic places since 2005. The eastern of the route includes the Holland Tunnel approach that runs

concurrent Concurrent means happening at the same time. Concurrency, concurrent, or concurrence may refer to: Law * Concurrence, in jurisprudence, the need to prove both ''actus reus'' and ''mens rea'' * Concurring opinion (also called a "concurrence"), a ...

with Interstate 78 on the

one-way pair A one-way pair, one-way couple, or couplet refers to that portion of a bi-directional traffic facilitysuch as a road, bus, streetcar, or light rail linewhere its opposing flows exist as two independent and roughly parallel facilities. Descriptio ...

of 12th Street eastbound and 14th Street westbound. Including the concurrency, the total length of Route 139 is . What is now Route 139 was originally the northernmost part of the Route 1 Extension. Route 25 replaced Route 1 in the 1927 renumbering. In

1953 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 25 was changed back to U.S. Route 1, which had been previously rerouted to cross the Hudson River when the George Washington Bridge opened in 1931. Route 25 from the Pulaski Skyway over Tonnele Circle to the Holland Tunnel became U.S. Route 1/9 Business. By the 1990s, U.S. Route 1/9 Business was replaced by Route 139. The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) began a rehabilitation program for the lower and upper levels of the highway in 2005. The renovation work for the 12th Street and 14th Street viaducts was completed in 2010. Renovation of the upper roadway, including the Hoboken Avenue Viaduct, and Conrail Viaduct on the lower roadway was expected to be completed by 2016.

Route description

Route 139 is essentially three distinct, but connected highways: the upper level, the lower level, and the Holland Tunnel approach (the Interstate 78 concurrency). NJDOT officially charts the lower and upper levels as independent highways, with the lower level considered Route 139 with a notation that the highway then coincides with I-78, and the upper level considered Route 139U.

Lower level

The lower level of Route 139 is a four-lane

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

with its western end at U.S. Route 1/9 a continuation of the Pulaski Skyway over

. A direct ramp, known as the Tonnele Circle Viaduct, passes over the circle, to connect westbound traffic with southbound U.S. Route 1/9 Truck, which quickly connects to Route 7 that leads to Interstate 280. Northbound U.S. Route 1/9 Truck connects through the circle to eastbound traffic. The skyway soon ends with eastbound and westbound ramps at a cut in Bergen Hill and the four-lane highway passes under John F. Kennedy Boulevard. The road turns to the southeast as Conrail's

National Docks Branch National Docks Secondary is a freight rail line within Conrail's North Jersey Shared Assets Area in Hudson County, New Jersey, used by CSX Transportation. It provides access for the national rail network to maritime, industrial, and distributio ...

and Long Dock Tunnel crosses over the

Bergen Arches Bergen Arches is an abandoned railroad right of way through Bergen Hill (the lower New Jersey Palisades) in Jersey City, New Jersey. History Bergen Arches is the common name for the Erie Cut, the Erie Railroad's mile-long, four-track cut whic ...

, an abandoned

Erie Railroad The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the northeastern United States, originally connecting New York City — more specifically Jersey City, New Jersey, where Erie's Pavonia Terminal, long demolished, used to stand — with Lake Erie ...

right-of-way. The highway then enters an enclosed open cut, running under the upper level of Route 139 as it passes through the Hudson Palisades; this section is known as the Depressed Highway. The covered roadway is naturally ventilated, with wide openings on the south side of the eastbound lanes (facing the parallel Bergen Arches right-of-way to the south), and ventilation bays over the westbound lanes. The road re-emerges under Palisade Avenue and splits into two viaducts, one eastbound and one westbound, which merge with Interstate 78 just west of Jersey Avenue at the Holland Tunnel approach.

Upper level

The upper level of Route 139 (also known as State Highway and Hoboken Avenue Viaduct) begins at an intersection with County Route 501 (Kennedy Boulevard), which connects to

Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine re ...

and Union City. The road heads to the southeast through urban residential and commercial areas as a four-lane undivided road, coming to an intersection with Collard Street. Just past this, the route becomes a four-lane divided road, which is separated by ventilation bays from the lower roadway, with the eastbound lanes running above the lower level of Route 139. It continues between the Heights district to the north and the Journal Square district to the south. It crosses several streets, including County Route 646 (St. Pauls Avenue), County Route 617 (Summit Avenue), County Route 663 (Central Avenue), and County Route 644 (Oakland Street). The road meets Concord Street, where there is an eastbound left lane exit and a westbound intersection. After the intersection with Palisade Avenue, the upper level of Route 139 splits and merges with the lower level with a westbound ramp, which has a westbound entrance from the local Hoboken Avenue, and an eastbound ramp.

Viaducts

The four-lane 12th Street and 14th Street

viaducts A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide va ...

, completed in 1927 and 1951 respectively, carry Route 139 between Jersey Avenue at

Boyle Plaza The Holland Tunnel is a vehicular tunnel under the Hudson River that connects the New York City neighborhood of Hudson Square in Lower Manhattan to the east with Jersey City in New Jersey to the west. The tunnel is operated by the Port Author ...

and the cut into Bergen Hill under Palisade Avenue. Ramps from western end of 12th Street Viaduct connect to the upper level roadway at the top of Bergen Hill at the Palisade Avenue intersection. Westbound ramp on north side is separated from the main highway by a reinforced concrete

retaining wall Retaining walls are relatively rigid walls used for supporting soil laterally so that it can be retained at different levels on the two sides. Retaining walls are structures designed to restrain soil to a slope that it would not naturally keep to ...

; the eastbound ramp on south side is supported by reinforced concrete deck

arch An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...

spans. The western end of 12th Street Viaduct transitions from two-way to one-way, four-lane eastbound traffic just east of the connection with the westbound 14th Street Viaduct. The

undertook a $92 million project to renew the viaducts. The reason for this project was that the viaducts were

structurally deficient The National Bridge Inventory (NBI) is a database, compiled by the Federal Highway Administration, with information on all bridges and tunnels in the United States that have roads passing above or below them. That is similar to the grade-crossing ...

. The steel beams on the viaducts had deteriorated and the concrete was just extra weight. The project included replacement of the concrete deck, retrofitting for earthquakes, repair of the substructure and

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

, and construction of a shoulder on westbound 14th Street Viaduct. The rehabilitated viaducts were to also feature ornamental designs to recall the historical significance of the two viaducts. This project was completed in 2010.

I-78 concurrency

The elevated westbound Interstate 78 diverges from 14th Street Viaduct of Route 139 one block west of Jersey Avenue. A viaduct for eastbound Interstate 78 runs along south side of eastern section of the 12th Street Viaduct. The highway merges with Route 139 at eastern terminus of 12th Street Viaduct. From here, Route 139 continues east

with that route and passes through business areas as a

that follows six-lane 12th Street eastbound and six-lane 14th Street westbound. This segment of the route is under the jurisdiction of the

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorized ...

and this area is also known as

. The first intersection is with Jersey Avenue, which heads to Downtown Jersey City and Hoboken. It intersects with the one-way northbound County Route 633 (Erie Street) next before crossing one-way southbound County Route 635 (Grove Street). After Grove Street, the road crosses County Route 637 ( Luis Muñoz Marín Boulevard) near the

Newport Centre Mall Newport Centre, commonly known as Newport Mall, is a shopping mall in Jersey City, New Jersey, that opened in 1987. It is a major component of the enormous Newport, Jersey City, a mixed-use community on the Hudson River waterfront across from Lo ...

just to the south. Past this intersection, the eastbound traffic comes to the toll plaza for the Holland Tunnel. From here, the concurrency enters the Holland Tunnel under the

, which carries two lanes in each direction. Route 139 ends at the New Jersey and

state line within the tunnel and Interstate 78 continues into

. At no point in the I-78 concurrency approaching the Holland Tunnel is the road signed as Route 139. The first time the route is signed westbound is at the split with I-78, and the last time it’s signed eastbound is before it merges with I-78. Even in New York, approaching the tunnel, I-78 is signed with the entrance but Route 139 is not.

History

Early years and route numbering

What is now the lower level of Route 139 was originally designated as the northernmost part of Route 1 Extension, which was authorized by the

New Jersey Legislature The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and the ...

in 1922, a route that was to extend the existing Route 1 from Elizabeth to the Holland Tunnel in

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.U.S. Highway System The United States Numbered Highway System (often called U.S. Routes or U.S. Highways) is an integrated network of roads and highways numbered within a nationwide grid in the contiguous United States. As the designation and numbering of these hi ...

was established in 1926, this road was also designated as part of U.S. Route 1. 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 ...

, this highway became part of Route 25, a route that was to run from the

Ben Franklin Bridge The Benjamin Franklin Bridge, originally named the Delaware River Bridge and known locally as the Ben Franklin Bridge, is a suspension bridge across the Delaware River connecting Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Camden, New Jersey. Owned and ope ...

Camden Camden may refer to: People * Camden (surname), a surname of English origin * Camden Joy (born 1964), American writer * Camden Toy (born 1957), American actor Places Australia * Camden, New South Wales * Camden, Rosehill, a heritage res ...

to the Holland Tunnel.State of New Jersey, Laws of 1927, Chapter 319. In the 1953 state highway renumbering, Route 25 designation was changed to U.S. Route 1/9 Business from the Pulaski Skyway over

to the Holland Tunnel. By the 1990s, U.S. Route 1/9 Business was renumbered to NJ Route 139. Along with the Pulaski Skyway, most of the Route 139 lower level became a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...

to the Route 1 Extension

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

listed with the state and

registers of historic places in 2005. The Newark Bay Extension of the

New Jersey Turnpike The New Jersey Turnpike (NJTP) is a system of controlled-access highways in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The turnpike is maintained by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA).The Garden State Parkway, although maintained by NJTA, is not consi ...

for Interstate 78 was opened in 1956 to provide access from the New Jersey Turnpike to the Holland Tunnel. Route 139 and I-78 were designated as

where the roads joined at the Holland Tunnel approach near Jersey Avenue all the way to the New York state line in the Holland Tunnel.

Holland Tunnel and Pulaski Skyway connections

As part of the Holland Tunnel project, the New Jersey Interstate Bridge and Tunnel Commission and the New York State Bridge and Tunnel Commission widened the four blocks of 12th and 14th Streets in Jersey City from Jersey Avenue to Provost Street. 12th Street was widened west of Grove Street to , with the remaining block, at the toll plaza, being wide. 14th Street, and the two blocks of Jersey Avenue carrying westbound traffic to the 12th Street Viaduct, were widened to . The two-way, 12th Street

from Jersey Avenue to the top of Bergen Hill was opened July 4, 1927. The four-lane, westbound, , 14th Street Viaduct, which was connected to the 12th Street Viaduct, was opened on February 13, 1951. The

Port of New York Authority The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorized b ...

, which superseded the two state tunnel commissions and took over authority for the Holland Tunnel in 1930, built the 14th Street Viaduct in order to avoid the turns to and from Jersey Avenue, but turned over authority over the viaduct to the New Jersey State Highway Commission. Retrieved May 9, 2013. The western end of 12th Street Viaduct was transitioned from two-way traffic to one-way, four-lane, eastbound traffic just east of the connection with the westbound 14th Street Viaduct. It was widened on the southern side between span nos. 1-24 on the eastern end to accommodate the merge in 1956 with the eastbound New Jersey Turnpike extension, I-78. In 1928, the completed lower level portion of the highway, along with Route 1 Extension on the eastern side of the Passaic River, was opened as the first part of the eventual high-speed connection between the Holland Tunnel and

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

. The upper level of Route 139 (Hoboken Avenue Viaduct), which provided a multi-lane thoroughfare from Palisades Avenue to John F. Kennedy Boulevard, was also opened. The high-speed

connection was completed with the opening of the Pulaski Skyway in 1932. The Pulaski Skyway ramp at its eastern terminus was eventually replaced with two long outside ramps that were dedicated for eastbound and westbound traffic from the cut in Bergen Hill just west of John F. Kennedy Boulevard. On September 14, 1938, a direct ramp, known as the Tonnele Circle Viaduct, opened over Tonnele Circle to connect westbound traffic with southbound U.S. Route 1/9 Truck, which quickly connects to Route 7 that leads to Interstate 280.

Later years

The Bergen Arches Expressway was proposed in 1989 by Governor Thomas Kean to connect the Jersey City waterfront with a new railroad line, which would provide access to the Meadowlands Sports Complex. This four-lane road was to follow an abandoned railroad line known as the

. This proposed highway was strongly supported by Jersey City Mayor

Bret Schundler Bret D. Schundler (born January 14, 1959) is an American Republican politician from New Jersey. Schundler was the mayor of Jersey City from 1992 until 2001. Schundler was the city's first Republican mayor since 1917. He ran for Governor of New Je ...

, who felt that the road could bring further development, as well as provide traffic relief to the four-lane Route 139. In 1998, this project was allocated $26 million in the federal Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century. Both Jersey City mayor candidates in 2001 supported a transit line instead of a highway along the Bergen Arches. Plans for a highway along the Bergen Arches were dropped in 2002 as leaders of Jersey City, including Mayor Glenn Dale Cunningham, favored mass transit. In a controversial move in 2011, Governor Chris Christie directed the

to divert money originally earmarked for the Access to the Region's Core rail project to highway projects. The agency agreed to pay $1.8 billion to partially fund rehabilitation to the Pulaski Skyway and Route 139, and other projects that it considers part of the larger distribution network in the

Port of New York and New Jersey The Port of New York and New Jersey is the port district of the New York-Newark metropolitan area, encompassing the region within approximately a radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. It includes the system of navigable water ...

. The Route 139 project rehabilitated the eastbound side of Hoboken Avenue Viaduct and resurfaced the westbound roadway. There were operational improvements at several intersections on the upper roadway, replacing all overpasses. It also replaced the deck and rehabilitated the

of the Conrail Viaduct. The total project cost was estimated at $180–200 million and was expected to be completed by 2016, then later pushed back to 2019. The Pulaski Skyway reopened in mid-2018, and the lower level of Route 139 was temporarily restored to four lanes in December 2018, but was partially closed again in early 2019. Improvements added to Route 139's lower level in 2019 included new lighting and new pavement markings.

Major intersections

Mainline

Hoboken Avenue (Upper Level)

References

External links

New Jersey Roads: NJ 139 and I-78
at ''Alps Roads''

at ''NJ Roads''
NJ 139 Freeway
at ''NYCRoads''
Speed Limits for State Roads: Route 139
at '' NJDOT'' * Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) documentation, filed under Jersey City, Hudson County, NJ: ** ** ** {{NRHP in Hudson County, New Jersey Buildings and structures in Jersey City, New Jersey Transportation in Hudson County, New Jersey

139 139 may refer to: * 139 (number), an integer * AD 139, a year of the Julian calendar * 139 BC, a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar * 139 (New Jersey bus) 139 may refer to: * 139 (number), an integer * AD 139, a year of the Julian calendar * 13 ...

Lincoln Highway Limited-access roads in New Jersey Historic American Engineering Record in New Jersey Historic district contributing properties in New Jersey New Jersey Register of Historic Places National Register of Historic Places in Hudson County, New Jersey Roads on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey U.S. Route 1 U.S. Route 9 Holland Tunnel