Route description
Route 185 begins at a trumpet interchange with Route 440 and Harbor Drive in Jersey City. The route heads northward, surrounded by the northbound and southbound lanes of Route 440. Route 185 parallels Summit Place and interchanges once again with Route 440. After the interchange on and off ramps, the highway continues into the industrial area of Jersey City, passing over the formerHistory
Arterial design
The alignment of Route 185 originates as Alternative F-1 and G-1 of the Liberty Harbor–Route 169 Feeder Arterial, proposed in 1977 during the construction of New Jersey Route 169. The alignment was supposed to fork off of Route 169 near Interchange 14A on the Newark Bay Extension, and parallel the extension through the Greenville Railroad Yards. The alignment would parallel Caven Point Road to the south and through the Metropolitan Tank Port before ending at Interchange 14B in Jersey City. The original alignment proposed, Alternative G-4, was to have the freeway run along the alignment of Caven Point Road parallel to the Newark Bay Extension into the Metropolitan Tank Port, but prior to the Final Environmental Impact Statement, the proposal was dropped. The alignment was designed to help serve existing and proposed industry and divert truck traffic from local streets. The alignment of the new arterial was proposed to be with four travel lanes (two in each direction) designed for hourly volume of 3090 vehicles. Although most of the arterial was proposed as an at-grade highway, the interchange with Route 169 was to be configured so the highway could pass over the Greenville Railroad Yard on a viaduct. The right-of-way for the new Liberty Harbor arterial would be wide and terminate at Interchange 14B, although there was the possibility of turning it into the new Hudson River Route, a project being studied by the New Jersey Department of Transportation.Construction and recent history
Route 185 was first conceived by the state legislature in 1976, when an addition to the state statutes was passed for a route from Harbor Drive to an intersection with Bayview Avenue in Jersey City. The law passed on July 22, 1976, and the original highway had no designation. The route opened on February 25, 1988, from Route 169 (now Route 440) to an intersection with Linden Avenue, only 23% of its proposed alignment. In 1996, Conti Enterprises was hired for a construction project involving Route 169 and Route 185. Along with the widening of Route 169 to four lanes, this also involved getting acceleration lanes on Route 185 for drivers heading towards Upper New York Bay. In September 2008, the New Jersey Department of Transportation brought up the possibility of extending Route 185 to Bayview Avenue from its current northern terminus at Linden Avenue. Previous studies have said Route 185 could be extended, or the reverse with the Linden Avenue jog atMajor intersections
See also
* *References
External links
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