New Jersey Route 87

Route 87 is a state highway located in Atlantic County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It runs , heading north from Atlantic City at an intersection with U.S. Route 30 to Brigantine, where it terminates at the end of the Brigantine Bridge over the Absecon Inlet, continuing as County Route 638. In Atlantic City, the route runs through the Marina District, which contains a few casinos, along Huron Avenue and Brigantine Boulevard. Here, Route 87 intersects with Route 187 and the Atlantic City-Brigantine Connector, the latter providing a limited-access route between Route 87 and the Atlantic City Expressway. Route 87 is the only road to and from Brigantine.

What is now Route 87 was initially proposed as Route S4A in 1927, running from Tuckerton south through Brigantine to Atlantic City. The portion of this route south of Little Beach was to be built by Atlantic County; however, the state took over plans of building the road in 1938. Despite this, Route S4A was never completed between Brigantine and Little Beach, and the portion of the road that existed in Ocean County was removed from the state highway system by 1941. In 1945, Route S56 was proposed to run from Atlantic City to Brigantine along Brigantine Boulevard. Route 87 was created on its current alignment in 1953 as an unsigned route, replacing the other two routes. Previously, Route 87 split into two alignments in Atlantic City along Huron Avenue and Brigantine Boulevard; the Brigantine Boulevard alignment eventually became Route 187.

Route description

Route 87 begins at an intersection with U.S. Route 30 in Atlantic City, heading to the northeast on Huron Avenue, an undivided road with two northbound lanes and three southbound lanes. Immediately after beginning, it passes under the Atlantic City – Brigantine Connector and comes to a ramp that provides access from southbound Route 87 to the southbound connector. From here, the route widens to seven lanes, with two northbound lanes and five southbound lanes. It passes by the Borgata casino, with a ramp from the casino to the northbound direction. The road becomes a four-lane divided highway and passes under a ramp from the Atlantic City – Brigantine Connector to the Borgata before heading under northbound direction of the connector. Here, a ramp from the connector provides access to Route 87. A short distance later, the route comes to the northern terminus of Route 187 and turns north to follow Brigantine Boulevard, which is a four-lane divided highway.

The route passes to the west of the Golden Nugget Atlantic City casino and comes to a ramp that provides access from northbound Route 87 to both the Golden Nugget Atlantic City and Harrah's Atlantic City casinos before passing under the northbound Atlantic City – Brigantine Connector again. Immediately after, the route has a ramp from the southbound direction that provides access to the connector and westbound U.S. Route 30. The northbound Atlantic City – Brigantine Connector parallels Route 87 to the east as it turns northeast and comes to a right-in/right-out in the southbound direction that serves both Harrah's and Borgata. From here, the route passes to the southeast of Harrah's. The northbound Atlantic City – Brigantine Connector merges onto northbound Route 87 before the route comes to a ramp that provides access to the northbound direction of the route from Harrah's. Past here, the route crosses over the Absecon Channel on the Justice Vincent S. Haneman Memorial Bridge and runs along the border of Atlantic City to the northwest and Brigantine to the southeast. After crossing the Absecon Channel, the route arrives on Brigantine Island and passes through wetlands, with U-turn ramps in both directions. A short distance later, Route 87 ends and County Route 638 continues along Brigantine Boulevard through Brigantine.

History

In 1927, a spur of Route 4, Route S4A, was proposed as a route running from Route 4 (now U.S. Route 9) in Tuckerton in Ocean County

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases