New Jersey Route 42 - History

History

In 1927, Route 42 was legislated to run along the Black Horse Pike, a road that traces its origins back to 1855. In that year, the Camden and Blackwoodstown Turnpike Company was established by entrepreneurs who had helped create the White Horse Pike to build a gravel road that would run from Camden south to Blackwoodtown and eventually to Atlantic City, from Ferry Avenue in Camden to Route 48 (now U.S. Route 40) in McKee City. By 1941, U.S. Route 322 was assigned to follow the routing of Route 42 between Williamstown and McKee City. With the 1953 New Jersey state highway renumbering, which eliminated long concurrencies between U.S. Routes and State Routes, the southern terminus of Route 42 was cut back to Williamstown to avoid the concurrency with U.S. Route 322.

The North–South Freeway portion of Route 42 was originally planned as a parkway in 1932 that would run from the Ben Franklin Bridge in Camden to Atlantic City; however, this proposal never materialized. In the late 1940s, the North–South Freeway was proposed by the New Jersey State Highway Department to run from the Ben Franklin Bridge to Turnersville. In the early 1950s, right-of-way for the freeway was acquired and actual construction of the freeway followed. The Route 42 freeway opened between Interstate 295 in Bellmawr and the Black Horse Pike in Blackwood in 1958. It opened between the Black Horse Pike in Blackwood and Turnersville in 1959. With the completion of the North–South Freeway portion of Route 42, the Black Horse Pike north of Turnersville became Route 168.

Following its completion, the North–South Freeway portion of Route 42 has seen many improvements. In 1965, the freeway was widened to six lanes for most of its length with the northernmost part being widened to eight lanes due to the completion of the Atlantic City Expressway and development occurring along the route. The route had its interchange with Route 55 open in 1985, when the Route 55 Freeway was opened from Route 42 to Route 41 to the south. Between 1996 and August 1999, the route was widened to eight lanes between Interstate 295 and Route 55 in Deptford Township. In the early 2000s, the interchanges with Route 41 and County Route 544 in Deptford were rebuilt at a cost of $13 million to improve movements within the area. In October 2003, the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) installed exit tabs along the stretch of the freeway portion of Route 42. On August 27, 2010, an interchange opened at County Route 673 (College Drive), providing better access to Camden County College.