New Jersey Route 324 - History

History

The ferry route that Route 324 serviced first made its crossings of the Delaware River on July 1, 1930, from Chester, Pennsylvania, to Bridgeport, New Jersey. The ferry service was run with two boats, Chester, a large boat with a capacity of 60 motor vehicles, and Bridgeport, a smaller boat with a capacity of 48. The ferry system was seen as an advantage across the Delaware, providing drivers a backup from the few bridges that existed along the river. In 1936, the Bridgeport–Chester Ferry was granted the alignment for the extension of U.S. Route 322 from Pennsylvania and into New Jersey. Along with the U.S. Route 322 designation, the New Jersey State Highway Department designated the alignment of Route 322 from the ferry to U.S. Route 130, then designated as State Highway Route 44, as State Highway Route S-44.

Route 322 survived the state highway renumbering because of the fact that it was a U.S. Route. However, the co-designation on the ferry stretch, State Highway Route S-44 was decommissioned in favor of just one designation. U.S. Route 322 remained on the ferry route for several years, and plans arose during the 1960s to construct a new bridge between the Delaware Memorial and Walt Whitman bridges. Construction began that year, and on February 1, 1974, the newly named Commodore Barry Bridge opened for traffic. At 8 p.m. that evening, the Bridgeport–Chester Ferry ran its final 1-mile (1.6 km) boat ride across the Delaware, and the service was closed down for good. The alignment of U.S. Route 322 was moved onto the Commodore Barry Bridge, while the former alignment was redesignated Route 324. The route has remained virtually intact since then.