New Jersey Route 71 - History

History

Route 71 originates as an alignment of State Highway Route 4 in the 1920s, which ran from Absecon in Atlantic County northward to Rahway in Union County. Route 4 remained intact through the 1927 state highway renumbering, when Route 4 was realigned onto the current alignment of Route 35 most of its length. The older alignment from Belmar to Eatontown was re-designated as State Highway Route 4-N by the New Jersey State Highway Department. Route 4-N was one of four routes that used the -N suffix from the original numbering. Route 35 was designated on the southern portion, but this got reversed, allow the designation to be extended to Brielle. The route remained intact for the next 24 years, until the second state highway renumbering in 1953. Route 35 remained on its basic alignment, but State Highway Route 4-N was renumbered to Route 71. Route 71 has remained virtually unchanged since the 1953 renumbering in terms of its alignment from Brielle to Eatontown. During the time of the proposed Route 33 Freeway from Trenton to Neptune, the intersection with Route 33 in Neptune was to upgraded to a grade-separated interchange, but this portion was never built after being canned in 1967.