New Jersey Route 72 - History

History

What is now Route 72 was originally designated as Route S40 in the 1927 New Jersey state highway renumbering. It was to be a spur of Route 40 that was to run from Route 40 at Four Mile to Route 4 (now U.S. Route 9) in Manahawkin. By 1941, the route was extended east to the intersection with Long Beach Boulevard in Ship Bottom. In the 1953 New Jersey state highway renumbering, Route S40 was renumbered to Route 72. By 1969, Route 72 was moved to a new alignment to the south between U.S. Route 9 and the Manahawkin Bay Bridge; the old alignment became Route 180. This route was eventually removed from the state highway system and is now County Route 50.

A freeway was originally proposed for the Route 72 corridor in the late 1960s. The Route 72 freeway was planned to run from the Four Mile Circle to the New Jersey Turnpike in Westampton Township, where it would connect to the proposed Interstate 895 that would continue to Interstate 95 near Bristol, Pennsylvania. The existing Route 72 would also be widened into a four-lane divided highway. Both I-895 and Route 72 were intended to connect Bucks County, Pennsylvania and the Willingboro area with the Jersey Shore. The proposed freeway for Route 72 was to cost $39 million. However, construction costs and the desire to use money for mass transit led to cancellation of both I-895 and the Route 72 freeway by the 1980s.

In 2000, the Manahawkin Bay Bridge was dedicated the Dorland J. Henderson Memorial Bridge in honor of Dorland J. Henderson, who was one of NJDOT’s top engineers that designed the lighting system for the Manahawkin Bay Bridge. In September 2009, the NJDOT began repairs to the deck of the Manahawkin Bay Bridge. This project, completed in May 2010, cost $4 million and received funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The Manahawkin Bay Bridge is to undergo a rehabilitation project and a parallel bridge will be built to the south. Construction is planned to begin in 2012 with completion in 2017.