U.S. Route 40 in New Jersey - History

History

The portion of US 40 that overlaps US 322 follows the Black Horse Pike, a turnpike established in 1855 that was to run from Camden to Atlantic City via Blackwoodtown. In 1923, pre-1927 Route 18S was created along the current alignment of US 40 east of the Route 48 intersection, running from Penns Grove to Atlantic City. When the U.S. Highway System was established in 1926, the alignment of US 40 in New Jersey ran from Penns Grove, where a ferry carried the route across the Delaware River to Wilmington, Delaware, east to Atlantic City along pre-1927 Route 18S. In the 1927 New Jersey state highway renumbering that occurred a year later, pre-1927 Route 18S was replaced by Route 48. In 1936, US 322 was also signed concurrent with US 40 on the Black Horse Pike. The portion of US 40/US 322 that existed in Atlantic City was legislated as Route 55 in 1938. Also by 1938, US 40 was moved to a ferry that ran across the Delaware River between Pennsville and New Castle, Delaware, following current Route 49, local roads, and CR 551 to travel between the ferry and Route 48. Following the completion of the Delaware Memorial Bridge and the New Jersey Turnpike in 1951, US 40 was moved to the new bridge and routed to follow a small portion of the New Jersey Turnpike and Wiley Road to the current eastern terminus of Route 48. In the 1953 New Jersey state highway renumbering, which eliminated concurrencies between U.S. highways and state routes, Route 48 was removed from the portion of US 40 east of its current eastern terminus and the Route 55 designation was dropped entirely.

In the 1980s, Congressman William J. Hughes proposed a freeway along the US 40 corridor in order to alleviate increased traffic along that route following the legalization of gambling in Atlantic City. This freeway, which was to be maintained by the New Jersey Expressway Authority, was to run from the Delaware Memorial Bridge east to Atlantic City. The NJDOT determined that the traffic volume on US 40 did not justify the construction of a freeway along the corridor. The Cardiff Circle along US 40/US 322 at CR 563 and CR 608 in Egg Harbor Township was eliminated in a $3.7 million project completed in 2002.

In 2013, the road was one of three that tied for the #1 ranking on the Tri-State Transportation Campaign's list of the top ten most dangerous roads for pedestrians in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. The Route, along with U.S. Route 130 (Burlington Pike) in Burlington County and U.S. Route 1 in Middlesex County, were so ranked due to the nine pedestrian deaths that occurred on each of those roads from 2009 to 2011.