New Jersey

[roadman65]

https://goo.gl/maps/a9ZsSmKnaVHiH2gTA

Looks like the NJ 3 EB bridge over the Hackensack River was once lower in height(presumably a drawbridge previously) as the top part of the bridge piers look like they were added extensions as per one solid concrete slab over three piers and concrete age shows the difference between the original pier cap and the extension.

[74/171FAN]

It was announced this morning that the Hillsborough Bypass will open Saturday. (For US 206)

[storm2k]

https://goo.gl/maps/a9ZsSmKnaVHiH2gTA

Looks like the NJ 3 EB bridge over the Hackensack River was once lower in height(presumably a drawbridge previously) as the top part of the bridge piers look like they were added extensions as per one solid concrete slab over three piers and concrete age shows the difference between the original pier cap and the extension.

Yep, if you look at this aerial from 1954, you can actually make out where the gap in the roadway is where the two halves of the bascule would go up when traffic needed to sail underneath. By the next aerial in 1966, it was replaced by the structure that exists now and the second roadway for the WB traffic was in place.

[yakra]

Very interesting, since it's NOT A FREEWAY. Not there the last time I drove past, which really wasn't all that long ago. I haven't seen an opening date yet.

Here, have a meme.

[Alps]

Field update: NJ 7 bridge is complete and signs are up.

[74/171FAN]

Field update: NJ 7 bridge is complete and signs are up.

I guess that brings up the question, "How do I fit this in with my planned US 206 clinching trip?"

[roadman65]

Field update: NJ 7 bridge is complete and signs are up.

I guess that brings up the question, "How do I fit this in with my planned US 206 clinching trip?"

About time.  Now that drop off ramp can be built once the old bridge is removed.

[yakra]

provide much needed relief to the daily crush of commuter traffic on what will be now known as "Business Route"  or "Old"  Route 206

Surely they don't mean that in the AASHTO or NJDOT sense...

[Mergingtraffic]

https://nj1015.com/brand-new-highway-route-206-bypass-in-hillsborough-nj-finally-open/?fbclid=IwAR2cMoX4i-0w7XePitjFie3w_orfrEeAJDefTZkve22cXv8i_3kVXhuHxRg

[famartin]

provide much needed relief to the daily crush of commuter traffic on what will be now known as "Business Route"  or "Old"  Route 206

Surely they don't mean that in the AASHTO or NJDOT sense...

I can imagine them "naming" it "Old Route 206" on street signs (written out, just like that). Of course, since 206 is supposed to be part of a "Central business district" for Hillsborough... why not name it "Main Street"?  Or something similar? Just my thoughts, pay them no mind.

[roadman65]

https://goo.gl/maps/a9ZsSmKnaVHiH2gTA

Looks like the NJ 3 EB bridge over the Hackensack River was once lower in height(presumably a drawbridge previously) as the top part of the bridge piers look like they were added extensions as per one solid concrete slab over three piers and concrete age shows the difference between the original pier cap and the extension.

Yep, if you look at this aerial from 1954, you can actually make out where the gap in the roadway is where the two halves of the bascule would go up when traffic needed to sail underneath. By the next aerial in 1966, it was replaced by the structure that exists now and the second roadway for the WB traffic was in place.

I do like the original NJ 3 and NJ 17 interchange then better than what has been since the early 70s.  You crossed Route 3 on Route 17 and no convoluted loop back then that you have now.  I know the current interchange of that was supposed to be for a new alignment of Route 17 to connect to I-280 in Kearny that NJDOT scrapped, however the old interchange had a seam less connection from Rutherford Ave to Meadow Road across Route 3 which saved a minute of travel.

[Mr. Matté]

Here's the field report from the new 206 bypass:

• The old road is still signed as mainline 206 and the new road as 206 bypass
• The milepost 0s were removed from the Hillsborough Road intersection but the 0.5 and 1 mile posts for Business 206 [sic] still exist
• Speed limit between 206 south and Hillsborough Road is 45, the rest of it, including the existing portion are 50
• The traffic lights at each end don't detect bicycles, boo to NJDOT who's usually good with their sensors detecting me
• The "FREEWAY ENTRANCE" signs spotted by storm2k only exist at that spot, probably to help guide people to the right spot at the southern 206 left turning/Mountain View Road traffic to the right spot

Some photos of it including a weird sign directing people to CR 514, but explicitly mentioning it's a county route. 

Also seen on my trip: the US 27 Farmers Market on NJ Route 27 has been decommissioned and replaced with no shield: link

[74/171FAN]

^Do you have any pictures of US 206 shields along the old road or are they just on the streetblades?

[Mr. Matté]

No photos specifically of any US 206 shields along the old road itself (wasn't paying too much attention to the old road). The photo below does have a south 206 on the old road in the far background (adjacent to the business directional sign), the southern end before the fork has shields for 206 and Bypass 206. I also saw what was probably the back of [NORTH] [US 206] [↗] at the southbound bypass's southern end pointing towards the direct ramp. The township-posted street signs still call it only "Route 206" and the state traffic signals still have US 206 blades posted, including a new blade at the Mountain View Road intersection. The Bypass's signal blades (at least at Hillsborough Road and the northern end) are new (no black background, lowercase lettering) and not temporary looking like the old ones at Hillsborough Road and Service Road.

[74/171FAN]

^Thank you.  This satisifies my question.  I was also thinking that there may be no US 206 shield pointing to the route through town resulting in a future NJ 15 situation (which may end up being the case anyway).

[NJRoadfan]

The SLDs called the half finished road US-206 BYPASS, so thats what it'll likely be when they figure out the signs.

[Alps]

The SLDs called the half finished road US-206 BYPASS, so thats what it'll likely be when they figure out the signs.

Until they turn old 206 back to Hillsborough and Bypass becomes regular.

[storm2k]

^Do you have any pictures of US 206 shields along the old road or are they just on the streetblades?

I drove down there last Friday, just before it opened, and at the jughandle to move you from the mainline onto the "old" (still "current") 206, there were very new shields that were clearly put up by the contractor that showed that 206's alignment continued on its original alignment. Still were 206 shields and NJDOT EMMs along that stretch as well. I have a sneaking suspicion that we'll have an NJ-24 situation on our hands once NJDOT moves the actual 206 designation to the bypass and 206 signage along the original stretch will just be left there until they fall down or fade out of existence.

Also, I gotta say, most of this contractor signage is ugly. Doesn't look like NJDOT stuff at all. They put up a sign for "Hillsborough Business District" at the jughandle, and it's not proportioned well, uses all caps, and everything looks scrunched together. Shame too, because I've been finding that NJDOT's signage of late has been pretty damn good for most of the replacements I've been seeing slowly creep across many state roads.

Few notes further north. The Brown Ave to Valley Road project continues apace with plenty of tree clearing and grading, and the beginnings of some utility work. With the bypass now open (even if it doesn't go as far as it was supposed to and goes down to two lanes sooner than it should) and work continuing on the missing links of expansion, we are finally on our way to four lanes from the Somerville Circle to almost Belle Meade, and that's amazing.

[74/171FAN]

The SLDs called the half finished road US-206 BYPASS, so thats what it'll likely be when they figure out the signs.

Until they turn old 206 back to Hillsborough and Bypass becomes regular.

^Do you have any pictures of US 206 shields along the old road or are they just on the streetblades?

I drove down there last Friday, just before it opened, and at the jughandle to move you from the mainline onto the "old" (still "current") 206, there were very new shields that were clearly put up by the contractor that showed that 206's alignment continued on its original alignment. Still were 206 shields and NJDOT EMMs along that stretch as well. I have a sneaking suspicion that we'll have an NJ-24 situation on our hands once NJDOT moves the actual 206 designation to the bypass and 206 signage along the original stretch will just be left there until they fall down or fade out of existence.

Also, I gotta say, most of this contractor signage is ugly. Doesn't look like NJDOT stuff at all. They put up a sign for "Hillsborough Business District" at the jughandle, and it's not proportioned well, uses all caps, and everything looks scrunched together. Shame too, because I've been finding that NJDOT's signage of late has been pretty damn good for most of the replacements I've been seeing slowly creep across many state roads.

Few notes further north. The Brown Ave to Valley Road project continues apace with plenty of tree clearing and grading, and the beginnings of some utility work. With the bypass now open (even if it doesn't go as far as it was supposed to and goes down to two lanes sooner than it should) and work continuing on the missing links of expansion, we are finally on our way to four lanes from the Somerville Circle to almost Belle Meade, and that's amazing.

Presuming that Alps is correct, that is why I am concerned about a future NJ 15 situation.

[storm2k]

The SLDs called the half finished road US-206 BYPASS, so thats what it'll likely be when they figure out the signs.

Until they turn old 206 back to Hillsborough and Bypass becomes regular.

^Do you have any pictures of US 206 shields along the old road or are they just on the streetblades?

I drove down there last Friday, just before it opened, and at the jughandle to move you from the mainline onto the "old" (still "current") 206, there were very new shields that were clearly put up by the contractor that showed that 206's alignment continued on its original alignment. Still were 206 shields and NJDOT EMMs along that stretch as well. I have a sneaking suspicion that we'll have an NJ-24 situation on our hands once NJDOT moves the actual 206 designation to the bypass and 206 signage along the original stretch will just be left there until they fall down or fade out of existence.

Also, I gotta say, most of this contractor signage is ugly. Doesn't look like NJDOT stuff at all. They put up a sign for "Hillsborough Business District" at the jughandle, and it's not proportioned well, uses all caps, and everything looks scrunched together. Shame too, because I've been finding that NJDOT's signage of late has been pretty damn good for most of the replacements I've been seeing slowly creep across many state roads.

Few notes further north. The Brown Ave to Valley Road project continues apace with plenty of tree clearing and grading, and the beginnings of some utility work. With the bypass now open (even if it doesn't go as far as it was supposed to and goes down to two lanes sooner than it should) and work continuing on the missing links of expansion, we are finally on our way to four lanes from the Somerville Circle to almost Belle Meade, and that's amazing.

Presuming that Alps is correct, that is why I am concerned about a future NJ 15 situation.

I'm more expecting a NJ-24 situation. The township (which gets saddled with the road once the state divests itself from it) isn't going to want to spend the money to remove shields and other signs. Since most people know this stretch of road as "206", it will just stay that way until the signs fall down or fade out and that's that. Not that I would expect that Somerset County would be any more interested in doing anything about it if the road came into their jurisdiction either.

[famartin]

The SLDs called the half finished road US-206 BYPASS, so thats what it'll likely be when they figure out the signs.

Until they turn old 206 back to Hillsborough and Bypass becomes regular.

^Do you have any pictures of US 206 shields along the old road or are they just on the streetblades?

I drove down there last Friday, just before it opened, and at the jughandle to move you from the mainline onto the "old" (still "current") 206, there were very new shields that were clearly put up by the contractor that showed that 206's alignment continued on its original alignment. Still were 206 shields and NJDOT EMMs along that stretch as well. I have a sneaking suspicion that we'll have an NJ-24 situation on our hands once NJDOT moves the actual 206 designation to the bypass and 206 signage along the original stretch will just be left there until they fall down or fade out of existence.

Also, I gotta say, most of this contractor signage is ugly. Doesn't look like NJDOT stuff at all. They put up a sign for "Hillsborough Business District" at the jughandle, and it's not proportioned well, uses all caps, and everything looks scrunched together. Shame too, because I've been finding that NJDOT's signage of late has been pretty damn good for most of the replacements I've been seeing slowly creep across many state roads.

Few notes further north. The Brown Ave to Valley Road project continues apace with plenty of tree clearing and grading, and the beginnings of some utility work. With the bypass now open (even if it doesn't go as far as it was supposed to and goes down to two lanes sooner than it should) and work continuing on the missing links of expansion, we are finally on our way to four lanes from the Somerville Circle to almost Belle Meade, and that's amazing.

Presuming that Alps is correct, that is why I am concerned about a future NJ 15 situation.

I'm more expecting a NJ-24 situation. The township (which gets saddled with the road once the state divests itself from it) isn't going to want to spend the money to remove shields and other signs. Since most people know this stretch of road as "206", it will just stay that way until the signs fall down or fade out and that's that. Not that I would expect that Somerset County would be any more interested in doing anything about it if the road came into their jurisdiction either.

I'm not so sure. First, Hillsborough isn't exactly poor, and this project is intended so they can develop a "Main Street"  business district. So... why not just name it exactly that?

[storm2k]

Bridgewater is hardly what I'd call a poor town and their local road maintenance is notoriously terrible. So terrible that they recently put out stuff saying basically "oh hey, we hired an actual engineer to like, help us plot out how bad our local roads are and which ones we need to really focus on repaving." And I'm not just talking like tertiary residential streets necessarily either. It's up to towns to want to invest. As far as Hillsborough goes, they may want to invest in Main Street signs, who knows. But they could decide it's worth spending money on that and not on taking down 206 shields. Who knows.

[Alps]

^Do you have any pictures of US 206 shields along the old road or are they just on the streetblades?

I drove down there last Friday, just before it opened, and at the jughandle to move you from the mainline onto the "old" (still "current") 206, there were very new shields that were clearly put up by the contractor that showed that 206's alignment continued on its original alignment. Still were 206 shields and NJDOT EMMs along that stretch as well. I have a sneaking suspicion that we'll have an NJ-24 situation on our hands once NJDOT moves the actual 206 designation to the bypass and 206 signage along the original stretch will just be left there until they fall down or fade out of existence.

Also, I gotta say, most of this contractor signage is ugly. Doesn't look like NJDOT stuff at all. They put up a sign for "Hillsborough Business District" at the jughandle, and it's not proportioned well, uses all caps, and everything looks scrunched together. Shame too, because I've been finding that NJDOT's signage of late has been pretty damn good for most of the replacements I've been seeing slowly creep across many state roads.

Few notes further north. The Brown Ave to Valley Road project continues apace with plenty of tree clearing and grading, and the beginnings of some utility work. With the bypass now open (even if it doesn't go as far as it was supposed to and goes down to two lanes sooner than it should) and work continuing on the missing links of expansion, we are finally on our way to four lanes from the Somerville Circle to almost Belle Meade, and that's amazing.

The railroad underpass is the key to a continuous 4 lanes. All eyes there. And desperately need one more project from south end of bypass to Great Road.

[storm2k]

^Do you have any pictures of US 206 shields along the old road or are they just on the streetblades?

I drove down there last Friday, just before it opened, and at the jughandle to move you from the mainline onto the "old" (still "current") 206, there were very new shields that were clearly put up by the contractor that showed that 206's alignment continued on its original alignment. Still were 206 shields and NJDOT EMMs along that stretch as well. I have a sneaking suspicion that we'll have an NJ-24 situation on our hands once NJDOT moves the actual 206 designation to the bypass and 206 signage along the original stretch will just be left there until they fall down or fade out of existence.

Also, I gotta say, most of this contractor signage is ugly. Doesn't look like NJDOT stuff at all. They put up a sign for "Hillsborough Business District" at the jughandle, and it's not proportioned well, uses all caps, and everything looks scrunched together. Shame too, because I've been finding that NJDOT's signage of late has been pretty damn good for most of the replacements I've been seeing slowly creep across many state roads.

Few notes further north. The Brown Ave to Valley Road project continues apace with plenty of tree clearing and grading, and the beginnings of some utility work. With the bypass now open (even if it doesn't go as far as it was supposed to and goes down to two lanes sooner than it should) and work continuing on the missing links of expansion, we are finally on our way to four lanes from the Somerville Circle to almost Belle Meade, and that's amazing.

The railroad underpass is the key to a continuous 4 lanes. All eyes there. And desperately need one more project from south end of bypass to Great Road.

Well, the STIP for that project claims they're replacing that overpass. Hopefully that holds true and is 4 lanes so we don't have a bottleneck there.

[TheGrassGuy]

The SLDs called the half finished road US-206 BYPASS, so thats what it'll likely be when they figure out the signs.

Until they turn old 206 back to Hillsborough and Bypass becomes regular.

^Do you have any pictures of US 206 shields along the old road or are they just on the streetblades?

I drove down there last Friday, just before it opened, and at the jughandle to move you from the mainline onto the "old" (still "current") 206, there were very new shields that were clearly put up by the contractor that showed that 206's alignment continued on its original alignment. Still were 206 shields and NJDOT EMMs along that stretch as well. I have a sneaking suspicion that we'll have an NJ-24 situation on our hands once NJDOT moves the actual 206 designation to the bypass and 206 signage along the original stretch will just be left there until they fall down or fade out of existence.

Also, I gotta say, most of this contractor signage is ugly. Doesn't look like NJDOT stuff at all. They put up a sign for "Hillsborough Business District" at the jughandle, and it's not proportioned well, uses all caps, and everything looks scrunched together. Shame too, because I've been finding that NJDOT's signage of late has been pretty damn good for most of the replacements I've been seeing slowly creep across many state roads.

Few notes further north. The Brown Ave to Valley Road project continues apace with plenty of tree clearing and grading, and the beginnings of some utility work. With the bypass now open (even if it doesn't go as far as it was supposed to and goes down to two lanes sooner than it should) and work continuing on the missing links of expansion, we are finally on our way to four lanes from the Somerville Circle to almost Belle Meade, and that's amazing.

Presuming that Alps is correct, that is why I am concerned about a future NJ 15 situation.

I'm more expecting a NJ-24 situation. The township (which gets saddled with the road once the state divests itself from it) isn't going to want to spend the money to remove shields and other signs. Since most people know this stretch of road as "206", it will just stay that way until the signs fall down or fade out and that's that. Not that I would expect that Somerset County would be any more interested in doing anything about it if the road came into their jurisdiction either.

INB4 they pull a Mullica Hill and start signing County Route 206