Portal:New Jersey/Selected article/14

U.S. Route 1/9 Truck is a United States highway in the northern part of New Jersey that stretches 4.11 mi (6.61 km) from the eastern edge of Newark to the Tonnelle Circle in Jersey City. It is the alternate road for U.S. Route 1/9 that trucks must use because they are prohibited from using the Pulaski Skyway, which carries the main routes of U.S. Route 1/9. It also serves traffic accessing the New Jersey Turnpike, Route 440, and Route 7. The route is a four- to six-lane road its entire length, with portions of it being a divided highway, that runs through urban areas. From its south end to about halfway through Kearny, U.S. Route 1/9 Truck is freeway-standard, with access to other roads controlled by interchanges.

While the U.S. Route 1/9 Truck designation was first used in 1953, the roadway comprising the route was originally designated as an extension of pre-1927 Route 1 in 1922, a route that in its full length stretched from Trenton to Jersey City. U.S. Route 1/9 was designated along the road in 1926 and one year later, in 1927, this portion of pre-1927 Route 1 was replaced with Route 25 as well as with a portion of Route 1 north of the Communipaw Avenue intersection. Following the opening of the Pulaski Skyway in 1932, U.S. Route 1/9 and Route 25 were realigned to the new skyway. After trucks were banned from the skyway in 1934, the portion of Route 25 between Newark and Route 1 was designated as Route 25T. In 1953, U.S. Route 1/9 Truck was designated in favor of Route 25T and Route 1 along this segment of road. The portion of the truck route north of Route 7 is being rebuilt as part of a $271.9 million project that will replace the viaduct over St. Paul's Avenue. Construction, which started in late 2008, is expected to be complete in late 2012.