New Jersey Route 33

Route 33
Route information
Maintained by NJDOT and Mercer County
Length	42.03 mi (67.64 km)
Existed	1927–present
Major junctions
Major intersections	I-295 in Hamilton Twp US 130 in Robbinsville Twp I-95/NJTP in East Windsor NJ 133 in East Windsor US 9 in Freehold Twp NJ 34 in Howell GSP in Tinton Falls NJ 18 in Neptune Twp NJ 35 in Asbury Park
Location
Country	United States
State	New Jersey
Highway system
New Jersey State Highway Routes Interstate US State Scenic Byways
← Route 32 → Route 34

Route 33 is a state highway in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The highway extends 42.03 miles (67.64 km), from Trenton at an intersection with U.S. Route 1 and Route 129 to an intersection with Route 71 in Neptune Township. The speed limit on Route 33 differs in zones. The highest is 55 mph (85 km/h) in Zone 9. There are several intersections on 33 with future developments.

Route 33 begins in Trenton on a two-lane road. It passes through central Mercer County, joining northbound U.S. Route 130 in Robbinsville Township. It leaves the U.S. highway in East Windsor and becomes a local town road into the borough of Hightstown. It turns east again and interchanges with the New Jersey Turnpike at Exit 8. As it passes the east end of the Hightstown Bypass, it becomes an avenue with four lanes as it makes its way through Monmouth County toward the shore. Just after Freehold, it becomes a freeway, crossing the Garden State Parkway's Exit 100 in Tinton Falls and Route 18 in Neptune. Route 33 ends at Route 71 in Neptune. It has two concurrencies along the route, one with Route 34 and the second with Route 130.

Route description

Route 33 westbound at CR 537, on the older four lane segment

On its way across central New Jersey, Route 33 traverses three counties: Mercer, Middlesex, and Monmouth. Beginning in Trenton as Greenwood Avenue, Route 33 is a two-lane road, with one lane in each direction. Once it merges with U.S. Route 130 in Robbinsville Township, Route 33 has two lanes in each direction. After crossing into East Windsor Township, Route 33 veers off and becomes a local road going into Hightstown. After passing through the center of town, Route 33 again enters East Windsor Township, crossing the border at its interchange with the New Jersey Turnpike. After the overpass for the turnpike interchange, Route 33 becomes an avenue with a total of at least four lanes with two lanes in each direction. Route 33 then crosses into Monroe Township, where it is slowly becoming a residential access road for new communities. It then continues into Millstone Township as a rural avenue. Continuing into Manalapan Township, the avenue again becomes a residential access road. At the ramp for Route 33 Business, the avenue turns into a freeway bypass, known as the Freehold Bypass. Route 33 bypasses Freehold Borough to the south staying within Freehold Township. Within Freehold Borough, Route 33 Business is the original alignment of Route 33 before the bypass was built.

Communities
Trenton Hamilton Robbinsville East Windsor Monroe Millstone Manalapan Howell Tinton Falls Neptune

The bypass of Freehold is the partial alignment of what would have been a Route 33 freeway from Neptune to Trenton. As time went on, a scaled back version of just a bypass was agreed upon. The western start of the freeway is just east of County Route 527, and was built from Route 33 Business to U.S. Route 9 in the 1970s. The next section was built from U.S. Route 9 across Route 79 to Halls Mill Road (County Route 55), and this remained its terminus from the late 1980s until January 17, 2003, when the final leg of the bypass was opened. East of Halls Mills Road, it is a two-lane freeway with a westbound entrance at Howell Road, and full access from Brickyard Road.

The Howell Road eastbound exit ramp has been closed since the bypass opened because of safety concerns. The interchange was originally planned to be a partial cloverleaf, but residents near Howell Road were concerned by sprawl and forced the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) to scale back the plans. Instead, a diamond interchange was built. This forced drivers wishing to head northbound on Howell Road to make a left turn, which proved to be dangerous because of the limited sight distance caused by the overpass. Now because the NJDOT does not want to pay to fix the problem, the exit has been barricaded since the freeways extension was opened. The ramp has guardrails blocking access and the NJDOT intends to bulldoze what is left.

History

Route 1

Route 7

Route 33 originally was part of the 1920s New Jersey Route 1 in parts of the road south of Hightstown and as Route 7 from Hightstown to its terminus at Route 71. Both roads were changed into Route 33 in the 1927 New Jersey state highway renumbering.

Route 33 was originally planned as a freeway from U.S. Route 1 in Trenton across New Jersey to Route 18 in Neptune. However, in 1967, the NJDOT scaled back proposals to the current seven-mile (11 km) Freehold Bypass. The bypass from near County Route 527 in Manalapan to Halls Mills Road in Freehold was completed and opened in segments from 1971-1988; however, the remainder of the bypass east to Fairfield Road in Howell was not completed until 2003. The project cost $33.7 million in 2003 USD.

For such a small freeway, the Route 33 bypass has more abandoned segments then any other state freeway in New Jersey. Comparatively, Routes 15, 18, 21 and 24 each only have one abandoned portion to them. Here are the three segments on Route 33, in eastbound order.

• The cloverleaf ramp from Route 79 southbound to Route 33 freeway eastbound has been mostly destroyed, to make way for a new reverse jughandle for U.S. Route 9 northbound to Schanck Road. The merging part of the ramp still remains abandoned along the right side of the eastbound freeway.
• The original alignment for the freeway east of Halls Mills Road (CR 55) can be seen now as an NJDOT maintenance shed. The new alignment curves to the left after the interchange, in order to avoid what the NJDOT believed to be a suspected (but never identified) turtle bog habitat. The pavement is accessible from the eastbound on-ramp, but is fenced off.
• Howell Road was never given access from Route 33 eastbound and thus the ramp still remains barricaded off, slowly decaying.

Up until late 1988, Route 33 westbound ran underneath US 130 southbound, then merged. This was because Route 33 ran alongside some railroad tracks at that point, and a massive overpass carried US 130 over both. (Route 33 eastbound also ascended the bridge approach about halfway before branching off like an exit ramp—a sign with flashing lights read "Hightstown, Shore Points" at the fork). But this Hightstown–Windsor rail segment was actually abandoned back in the 1960s. So by 1989, the bridge over Route 33 and the trackbed was removed, with its approaches flattened to grade. Route 33 now meets US 130 at both ends of the multiplex with a traffic signal. Note that Route 33 still crosses an out-of-service section of those same tracks via a reconstructed bridge, just after it leaves US 130 at the southern end.

Route 33 eastbound at the Howell Road exit ramp, which still remains closed

Future developments

There are many future developments for Route 33. Heavy traffic and recent studies hint at a possible widening of Route 33 all the way to Route 34 in Wall Township, however this is still only in the proposal phase. Monmouth County is performing a corridor study on Route 33 to determine if any action should happen. The Collingwood Circle is scheduled for replacement with a smaller roundabout, starting Fall 2006. The idea is to slow the traffic down before it enters the new intersection, but with such heavy traffic on both Route 33 and Route 34. It does not seem likely that this will solve the congestion issue and the NJDOT will likely reconstruct it a decade from now like the former Route 35 and Route 36 Circle in Eatontown. There is a planned Route 33 bypass of Robbinsville Township that will run from Washington Boulevard and link up with U.S. Route 130 at South Gold Drive. The former alignment of Route 33 will likely become a Main Street for the new Washington Town Center. Route 33 is being widened from Route 35 to Route 71 in Neptune to provide a center turning lane as well as shoulders. Signals will be modified to provide proper movements.

On December 31, 2006, the Turnpike Authority released its proposals regarding Interchange 8. The current Interchange 8 would be demolished and replaced with a new interchange. The new Exit 8 would end at the intersection with Route 33, Milford Road, and the 133 bypass (on the east side of the expressway, instead of the west). This new Exit 8 would grant direct access to the bypass (without going through any traffic lights), as well as to 33, using grade-separated interchanges. The new toll gate would feature a total of 12 booths at the toll gate. Monmouth County recently gave a tour to DOT officials, stressing the need to improve the Wemrock Road exit off the Route 33 freeway. They also wanted the intersection with Business 33 to be rebuilt. County officials believe that both projects would help with future traffic flow emanating from the planned Freehold Raceway Mall connector road.

Major intersections

County	Location	mi	km	Destinations	Notes
Mercer	Trenton	0.00	0.00		US 1 / Route 129	Western terminus
	Hamilton	3.32	5.34	I-295	I-295 Exit 63
		4.07	6.55	CR 533
	Robbinsville	7.50 7.53		CR 526
		7.84	12.62	US 130	Western terminus of concurrency
	East Windsor Township	12.39	19.94	US 130	Eastern terminus of concurrency
	Hightstown	14.15	22.77	CR 539 / CR 571 (South Main Street)	Western terminus of concurrency
		14.21	22.87	CR 571 (Stockton Street)	Eastern terminus of concurrency with CR 571
		14.28	22.98	CR 539 (North Main Street)	Eastern terminus of concurrency
	East Windsor Township	14.77	23.77	I-95 / N.J. Turnpike	I-95/NJTP Exit 8
		15.52	24.98	Route 133
Middlesex	Monroe Township	17.05	27.44	CR 619 (Applegarth Road)	To I-95/NJTP Exit 8A
Monmouth	Millstone Township	21.10	33.96	CR 527 Alt.
	Manalapan Township	24.01	38.64	CR 527
		24.40	39.27	Route 33 Bus.
Begin/end freeway portion; all exits listed.
Monmouth	Freehold Township	25.68	Wemrock Road – Monmouth Battlefield State Park	Parclo interchange
		26.59	CR 537 to US 9 north – Smithburg, Freehold, The Amboys, Newark	Parclo interchange, no access from NJ 33 eastbound to CR 537 westbound or from CR 537 eastbound to NJ 33 westbound
		27.54	US 9 south – Lakewood	Parclo interchange, access from NJ 33 only
		27.69	Route 79 – Freehold	No exit eastbound, use US 9 exit
		29.04	CR 55 (Halls Mills Road)	Cloverleaf interchange
	Howell Township	30.04	Howell Road	Half diamond interchange; eastbound exit and westbound entrance, although eastbound exit is closed
		30.64	Fairfield Road	Half diamond interchange; eastbound exit and westbound entrance; Route 33 Business completes missing movements
		30.87	Route 33 Bus.	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
End/begin freeway section; junctions with numbered highways listed only.
Monmouth	Howell	34.70	55.84	Route 34	Western terminus of NJ 34 concurrency
	Wall	35.85	57.69	Route 34 / CR 547	Eastern terminus of NJ 34 concurrency; western terminus of CR 547 concurrency
		36.03	57.98	CR 547	Eastern terminus of CR 547 concurrency
	Tinton Falls	37.16	59.80	Route 66
		37.47 37.58		G.S. Parkway	GSP Exit 100
	Neptune	40.02	64.41	Route 18	NJ 18 Exit 8
		41.38	66.59	Route 35
		42.03	67.64	Route 71
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

Related routes

• Route 33 Business
• Route 133

External links

• An expanded view of road jurisdiction in Trenton at the confluence of US 1, US 206, NJ 29, NJ 33 and NJ 129
• Photos of Route 33 by Gribblenation.net
• Steve Alpert's NJ 33 Page