Never Built in South Jersey: The Route 50 Freeway

Back in the 1960s, the State of New Jersey proposed building several highways and freeways across South Jersey, and had they all been constructed, our region would look and feel a lot different today.

The Route 60 and Route 9 Freeways That Didn't Happen

Two examples of great ideas that never became reality were Route 60 and the Route 9 Freeway.

Route 60 was supposed to run between the Delaware Memorial Bridge and Ocean City. Portions of it would have paralleled much of Routes 40 and 55, eventually meeting with the Garden State Parkway at the Great Egg Toll Plaza (where Exit 29 is), and ending in the area where the old Somers Point circle was.

The Route 9 Freeway would have (more or less) paralleled the current Route 9 and the Garden State Parkway, starting around the old Somers Point circle and ending around Parkway Exit 44 near Smithville. The idea for that freeway was to alleviate some of the traffic on those two roads.

But another freeway was planned across much of Atlantic County -- Route 50.

Route 50 Today vs. What Could Have Been

Route 50, in its current state, is a 26-mile-long, two-lane road that runs from Egg Harbor City to Upper Township, connecting the White and Black Horse Pikes, the Atlantic City Expressway, Route 9, and the Garden State Parkway.

A proposed Route 50 Freeway would have paralleled the current Route 50 as a four-lane highway with on and off-ramps, doing the same trick: running from Route 30, over the Expressway, through Mays Landing, and down to Upper Township.

As I mentioned before, the state seemed to have a lot of grand ideas in the 1960s, but some of them didn't make much sense.

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Why the Route 50 Freeway Was Never Built

By the 1970s, the anticipated high volumes of traffic on Route 50 never materialized and at a cost of about $50 million, it didn't make much sense to build it, so the idea was shelved.

And if that road were being built today, it would easily cost $550+ million, not to mention all of the Pinelands and environmental red tape involved.

I've never been able to find any maps showing exactly where this freeway would have gone, but I can't imagine a four-lane highway plowing through or around Mays Landing.

Sure, Route 50 isn't a very heavily traveled road on any given weekday, but it's a different story during the summer. One has to wonder how much better shore traffic would be if the Route 50 Freeway and Route 60 had been built, especially as talks about finally finishing the lower part of Route 55 have restarted.

Chris Coleman, a South Jersey native, is the brand manager for WPG Talk Radio 95.5 FM and afternoon on-air personality on WPUR Cat Country 107.3 in Atlantic City, NJ. He joined the station in February 1998 and covers news, events, and stories of interest across Southern New Jersey for Townsquare Media. Story tips: chris.coleman@townsquaremedia.com