New Jersey Route 139: Map

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Route 139 is a state highway in Jersey City, New Jersey

, extending the Pulaski Skyway

east to the Holland Tunnel

. The western portion of the route is a two level highway that is charted by the New Jersey Department of Transportation as two separate roadways: The lower roadway between U.S. Route 1/9 at the Tonnele Circle

and Interstate 78, and the upper roadway running from County Route 501 (Kennedy Boulevard) to Interstate 78. The eastern of the route, the Holland Tunnel approach, runs concurrent with Interstate 78 on the one-way pair of 12th Street eastbound and 14th Street westbound. Including the concurrency, the total length of Route 139 is .

What is now the upper level of Route 139 became an extension of pre-1927 Route 1 in 1922. U.S. Route 1 was also designated along the road in 1926 and a year later Route 25 replaced pre-1927 Route 1. After U.S. Route 1 was rerouted to cross the Hudson River on the George Washington Bridge

, the former routing to the Holland Tunnel along Route 25 became U.S. Route 1/9 Business. In 1953, Route 25 was removed from the road in favor of the business route. By the 1990s, U.S. Route 1/9 Business was replaced by Route 139. A new freeway for Route 139 called the Bergen Arches Expressway was proposed in 1989 to connect the Jersey City Waterfront with the Meadowlands Sports Complex

. This four-lane freeway, which was to follow an abandoned railroad line known as the Bergen Arches

, was strongly supported by Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler and received funding from the federal Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century. However, the highway plan was dropped by 2002 after Schundler left office and his successors in the city government felt a mass transit proposal would work better. The 12th and 14th Street Viaducts connecting Route 139 and Interstate 78 are currently being reconstructed at a cost of $225 million; this project is expected to be complete in 2010.

Route description

Route 139 is essentially three distinct but connected highways: the upper level, the lower level, and the Holland Tunnel approach (the Interstate 78 concurrency). NJDOT officially charts the lower and upper levels as independent highways, with the lower level considered Route 139 and the upper level considered Route 139U and a notation that the highway coincides with I-78.

Lower level

The lower level of Route 139 is a four-lane freeway under Jersey City that begins at U.S. Route 1/9 at the Tonnele Circle

. At the Tonnele Circle, the route has ramps to both directions of U.S. Route 1/9 as well as to U.S. Route 1/9 Truck, which connects to Route 7 and Interstate 280. From here, it heads east through urban neighborhoods before passing under County Route 501 (Kennedy Boulevard). Past this bridge, the road turns to the southeast and runs under the upper level of Route 139. Past Palisade Avenue, the lower level of Route 139 emerges from underground and, along with the upper level, merges into Interstate 78 at an interchange.

Upper level

Sign designating the upper level of Route 139 as State Highway

upper level of Route 139 (also known as State Highway and Hoboken Avenue) begins at an intersection with County Route 501 (Kennedy Boulevard), which connects to Bayonne

and Union City

. The road heads to the southeast through urban residential and commercial areas as a four-lane undivided road, coming to an intersection with Collard Street. Here, the route becomes a four-lane divided road that runs above the lower level of Route 139, heading between the Heights district to the north and the Journal Square district to the south. It crosses several streets, including County Route 646 (St. Pauls Avenue), County Route 617 (Summit Avenue), County Route 663 (Central Avenue), and County Route 644 (Oakland Street). After intersecting a few more streets, the road meets Concord Street, where there is an eastbound left lane exit and a westbound intersection. After the intersection with Palisade Avenue and a westbound entrance from Hoboken Avenue, an upward road from Coles Street and 18th Street in Downtown Jersey City, the upper level of Route 139 merges with the lower level at an interchange with Interstate 78.

I-78 concurrency

The lower and upper levels of Route 139 merge at an interchange with Interstate 78, which has two viaducts along Route 139, the easbound 12th Street Viaduct and the westbound 14th Street Viaduct. From here, Route 139 continues east concurrent with that route and passes through business areas as a one-way pair that follows six-lane 12th Street eastbound and six-lane 14th Street westbound. This segment of the route is under the jurisdiction of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and is also known as Boyle Plaza. The first intersection is with Jersey Avenue, which heads to Downtown Jersey City and Hoboken

. It intersects with the one-way northbound County Route 633 (Erie Street) next before crossing one-way southbound County Route 635 (Grove Street). After Grove Street, the road crosses County Route 637 (Luis Muñoz Marín Boulevard) near the Newport Centre Mall

. Past this intersection, the eastbound direction comes to the toll plaza for the Holland Tunnel. From here, the concurrency enters the Holland Tunnel under the Hudson River, which carries two lanes in each direction. Route 139 ends at the New Jersey/New York

state line within the tunnel and Interstate 78 continues into New York City

History

What is now the upper level of Route 139 was originally designated as the northernmost part of pre-1927 Route 1 in 1922, a route that was to run from Trenton

to Jersey City. When the U.S. Highway System was established in 1926, this road was also designated as a part of U.S. Route 1. In the 1927 New Jersey state highway renumbering this portion of route became a part of Route 25, a route that was to run from the Ben Franklin Bridge in Camden

to the Holland Tunnel. In 1928, the two-level portion of the road was constructed to provide a high-speed connection between the Holland Tunnel and Newark

. After the opening of the George Washington Bridge, U.S. Route 1 was realigned to head north along U.S. Route 9 from the Tonnele Circle to the bridge, and the former U.S. Route 1 between the Tonnele Circle and the Holland Tunnel along Route 25 became U.S. Route 1/9 Business. At the Holland Tunnel, this route connected to New York State Route 1A and New York State Route 9A. In the 1953 New Jersey state highway renumbering, the Route 25 designation was dropped from the route in favor of U.S. Route 1/9 Business. By the 1990s, U.S. Route 1/9 Business was renumbered to Route 139.

A freeway for Route 139 called the Bergen Arches Expressway was proposed in 1989 by Governor Thomas Kean to connect the Jersey City waterfront with a new railroad line providing access to the Meadowlands Sports Complex

. This proposed road, which was to be four lanes wide, was to follow an abandoned railroad line known as the Bergen Arches

. This proposed highway was strongly supported by Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler, who felt that the road could bring development to urban areas as well as provide traffic relief to the current Route 139. In 1998, this project was allocated $26 million in the federal Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century. In 2001, during the race for Mayor of Jersey City, the candidates lobbied for a transit line instead of a highway along the Bergen Arches. Plans for a highway along the Bergen Arches were dropped in 2002 as leaders of Jersey City, including Mayor Glenn Dale Cunningham, favored mass transit along the right-of-way instead.

The New Jersey Department of Transportation is undertaking a $225 million project on the 12th and 14th Street Viaducts, built in 1927 and 1950 respectively. The 12th Street Viaduct, which underwent a renovation in 1968, is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. The reason for this project is that the current viaducts are structurally obsolete. The steel beams on the viaducts had deteriorated and the concrete was just extra weight. The project includes replacement of the concrete deck, retrofitting for earthquakes, repair of the substructure and superstructure, and construction of a shoulder on westbound 14th Street. The new viaducts are to also feature ornamental designs to recall the historical significance of the two viaducts. This project is expected to be completed in 2010.