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Somerset Freeway
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The Somerset Freeway was the planning name for an unbuilt section of Interstate 95 in central New Jersey from Hopewell Township in Mercer County to Piscataway Township in Middlesex County.
From the I-95/I-295 loop around Trenton, the free routing of I-95 in New Jersey was to divert from the loop between the NJ 31 and Federal City Road exits near the Ewing Township / Hopewell Township border. Then, the highway was to intersect CR 546 at exit 5 and U.S. Route 206 at exit 19, before intersecting with Interstate 287 in Piscataway. There was also meant to be a small connector roughly one mile in length connecting I-95 with I-287 from the north and designated I-695.
At this point, the freeway would have continued northeastward through the western parts of Elizabeth and Newark, then terminate at the northern terminus of the New Jersey Turnpike at Ridgefield. However, due to fierce opposition to the project from the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (which did not want a free route roughly parallel to the Turnpike that would divert traffic away from their toll road) and Amtrak (which feared a road link between Philadelphia and New York City would allow drivers to approximate the hour-plus time of the train), the North Jersey Expressway was killed.
The truncated route, known as the Somerset Freeway was intended to terminate in Piscataway Township at the Middlesex Freeway/Interstate 287, and I-95 would have continued east along the Middlesex Freeway until it intersected with the New Jersey Turnpike in Edison Township. The opposition was also fierce in Piscataway, and the Somerset Freeway was rerouted to a terminus at the Middlesex Freeway/I-287 in Franklin Township (Somerset County). At this point, residents further south in Hopewell, Princeton Borough, Princeton Township, and Montgomery raised opposition, finally dooming the project. The opponents to the freeway won a huge victory when the United States Congress decided to abandon the route, and instead signed Interstate 95 north of Philadelphia along the Pennsylvania Turnpike and the New Jersey Turnpike.
This situation is currently unfinished. Currently, heading northbound from Pennsylvania, Interstate 95 currently comes to an abrupt end at its intersection with US 1 in Lawrence Township, New Jersey. From there, the highway is then signed as Interstate 295, and turns back south, heading into South Jersey and eventually back into Delaware. To continue on Interstate 95 northbound, one must travel south on Interstate 295 then east on Interstate 195 (or use a non-freeway section of US 1) in order to reach the northern section of the New Jersey Turnpike, which is signed as Interstate 95.
This situation is scheduled to be fixed sometime in the 2010s when a new interchange is to be built, and I-95 is to be re-routed north of Philadelphia to the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Bristol to the main line of the New Jersey Turnpike in Mansfield Township (see Pennsylvania Turnpike/Interstate 95 Interchange Project). Although the planned improvements would make I-95 continuous, some detractors feel that this isn't enough, and that traffic problems in central New Jersey will persist unless the freeway is built.
It is estimated that it would cost the state of New Jersey between $700 million and $1 billion if it were to build this freeway today.
As an alternative for this freeway, brief discussions were had to make I-95 complete by building the linking portion on the current site of, above, or next to US 1 for a 20 mile stretch so as to connect with the remainder of I-95 and thus make the road continuous.
See also
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