County Route 501 (New Jersey)

County Route 501
CR 501 highlighted in red
Route information
Length:	40.24 mi[1] (64.76 km)
Middlesex County section
Length:	10.12 mi[1] (16.29 km)
West end:	CR 529 in South Plainfield
Major junctions:	I‑287 in Edison Route 27 in Metuchen US 1 in Edison G.S. Parkway / US 9 in Woodbridge
East end:	NY 440 in Richmond Valley, NY
Hudson / Bergen County section
Length:	30.12 mi[1] (48.47 km)
South end:	NY 440 in Elm Park, NY
Major junctions:	Route 139 in Jersey City Route 495 in Union City US 1-9 / US 46 in Palisades Park Route 4 in Englewood
North end:	NY 340 in Rockleigh
Location
Counties:	Middlesex, Hudson, Bergen
Highway system
County routes in New Jersey 500-series ← CR 585 CR 502 →

County Route 501, abbreviated CR 501, is a county highway in New Jersey in two segments spanning Middlesex, Hudson and Bergen Counties. The southern section runs from South Plainfield to Perth Amboy, the northern section runs from Bayonne to Rockleigh, and the two sections are connected by New York State Route 440 across Staten Island.

The New Jersey Department of Transportation lists CR 501 as a single highway with a length of 53.07 miles (85.41 km), which includes both road sections as well as the connection along NY 440.

Route description

Middlesex County

County Route 501 is signed east-west in Middlesex County. The western (southern) terminus of County Route 501 is at CR 529 in South Plainfield. From there, the route heads east to Metuchen, where it has a short concurrency with Route 27. It then continues east, crossing the Garden State Parkway between Exits 127 and 129 in Woodbridge, following concurrencies with Route 184 and Route 440 to the southern section's eastern terminus at the Outerbridge Crossing.

Hudson County (John F. Kennedy Boulevard)

The northern section of CR 501 starts at the Route 440/Bayonne Bridge junction in Bayonne, making its way north to Route 63 in North Bergen. The highway crosses Route 139 to the Holland Tunnel and Route 495 to the Lincoln Tunnel.

At its junction with Route 63 in North Bergen, CR 501 begins a concurrency with Route 63 into Bergen County, while John F. Kennedy Boulevard loops around the northern end and heads south to Guttenberg, West New York and Weehawken.

Hudson County Boulevard Bridge

Major points on CR 501/Kennedy Boulevard include Marist High School, New Jersey City University, Saint Peter's University, Journal Square, Union City High School, and four County parks: Stephen R. Gregg (Bayonne) Park and Mercer Park in Bayonne, Lincoln Park in Jersey City and James J. Braddock (North Hudson) Park in North Bergen.

Immediately northeast of Journal Square, CR 501/Kennedy Boulevard crosses over Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) railroad tracks on an open-spandrel concrete arch bridge completed in 1926. The bridge is a pared-down version of a more ambitious elevated plaza scheme proposed by consulting engineer Abraham Burton Cohen. Cohen's office constructed a model using slot cars to demonstrate traffic flow through the plaza.^[2]

Prior to being renamed in honor of John F. Kennedy in the 1960s, the street was known as Hudson Boulevard. While there was discussion of building a county long road as early as the 1870s,^[3] parts of Hudson County Boulevard were officially opened in 1896.^[4][5][6] By 1913 it was completed, and considered to be fine for "motoring",^[7] and included Boulevard East. Taken as a single road, the circuitous route of west and east sections of the entire boulevard runs from the southern tip of the county at Bergen Point to its northern border with Bergen County and south again to the Hoboken city line.^[8]

The Boulevard was named the fifth most dangerous road for pedestrians in New Jersey, and the most dangerous road in Hudson County for pedestrians in a February 2011 report by the non-profit Tri-State Transportation Campaign. The road was the location of six pedestrian fatalities between 2007 and 2009, which account for a little more than a fifth of Hudson County's 29 pedestrian deaths in the three-year period.^[9] County officials had expressed interest in building a pedestrian bridge that crosses Kennedy Boulevard at 32nd Street, at the Union City-North Bergen border at least since 2001.^[10] The two cities contracted a company to build the bridge for just over $4 million in November 2010.^[11] Construction plans began in May 2011, and field work began later that August.^[12]

County Route 501 in Palisades Park, New Jersey as Central Boulevard

In 2013 Kennedy Boulevard was one of two main thoroughfares in Hudson County (the other being Route 1 & 9) that were listed among the Tri-State Transportation Campaign's list of the top ten most dangerous roads for pedestrians in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. The Boulevard, which ranked #6 on the list, was cited for the six pedestrian fatalities that occurred on it from 2009 to 2011.^[13]

Bergen County

In Bergen County, CR 501 leaves its concurrency with Route 63 in Palisades Park, using Central Boulevard to connect to the US 1/9/46 concurrency and Route 93. It is then concurrent with Route 93 until it reaches that route's northern terminus at Route 4 in Englewood. CR 501 continues north from this junction through Rockleigh, crossing the New York State Line and becoming New York State Route 340.

Major intersections

County	Location	mi[1]	km	Destinations	Notes
Middlesex	South Plainfield	0.00	0.00	CR 529 (Stelton Road)
	Edison	2.03	3.27	I‑287 north	Exit 3 on I-287
	Metuchen	3.36	5.41	Route 27 north (Middlesex Avenue) – Rahway	Western terminus of concurrency with Route 27
		3.61	5.81	Route 27 south (Lake Avenue) – Highland Park	Eastern terminus of concurrency with Route 27
		3.81	6.13	CR 531 (Main Street)
	Edison	4.68	7.53	US 1 to N.J. Turnpike – Newark, New Brunswick	Interchange
		5.70	9.17	CR 514 (Woodbridge Avenue) to N.J. Turnpike
		6.23	10.03	CR 616 east (New Brunswick Avenue)	Western terminus of CR 616
	Woodbridge Township	6.99	11.25	Route 184	Western terminus of Route 184
		7.10	11.43	G.S. Parkway north	Exit 129 on Garden State Parkway
		7.33	11.80	US 9 – Rahway, South Amboy	Interchange
	Perth Amboy	7.74	12.46	CR 655 (Florida Grove Road)
		8.22	13.23	Route 184 east to Route 35 / Amboy Avenue (CR 653)	Eastern terminus of concurrency with Route 184
				Western terminus of freeway section
				Route 440 south to US 9 south / G.S. Parkway south / N.J. Turnpike	Western terminus of concurrency with Route 440
		8.38	13.49	Route 35 south	Westbound exit only
		8.65	13.92	Amboy Avenue (CR 653)	Northbound exit is via Route 440 exit
		9.23	14.85	State Street (CR 611) / High Street – Perth Amboy	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
Arthur Kill		9.45	15.21	Outerbridge Crossing (toll plaza on Staten Island)
		10.12	16.29	NY 440 north – Staten Island	Continuation into New York at the river's center
Connection made via NY 440 (12.73 miles or 20.49 kilometres)
Kill van Kull		22.85	36.77	NY 440 south – Staten Island	Continuation from New York at river's center
		23.24	37.40	Bayonne Bridge (toll plaza on Staten Island)
Hudson	Bayonne	23.71	38.16	Avenue A	Southbound exit and entrance
		23.73	38.19	Route 440 north to N.J. Turnpike – Jersey City	Northern terminus of concurrency with Route 440
				Northern terminus of freeway section
		27.12	43.65	West 63rd Street to Route 440
	Jersey City	29.37	47.27	Communipaw Avenue (CR 612) to N.J. Turnpike
		31.11	50.07	US 1-9 (Tonnele Circle)	One-way ramp to Tonnele Circle
		31.15	50.13	Route 139 east – Holland Tunnel, Lincoln Tunnel	Western terminus of the upper level of Route 139
	North Bergen	34.03	54.77	Route 495 to N.J. Turnpike – Lincoln Tunnel	Interchange
	Union City	34.35– 34.39	55.28– 55.35	CR 505 north (37th / 38th Streets)	Southern terminus of CR 505
	North Bergen	37.21	59.88	Route 63	Southern terminus of Route 63
Bergen	Fort Lee	39.13	62.97	Route 5 – Ridgefield, Edgewater	Interchange via local roads
	Palisades Park	39.62	63.76	Route 63 north / Central Avenue east – George Washington Bridge	Northern terminus of concurrency with Route 63
		39.90	64.21	US 1-9 / US 46	Interchange via 5th and 6th Streets
		40.52	65.21	Route 93 south (Grand Avenue) – Ridgefield, Fairview	Southern terminus of concurrency with Route 93
	Englewood	42.78	68.85	Route 4 – New York, Paterson	Interchange
		42.86	68.98	Route 93 / CR 501 south (Van Nostrand Avenue)	Northern terminus of Route 93; one-way pair begins
		43.86	70.59	CR 505 (Palisades Avenue) – Teaneck, Bergenfield
		45.05	72.50	CR 501 south (Hudson Avenue)	Northern terminus of one-way pair
	Closter	49.61	79.84	Old Closter Dock Road (CR 502) to US 9W – Westwood, Alpine
	Rockleigh	53.07	85.41	NY 340 north – Sparkill	Continuation into New York
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access       Tolled

See also

• U.S. Roads portal
• New Jersey portal

References

1. New Jersey County Route 501 Straight Line Diagram from the New Jersey Department of Transportation
2. Cohen, A. Burton. "Hudson County Boulevard Bridge Plaza." Purdue Engineering Review 21, No. 4 (May 1926): 3-6, 22.
3. "The old and the New - The Opposition and the Proposed Route". The New York Times. August 12, 1873. Retrieved March 29, 2010.
4. "JERSEY CITY'S BICYCLE PARADE.; It Was Held Yesterday on the Hudson Boulevard and Was a Big Thing.". The New York Times. August 30, 1896. Retrieved March 26, 2010.
5. "The old and the New - The Opposition and the Proposed Route". The New York Times. August 12, 1873. Retrieved March 29, 2010.
6. "Opening the Boulevard". The New York Times. 1896. Retrieved 2010-07-02.
7. "Short Runs Near Town Pleasant Now". The New York Times. March 23, 1913. Retrieved 2020-09-23. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
8. "Save the Palisades Cyclists to work for this purpose and the Hudson County Boulevard". The New York Times. November 11, 1895. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
9. "Kennedy Boulevard named fifth most dangerous road in New Jersey for pedestrians", The Hudson Reporter, March 21, 2011
10. Hague, Jim (August 19, 2011). "Pedestrian bridge set for North Bergen-Union City? County officials receive grant that will check feasibility of overpass". The Hudson Reporter.
11. "BOARD OF CHOSEN FREEHOLDERS COUNTY OF HUDSON: CAUCUS AGENDA". HudsonCountyNJ.com. November 22, 2010.
12. Pope, Gennarose (March 25, 2012). "Bridge of troubled Kennedy Boulevard". The Union City Reporter. pp. 1 and 12.
13. Zeitlinger, Ron; Machcinski, Anthony J. (March 1, 2013). "6th and 10th Most Fatalities". The Jersey Journal. p. 5.

External links

Route map: Bing / Google

• An enlarged view of road jurisdiction at the Fort Lee approaches to the George Washington Bridge
• New Jersey Roads: County Route 501 and NJ 63, NJ 93
• NJ State Highways: CR 200-514