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Middlesex County Route 522:
 

Summary:

The CR 522 expressway connects NJ 27 north of Kingston to US 130 in South Brunswick. There is one brief boulevard segment in the center of the expressway, from Ridge Rd to Kingston Lane. This segment, which lasts less than 1/2 mile, does not have access control because existing CR 522 was four-laned here.

Detailed Description:

One of the newest additions to the 4 lane highway system in Middlesex County, the CR 522 expressway's intent is to alleviate and re-route the growing traffic volumes on Ridge Road (original CR 522). This is the first primary east-west highway in Middlesex County south of New Brunswick to improve east-west access in the county from NJ 27 (Lincoln Highway) to US 130. In the future, an extension to a new eastern terminus at CR 535 (Cranbury Road) is possible.

Surprisingly, the segment west of US 1 is not officially part of CR 522. This part of the expressway is maintained by South Brunswick Township and is officially known only as Promenade Boulevard.

Traffic volumes are currently light on this expressway, but they are expected to double in 2020 because of the growth of South Brunswick Township as well as many nearby municipalities in central New Jersey. South Brunswick has close proximity to major highways such as US 1, US 130 and the NJ Turnpike/I-95, but all of these are north-south highways. The reason there is so much suburban sprawl is due to the southern part of the county being mostly under-developed as the New York metropolitan area continues to push outward. The Northeast Corridor railroad crosses through the township connecting all points in and around from Washington to Boston. Currently, South Brunswick does not have a train station. The nearest train stations are Princeton Junction and New Brunswick. The lack of east-west high speed and primary highways in addition to inadequate state & county highways which are two lane highways in, around and beyond South Brunswick township are contributing to the townships and nearby municipalities are dealing with growing congestion that the roads were not intended to carry. Since there is also no operational east-west railroad line to serve central New Jersey, all of these contributing factors have lead to proposed regional transportation projects for South Brunswick and beyond: NJ 92 Turnpike Extension and the Middlesex-Ocean-Monmouth Railroad Link (MOM Link).

The MOM link is proposed at this time to begin at the Northeast Corridor railroad line in the Monmouth Junction section of South Brunswick and terminate in Lakehurst, Ocean County. This railroad line will connect the fast-growing central New Jersey bedroom communities which will reduce congestion on local-regional roadways, improve air quality as residents who do not have access to a vehicle can choose train service. Residents along the MOM corridor, of three counties, have another public transportation choice. Currently, NJ Transit Buses serve several highways like CR 522, CR 527 and US 9 along the MOM corridor. By the year 2020, bus service will become inadequate to meet demand if the MOM railroad link does not ever get built.

For over 30 years, originally as an NJDOT project, NJ 92 was to start at NJ 33 in East Windsor, Mercer County and end in Rocky Hill, Somerset County with US 206 as its western terminus. Part of the original NJ 92 alignment today is now the NJ 133 Hightstown bypass but serves a different purpose, to re-route traffic away in the borough of Hightstown, instead of the original purpose of facilitating traffic from US 206 to NJ 33. Due to nearby residents and environmentalists against the original NJ 92 project, it has been shortened and moved northward into South Brunswick as a 6.7 mile link from the NJ Turnpike (I-95) to US 1. Again, this project is facing opposition, this time from South Brunswick township officials and residents but not the municipalities of Plainsboro and West Windsor who support NJ 92. Some opposition forces have placed small signs such as this one in the proposed construction corridor:

NJ 92's intent is to facilitate truck access to and from US 1 and the Turnpike while improving east-west access for southern Middlesex County by diverting truck traffic away from local roads. Suggestions have been made from the opposition forces for no build alternatives such as widening several local roads such as Dey Road (via Scudders Mill Road), Plainsboro Road (via Scudders Mill Road), and Cranbury Neck Road from their current 2 lanes to 4 lanes while the CR 522 Expressway will go from 4 lanes to 6 lanes. Without a doubt, expanding these roadways (all of these selected roads run through or/and connect residential areas) to improve truck access as oppose to building NJ 92 would adversely affect quality of life along these roadways by increasing noise and air pollution while decreasing safety to these roadways as a major thru-highway instead of a town road serving the needs of the community. CR 522 expressway would see an increase in traffic on a roadway which has signals and non-signalized at grades serving to facilitate local traffic in the township, not regional traffic. While CR 522 is a controlled access highway, which prohibits multiple driveways, it does not have enough Right-Of-Way to construct grade-separated interchanges at all at-grade intersections and signals since it comes very close through mostly residential and some commercial areas. It would not be feasible or acceptable to condemn newly built residential and commercial zones to accommodate the unintended future vehicular growth on the CR 522 expressway. At the moment, the United States Corps of Engineers have approved the NJ 92 project but construction will not begin until environmental permits are renewed which would then allow construction to begin. The right of way for NJ 92 has already been purchased, and is currently sitting vacant. This portion of the freeway west of US 1 has been cancelled, but the ROW is still owned by NJDOT. These pictures were taken along the vacant right of way:

Route 92 ROW Pictures: (click here)

These two major proposed projects will determine the CR 522 Expressway’s future. Whether NJ 92 and the MOM link are built, or only one of them is built, the CR 522 Expressway was designed to serve local traffic in South Brunswick township as well as improve local access to major highways such as US 1, US 130, NJ 27, and NJ 32 (Forsgate Dr). It should not be burdened with additional vehicles, such as trucks from missing transportation links, by being used as a regional route This would defeat the purpose of what the highway was built for in the first place.

As a result of these transportation links, if cancelled, the CR 522 expressway will one day become another US 1 through South Brunswick with many signals, congestion and the inevitability of numerous accidents and fatalities as the road’s personality changes to a thru-route for regional traffic. US 1 is currently the most dangerous highway in New Jersey with roughly 7,200 accidents and 14 fatalities in 2001 which the majority of the incidents take place along the fast paced stretch between I-95/295 in Lawrence Township and NJ 18 in the City of New Brunswick. With that said, this is also as a result of the missing I-95 never built between Ewing Township near the Exit 3 vicinity and Piscataway Township, Middlesex County near the River Road (CR 527), Exit 10 at I-287.

Route 522 Pictures: (westbound - click here)

Route 522 Pictures: (eastbound - click here)

Sources:
Page written by Lou Corsaro. All pictures by Lou Corsaro. Picture captions by Eric Smith. Additional sources used are: New Jersey Transit, No 92.com, Home News Tribune, News 12 New Jersey, Star Ledger, United States Corps of Engineers April 2004 Final Draft, Steve Anderson.

Last Updated: 9/25/05

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