Editing New Jersey Route 44 (section)

== History ==
[[File:NJ 44 NB past Gloucester CR 678.jpeg|thumb|left|Route 44 northbound past CR 678 in Paulsboro]]
What is now Route 44 was originally legislated as Route 17S in 1923, a route that was to run from [[Penns Grove, New Jersey|Penns Grove]] to [[Westville, New Jersey|Westville]].<ref name="1920r17S">State of New Jersey, Laws of 1923, Chapter 199.</ref> By 1927, however, the only portion of Route 17S that had existed was a road that ran from Penns Grove south to [[Salem, New Jersey|Salem]].<ref name=ttmap>{{cite map|url=http://www.jimmyandsharonwilliams.com/njroads/1920s/maps/1927tt2.jpg|title=Map of New Jersey|year=1927|publisher=Tydol Trails|access-date=2009-03-30|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514153745/http://www.jimmyandsharonwilliams.com/njroads/1920s/maps/1927tt2.jpg|archive-date=2011-05-14}}</ref> In the [[1927 New Jersey state highway renumbering]] that occurred that year, Route 44 was designated to run from Penns Grove to Westville, replacing what had been legislated as Route 17S.<ref name=nj1927>State of New Jersey, Laws of 1927, Chapter 319.</ref><ref name="Map">{{cite map|url=http://www.jimmyandsharonwilliams.com/njroads/1920s/images/1927_routes.gif|title=1927 New Jersey Road Map|publisher=State of New Jersey|access-date=2008-10-08|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313112746/http://jimmyandsharonwilliams.com/njroads/1920s/images/1927_routes.gif|archive-date=2016-03-13}}</ref> By the end of the 1930s, Route 44 was extended south from Penns Grove to Salem and US 130 was also designated along with Route 44 north of Penns Grove by 1941.<ref name=nj1939>State of New Jersey, Laws of 1939, compiled.</ref><ref name="mwm">{{cite map|publisher=Mid-West Map Co.|title= Map of Pennsylvania and New Jersey |year=1941|cartography=[[H.M. Gousha]]|url=http://www.mapsofpa.com/roadcart/1941_1467m.jpg|access-date=2009-03-29}}</ref>

[[File:NJ S44A (cutout).svg|thumb|right|100px|Route S44A (planned in 1938)]]Prior to 1953, several spurs of Route 44 existed or were planned. Route S44 was designated in 1939 as a connection from Route 44 in Bridgeport to the ferry across the [[Delaware River]] to [[Chester, Pennsylvania]], and was concurrent with [[U.S. Route 322 in New Jersey|US 322]].<ref name=nj1939/> The S44 designation was removed in 1953 to avoid the concurrency with US 322.<ref name="nj1953">{{citation|title=1953 renumbering|url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1953_New_Jersey_state_highway_renumbering|publisher=New Jersey Department of Highways|access-date=2009-07-31|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628183145/http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1953_New_Jersey_state_highway_renumbering|archive-date=2011-06-28}}</ref><ref name=nyt>{{cite news|access-date=2009-07-20|title=New Road Signs Ready in New Jersey|newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=1952-12-16|url=http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/6933/19521216newroadsignsreaiu6.jpg|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721112422/http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/6933/19521216newroadsignsreaiu6.jpg|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 21, 2011}}</ref> In 1974, the [[Commodore Barry Bridge]] was built, bypassing the ferry, and the old alignment of US 322 became [[New Jersey Route 324|Route 324]].<ref name="sld 2004">{{cite web|url=http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/sldiag/00000322__-.pdf |title=US 322 Straight Line Diagram|work=Internet Archives WayBack Machine|publisher=New Jersey Department of Transportation|year=2004|access-date=2007-06-14 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20040724135549/http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/sldiag/00000322__-.pdf |archive-date = 2004-07-24}}</ref><ref name="324sld">{{cite web|publisher=New Jersey Department of Transportation|url=http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/sldiag/00000324__-.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628182231/http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/sldiag/00000324__-.pdf |archive-date=2011-06-28 |url-status=live|title=Route 324 straight line diagram|access-date=2007-03-19}}</ref> Route S44A was planned in 1938 as an eastern bypass of [[Camden, New Jersey|Camden]] from [[New Jersey Route 45|Route 45]] in [[Brooklawn, New Jersey|Brooklawn]] to [[New Jersey Route 40|Route 40]] (now [[New Jersey Route 70|Route 70]]) and [[New Jersey Route 41|Route 41]] in [[Delaware Township, Camden County, New Jersey|Delaware Township]] (now [[Cherry Hill, New Jersey|Cherry Hill]]), mostly along what is now [[County Route 551 (New Jersey)|CR 551]].  The bypass was never built, although part of what would have been the bypass north of [[Haddonfield, New Jersey|Haddonfield]] is now Route 41.<ref name=nj1938>State of New Jersey, Laws of 1938, Chapter 374.</ref> [[New Jersey Route 44T|Route 44T]] was planned in 1938 as an approach to a never-built [[tunnel]] under the Delaware River near Paulsboro. Originally, the route was to run from the tunnel east to the intersection of Route 41 and [[New Jersey Route 47|Route 47]] in [[Deptford Township, New Jersey|Deptford Township]].<ref name=nj19382>State of New Jersey, Laws of 1938, Chapter 367.</ref>  In 1939, the planned route was extended east to [[New Jersey Route 42|Route 42]] between [[Blackwood, New Jersey|Blackwood]] and [[Williamstown, New Jersey|Williamstown]].<ref name=nj19392>State of New Jersey, Laws of 1939, Chapter 264.</ref>

[[File:2021-07-15 09 16 12 View south along New Jersey State Route 44 (Crown Point Road) from the overpass for U.S. Route 130 in Logan Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey.jpg|thumb|right|Route 44 southbound at US 130 in Logan Township]]
In the [[1953 New Jersey state highway renumbering]], Route 44 was replaced by US 130 north of the [[Delaware Memorial Bridge]] approach in [[Deepwater, New Jersey|Deepwater]] and by [[New Jersey Route 49|Route 49]] south of there.<ref name="nj1953"/><ref name=nyt/> However, US 130 was moved to new [[freeway]] alignments around [[Carneys Point, New Jersey|Carneys Point]] and between Bridgeport and Westville. The bypassed alignments of US 130, originally unnumbered, eventually became Route 44.<ref name="nj1953"/><ref name=nyt/><ref name="1964map">{{cite map|title=Delaware Road Map|year=1964|publisher=Rand McNally}}</ref> After I-295 was built in the 1960s, it bypassed the portion of the US 130 freeway in Bridgeport and was designated along the US 130 freeway north to Westville and around Carneys Point. US 130 was moved back onto its old alignment in Carneys Point, replacing that portion of Route 44.<ref name="chevron">{{cite map|publisher=[[Chevron Oil Company]]|title= Map of New Jersey |year=1969|cartography=[[H.M. Gousha]]}}</ref>