Editing Plainfield, New Jersey (section)

===Transportation===

====Roads and highways====
[[File:2018-06-20 17 05 28 View east along New Jersey State Route 28 (Fifth Street) at Watchung Avenue in Plainfield, Union County, New Jersey.jpg|thumb|right|[[New Jersey Route 28|Route 28]] through Plainfield]]
{{As of|2010|5}}, the city had a total of {{convert|101.79|mi}} of roadways, of which {{convert|87.58|mi}} were maintained by the municipality, {{convert|14.21|mi}} by Union County.<ref>[http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/sldiag/mileage_Union.pdf Union County Mileage by Municipality and Jurisdiction], [[New Jersey Department of Transportation]], May 2010. Accessed July 18, 2014.</ref>

Plainfield is one of the few large suburban cities in central New Jersey to have no federal highway within it. The only major thoroughfare through Plainfield is [[New Jersey Route 28|Route 28]], connecting [[Somerville, New Jersey|Somerville]] with [[Elizabeth, New Jersey|Elizabeth]] and [[New Jersey Route 27]]. U.S. Route 22, a mecca for highway shopping and dining, is accessible from Plainfield through [[North Plainfield, New Jersey|North Plainfield]], [[Dunellen, New Jersey|Dunellen]] and [[Fanwood, New Jersey|Fanwood]]. In the early 1960s, Interstate highways were completed near, but not through Plainfield. [[Interstate 287]] is accessible through [[South Plainfield, New Jersey|South Plainfield]] and [[Piscataway, New Jersey|Piscataway]], while [[Interstate 78 in New Jersey|Interstate 78]] is accessible through [[Watchung, New Jersey|Watchung]] / [[Warren Township, New Jersey|Warren Township]] and neighboring communities. The busiest connecting thoroughfares are Park Avenue (north-south), traversing from U.S. 22 to and into South Plainfield and [[Edison, New Jersey|Edison]]; Front Street (east-west), connecting Scotch Plains with Dunellen; South Avenue and 7th Street, both of which parallel Front Street, connecting Scotch Plains/Fanwood with Piscataway, South Plainfield and the [[Middlesex County, New Jersey|Middlesex County]] border.

====Public transportation====
[[File:Plainfield, NJ ca. 1900.png|thumb|Plainfield Station, {{circa|1910}}]]
Plainfield has two [[NJ Transit]] rail stations on the [[Raritan Valley Line]], formerly the mainline of the [[Central Railroad of New Jersey]]. The main [[Plainfield station]] is in the downtown and a second, smaller [[Netherwood station]] is in the Netherwood section, east of downtown and within a mile of the Fanwood border. A third station, located in the west end of town, was closed long ago. The [[New Brunswick station|New Brunswick]] train station is approximately 15 minutes away.
The Central Railroad of New Jersey first offered service to Plainfield in 1839. At the height of popularity, the Plainfield "Jersey Central" train station, with its main station building constructed in 1902, was a hub for commuting to Newark and New York. (The Central Railroad of New Jersey terminal was in [[Jersey City, New Jersey|Jersey City]], where ferries would take the rail passengers to New York City.) The station was located near the main post office and downtown stores. The station was serviced by the now defunct Railway Express postal carrier company.<ref>Hatala, Greg. [http://www.nj.com/union/index.ssf/2012/11/glimpse_of_history_the_rails_r.html "Glimpse of History: The rails run through Plainfield"], ''[[The Star-Ledger]]'', November 26, 2012. Accessed November 16, 2015. "According to the Elizabeth Historical Society, the Elizabeth and Somerville Railroad, later the Central Railroad of New Jersey, established regular passenger service to Plainfield in 1839, making interior farmland accessible for development. The Drake House Museum in Plainfield notes that the main station building was designed and built in 1902 in the Richardsonian Romanesque style by noted railroad architect [[Bradford Gilbert]]."</ref>

NJ Transit provides bus service on the [[113 (New Jersey bus)|113]] and [[114 (New Jersey bus)|114]] to and from the [[Port Authority Bus Terminal]] in [[Midtown Manhattan]]; the [[59 (New Jersey bus)|59]], [[65 (New Jersey bus)|65]] and [[66 (New Jersey bus)|66]] (Limited) to [[Newark, New Jersey|Newark]]; and local service on the [[819 (New Jersey bus)|819]] and [[822 (New Jersey bus)|822]] routes.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090522212305/http://www.njtransit.com/sf/sf_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=BusRoutesUnionCountyTo Union County Bus/Rail Connections], [[NJ Transit]], backed up by the [[Internet Archive]] as of May 22, 2009. Accessed October 26, 2011.</ref>

In years past, Plainfield was serviced by the Somerset Bus Company with service from Union County to Essex and New York City, the Public Service Bus Company with similar service and Plainfield Transit, providing local service.

[[Newark Liberty International Airport]] is approximately 30 minutes away. A proposed [[PATH (rail system)|PATH]] train extension to Plainfield in the 1970s, with stops at the airport and at [[Elizabeth, New Jersey|Elizabeth]], was canceled in 1976.<ref>Staff. [https://www.nytimes.com/1978/06/02/archives/new-jersey-pages-byrne-drops-plan-for-rail-extension-gives-up.html "Byrne Drops Plan For Rail Extension"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', June 2, 1978. Accessed February 4, 2018. "Governor Byrne today dropped his proposal for an extension of the PATH rail system to Plainfield and instead endorsed a $600 million plan to improve other rail and bus service in New Jersey."</ref>