So much has been written about New Jersey's "strange" or "mysterious" roads -- like Shades of Death Road in Warren County -- that the topic is getting pretty much worn out. Besides, it's not the "odd roads" that are special to New Jersey, it's the regular ones that become an intrinsic part of our lives.
I was driving on Route 22 the other day -- I live not far from it -- and got to thinking about how much time I've spent on this particular highway in the last 25 years; I've probably left four entire tires on it in wear. In my youth, it was Route 47 (Delsea Drive); we lived perhaps 200 yards from the roadway and I came in contact with it at least three or four times a day.
There are plenty of roads -- aside from the streets we live on -- that become part of our personal histories.
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Whether it's the Garden State Parkway and the exit that delivered you to the shore or the highways that you took you to malls for holiday shopping. Route 80, Route 195, Route 73, Route 40, all leading to bridges to go exploring in other states, then bringing you back home.
Delsea Drive and its tar strips -- ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump. Sure do miss them.
I'm sure many of us have the memory of being out with family for a long day and knowing you were almost home when a certain road was reached. For me, it was the rhythmic bumps of the tar strips on Route 47, Delsea Drive; they felt like "almost home."
Here's a gallery of highways and local roads, interstates and main streets throughout New Jersey; I'm confident there will be one that will "bring you home." Make sure captions are enabled for each photo's information. And click here and here for previous galleries of streets and roads.
Greg Hatala may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @GregHatala. Find Greg Hatala on Facebook.