Route 26 is a state highway in New Jersey, United States, running along Livingston Avenue from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in North Brunswick Township northeast to Nassau Street at the border of New Brunswick. Prior to the 1953 renumbering, the route continued southwest along US 1 to Trenton. Livingston Avenue inside New Brunswick, southwest of Suydam Street, is the County Route 691 (CR 691). The from Suydam Street to its end at George Street is part of Route 171, also maintained by Middlesex County.
Route 26 originates as the alignment of the Trenton and New Brunswick Turnpike, chartered in 1803 from Warren and Green Streets in Trenton to New Brunswick. The turnpike lasted for 99 years, fighting with railroads, canals and stagecoaches to stay in business. The road was designated State Highway Route 26 in the 1927 state highway renumbering, running from the state line in Trenton to State Highway Route S-28 in New Brunswick along the turnpike and Livingston Avenue. The route remained intact, becoming part of an engineering feat meant for the safety of drivers. In 1952, the route became part of the Trenton Freeway until the Route 26 designation was truncated back to North Brunswick Township in the 1953 state highway renumbering. The route was further truncated back from Route 18 in the 1970s in New Brunswick to its current northern terminus at Nassau Street.
Route description
left|thumb|Route 26 northbound past its beginning at US 1 in North Brunswick TownshipRoute 26 begins at an interchange with US 1 in North Brunswick Township. The roadway heads westward as the Livingston Avenue Extension, crossing south of a pond and to the north a car dealership. Approaching Amtrak's Northeast Corridor railroad line, Route 26 curves to the north, crossing under US 1 and paralleling Route 91 (Jersey Avenue). Passing to the east of a railroad fork, Route 26 parallels the Northeast Corrdior tracks as Livingston Avenue, crossing through an industrial area and intersecting with the Route 26 Connector soon after. The highway continues to the west of an industrial and commercial park and continues northward, crossing the commercial district of North Brunswick. The roadway then intersects North Oaks Boulevard, which connects Route 26 and Route 1 via a residential complex. Livingston Avenue, which was previously designated Route 26, continues under the designation of CR 691.
right|thumb|1965 shield of Route 26 on its newer alignments of CR 691 and Route 171
On August 9, 1805, the commissioners of the turnpike met in the community of Kingston to appoint officers and to begin to lay out the new highway. Enough of the 2,000 shares had been subscribed, and the commissioners went ahead and approved a survey map created for the turnpike. By 1806, a portion of the new turnpike was opened and tolls were being collected on the new highway. On November 28, 1806, a second charter was passed in the legislature to grant fines of $20 (1806 dollars) for evading tolls or defacing property along the turnpike. In 1807, the road was completed, and Henry Gallatin, the United States Secretary of the Treasury, reported that the alignment of the long turnpike was nearly straight except for an "obstruction" at Sand Hills, where they had to dig into the hill to create the highway. The new turnpike was wide and had stone abutments for the new wooden bridges. The designation, assigned as part of the 1927 state highway renumbering covered the current alignments of most of U.S. Route 1 from Trenton (including its business loop) to where Route 26 turned onto Livingston Avenue. From there, Route 26 continued along Livingston Avenue past Nassau Street and into the city of New Brunswick, ending near an intersection with State Highway Route S-28 (George Street). Construction of the new highway continued northward, with a portion of the highway still unconstructed by June 1930, a portion near the Adams train station and part of Livingston Avenue still was not constructed to full state standards.
thumb|left|100px|Route S26 (1927–1953)
Route 26 along with State Highway Route 25 soon became high-use routes to get drivers from Philadelphia to New York via New Brunswick as the large high-speed roadway. In the 1927 renumbering, a connection from Route 26 to Route 25 was also assigned, bypassing to the south of New Brunswick. This route was designated as State Highway Route S-26, a route completely concurrent with U.S. Route 1. In 1931, the State Highway Department contracted plans for a new bridge over the Delaware and Raritan Canal near Bakers Basin. Although Route 26 was considered the longest straight section of highway in the state, the new freeway would get rid of a dangerous S-curve along the highway. On January 30, 1932, the State Highway Department opened the newly constructed Calhoun Street Extension to traffic. This new freeway, designated as part of Route 26, was constructed as a bypass of the business districts in Trenton and Morrisville, Pennsylvania with a new traffic circle from the Route 26 mainline (now the Brunswick Circle). Calhoun Street was realigned in the process to help make traffic flow.
In October 1935, the State Highway Department started work on moving an stretch of Route 26 over from its current alignment. The project, considered unprecedented in history, was tested in September of that year near Penns Neck to certify the feasibility of such an accomplishment. Work started in October, costing the state $400,000 (1935 dollars), including money from the Public Works Administration. The stretch of highway from Ridge Road to Adams Station Road was to be moved over to reduce the number of accidents occurring along the former alignment. In 1934 alone, accidents along Route 26 caused 90 fatalities, with a similar figure occurring until that point in 1935. By November 1936, the project had completed of the proposed conversion, an engineering feat of the time. The men who were doing this were considered "experts" in the jobs. By February 1939, the project had ballooned in price, reaching $842,000 (1939 dollars) and the project was still incomplete. The missing work included a new island for a median.
left|thumb|Route 91 through New Brunswick, the former alignment of Route 26-A and the Trenton and New Brunswick Turnpike
During the 1930s, the outcry for lighting along State Highway Routes 26 and 25 began to rise with the number of traffic accidents. Approximately 7.70% of traffic were in accidents along Route 26 at nighttime contrary to 2.42% during the daytime. Although lighting was still in testing by 1938 (with State Highway Route 24 as a test highway), Route 26 still had a high night accident rate, urging further actions for lighting the new roadway.
During the 1940s, the Middlesex County officials designated Route 26 (Livingston Avenue) through New Brunswick as County Highway 3-R-16, but was signed as part of Route 26 to its end at State Highway Route S-28 (George Street). In 1941, the State Highway Department designated a spur along Jersey Avenue in North Brunswick and New Brunswick, which was taken over as State Highway Route 26-A, that provided direct access to State Highway Route 27 in New Brunswick. In 1947, the New Jersey State Highway Department expanded a stretch of three-lane roadway to four lanes for $500,000. This addition of new lanes was started to help safety of drivers down Route 26.
Trenton Freeway and truncation
right|thumb|Route 1 in the city of Trenton, along the Trenton Freeway
During the 1950s, plans arose in Trenton to construct a new bypass of the city to the west. The bypass, to be a four-lane freeway, was designated as another portion of Route 26 when the highway was constructed in 1952. The new route also included the construction of the Trenton-Morrisville Toll Bridge, a $6.25 million (1952 dollars) span across the Delaware River. Just 30 days after the new Trenton Freeway was opened to automobile traffic, the highways were renumbered around the state. Route 26 was truncated back from the state line in Trenton to an interchange with U.S. Route 1 in North Brunswick Township, while its alignment became State Route 174 (a portion of the Trenton Freeway), U.S. Route 1 and U.S. Route 1 Alternate. The two suffixed spurs of Route 26 were also truncated, with State Highway Route 26-A becoming Route 91, and State Highway Route S-26 becoming only a portion of U.S. Route 1. The route, however, continued into downtown New Brunswick, where it terminated at Route 18. By the 1980s, Route 26 had been truncated back to Nassau Street. The county-maintained portion became Middlesex County Route 691 while the northernmost portion of Livingston Avenue became part of Route 171.