Route 35 is a state highway in the U.S. state of New Jersey, primarily traveling through the easternmost parts of Middlesex, Monmouth, and Ocean counties. It runs from the entrance to Island Beach State Park in Berkeley Township, Ocean County, to an intersection with Lincoln Highway/St. Georges Avenue (Route 27) in Rahway, Union County. Between Seaside Park and Mantoloking, Route 35 follows the right-of-way of the former Pennsylvania Railroad along the Jersey Shore. The route heads through Point Pleasant Beach and crosses the Manasquan River on the Brielle Bridge, meeting Route 34 and Route 70 at the former Brielle Circle in Wall Township. From there, Route 35 heads north and intersects Route 138, an extension of Interstate 195 (I-195), continuing north through Monmouth County before crossing the Victory Bridge over the Raritan River into Perth Amboy, where the route continues north to Rahway.
Route 35 was designated in 1927 to run from Lakewood Township to South Amboy, from Lakewood Township to Belmar and from Eatontown to South Amboy. It was realigned onto its current alignment between Brielle and Belmar in 1929 and saw a northward extension along U.S. Route 9 (US 9) from South Amboy to Iselin in 1947. In 1953, Route 35 was realigned to run from Point Pleasant to Seaside Heights along a former part of Route 37, with Route 35 between Lakewood Township and Point Pleasant becoming Route 88. At the same time, Route 35 was removed from US 9 between South Amboy and Iselin and realigned to follow a former piece of Route 4 between South Amboy and Rahway. From the late 1950s to the mid-1970s, there were plans to build a freeway along the Route 35 corridor from Seaside Heights north into Monmouth County; the only portion that was built became part of Route 18. Route 35 was extended south to the Island Beach State Park entrance by the 1980s. Recent improvements to the route have removed many traffic circles and replaced the first cloverleaf interchange in the United States, built in 1929, at US 1/9 in Woodbridge Township with a partial cloverleaf interchange.
Route description
Ocean County
Route 35 begins at the entrance to Island Beach State Park in Berkeley Township, Ocean County, at the southern tip of the Barnegat Peninsula. South of Seaside Park, Route 35 is Central Avenue as it is the only road while it travels along the shore of the Peninsula. It heads north, varying between a two-lane road to a four-lane divided highway with parking spaces in the median and bike lanes on the outside through residential areas of South Seaside Park. It briefly becomes an undivided highway before crossing into Seaside Park, where the route becomes four-lane, divided Central Avenue, which also has median parking spaces. Route 35 passes by residences in Seaside Park, with the median widening for the Seaside Park Police Department building at the intersection of 6th Avenue, and then the road widening to six lanes further north. The route then crosses back into Toms River, passing through Dover Beaches North. When Route 35 enters Brick Township, the northbound direction becomes Ocean Avenue and the one-way pair between the opposing directions of Route 35 narrows as it passes oceanfront residences. The road running from Perth Amboy to Keyport, and from Point Pleasant to Seaside Heights, was signed as part of the Jersey Coast Way, running from the Staten Island Ferry to Cape May.
In 1916, the current alignment of Route 35 was legislated as a part of pre-1927 Route 4 between Point Pleasant and Brielle and from Eatontown to South Amboy. In the 1927 New Jersey state highway renumbering, Route 35 was designated to run from Lakewood Township to South Amboy, replacing pre-1927 Route 4 from Lakewood Township to Belmar and from Eatontown to South Amboy with the portion of pre-1927 Route 4 between Belmar and Eatontown becoming Route 4N (now Route 71). At this time, US 9 followed the portions of Route 35 that were formerly a part of pre-1927 Route 4.
By the 1940s, Route 35 was designated onto its current alignment between Brielle and Belmar with the former alignment becoming a southern extension of Route 4N. US 9 was also moved off Route 35 onto a newly completed alignment of Route 4 between Lakewood Township and South Amboy. In 1947, Route 35 was extended north to end at Route 25 (now US 1) in Iselin, running concurrently with US 9. The current bridge over the Manasquan River and the bypass of Brielle were opened in 1951.
In the 1953 New Jersey state highway renumbering, the portion of Route 35 between Lakewood Township and Point Pleasant became Route 88, and Route 35 was designated to head south from Point Pleasant to Seaside Heights on what had been a part of Route 37. This section of Route 35 follows the right-of-way of the former Pennsylvania Railroad between Seaside Park and Mantoloking, which was removed in 1949. Also in the 1953 renumbering, the Route 35 designation was removed from the concurrency with US 9 between South Amboy and Iselin and reassigned to the former alignment of Route 4 between South Amboy and Route 27 in Rahway.
In the late 1950s, plans were made for a freeway along the Route 35 corridor between Seaside Heights and Long Branch to reduce congestion along the current route. This proposed freeway was built as Route 18 between Wall Township and Eatontown from 1965 to 1991 while the southern portion to Seaside Heights was never built. In the early 1970s, a Route 35 freeway was planned to run from Route 18 north to the planned Route 74 freeway in Matawan with an estimated cost of $53 million. This freeway was never built due to the cancellation of the Route 74 freeway in the mid-1970s.
thumb|left|A breach occurred across Route 35 at CR 528 during Hurricane Sandy
thumb|right|Route 35 reopened at the reconstructed CR 528 intersection in 2013
The current interchange with Route 37 and the bypass around Seaside Heights were completed in 1958. The highway was turned into a one-way pair between Brick and Seaside Heights in 1961 by utilizing the former right-of-way of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
The section of the route through downtown Point Pleasant Beach was turned into a one-way pair in 1967.
On April 16, 1980, NJDOT took over the road south from Seaside Heights to Island Beach State Park from Ocean County and extended State Highway 35 along it. In exchange, the county took over State Route 180 as County Route 50.
The Brielle Circle in Wall Township, which connected Route 34, Route 35, Route 70, was eliminated and replaced by an intersection in 2001, which were both converted into at-grade intersections with traffic lights.
From 2002 and 2005, the Victory Bridge over the Raritan River was reconstructed at a cost of $109 million.
The Victory Circle was replaced with a diamond interchange between 2003 and 2006.
Between February 2006 and November 2008, the Woodbridge Cloverleaf interchange with US 1/9 in Woodbridge Township, first cloverleaf interchange in the United States built in 1929 when this portion of Route 35 was still a part of Route 4, was replaced with a partial cloverleaf interchange, costing $34 million.
The interchange with Route 36 in Eatontown originally did not intersect at a 90-degree angle; this was a remainder from the original Eatontown Circle. However, this posed a significant safety problem, and the need to rebuild the intersection again was planned. Because of this, in April 2010, NJDOT initiated construction to relocate the intersection to allow for a straighter roadway and a full cloverleaf configuration around the interchange. The project was declared largely complete on June 29, 2012.
On February 1, 2013, Route 35 through Mantoloking was fully reopened after being closed since October 29, 2012, after Hurricane Sandy hit the area. The night of the storm at the intersection where the Mantoloking Bridge and Route 35 meet, a new inlet was formed by the raging storm waters. This effectively cut off the island from the mainland.
Beginning in March 2013 (after a six-month delay due to Hurricane Sandy), a four-year major construction project began on Route 35 between Raritan Boulevard/Birchwood Drive in Cliffwood Beach (Old Bridge Township) and Amboy Avenue in Aberdeen Township. The project includes several highway improvements designed to alleviate the flooding the highway is prone to due to its lowness and being adjacent in several areas to tidal marshes and Whale Creek and Long Neck Creek, widening of four intersections (Birchwood Drive, County Road, Cliffwood Avenue, and Amboy Avenue), and lane alignments, and additions for pedestrian and bicyclist safety. Also planned are traffic signal upgrades to reduce congestion. The project was expected to be completed in 2015.
In November 2020, construction was completed on a project to connect Taylor Lane with the CR 516 intersection in Middletown. This resulted in demolition of the former Jersey right that served that road northbound with a new diamond-styled jughandle.