U.S. Route 1/9 Truck (US 1/9 Truck) is a United States Numbered Highway in the northern part of New Jersey that stretches from the eastern edge of Newark to the Tonnele Circle in Jersey City. It is the alternate route for US 1/9 that trucks must use because they are prohibited from using the Pulaski Skyway, which carries the main routes of US 1/9. It also serves traffic accessing the New Jersey Turnpike, Route 440, and Route 7. The route is a four- to six-lane road its entire length, with portions of it being a divided highway that runs through urban areas. From its south end to about halfway through Kearny, US 1/9 Truck is a freeway, with access to other roads controlled by interchanges.
While the US 1/9 Truck designation was first used in 1953, the roadway comprising the route was originally designated as an extension of Route 1 in 1922, a route that in its full length stretched from Trenton to Jersey City. US 1/9 was designated along the road in 1926, and, one year later, in 1927, this portion of Route 1 was replaced with Route 25 as well as with a portion of Route 1 north of the Communipaw Avenue intersection. Following the opening of the Pulaski Skyway in 1932, US 1/9 and Route 25 were realigned to the new skyway. After trucks were banned from the skyway in 1934, the portion of Route 25 between Newark and Route 1 was designated as Route 25T. In 1953, US 1/9 Truck was designated in favor of Route 25T and Route 1 along this segment of road. The portion of the truck route north of Route 7 was rebuilt as part of a $271.9-million (equivalent to $ in ) project to construct new approach roads to connect US 1/9 Truck, Route 7, the Pulaski Skyway, Route 139, and US 1/9 north of the Tonnele Circle and local streets in Jersey City. Construction, which started in late 2008, was completed in late 2012.
The highway is posted on reassurance shields as a north–south route. The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) Straight Line Diagram, however, lists it as an east–west route
Route description
left|thumb|US 1/9 Truck westbound approaching the Passaic River Bridge in Kearny, with the Pulaski Skyway visible to the right
US 1/9 Truck begins at an interchange with access to and from the southbound direction US 1/9, the Pulaski Skyway, in the Ironbound section of the city of Newark in Essex County. It merges onto Raymond Boulevard, which continues west from the US 1/9 and US 1/9 Truck interchange into Downtown Newark. The truck restriction on US 1/9 is for the "safety and welfare of the public" according to NJDOT, not a specific bridge defect.
In 1913, the road west of Lincoln Park became the first segment of the Lincoln Highway. The current route of US 1/9 Truck was designated to be an extension of Route 1 in 1922, a route that was to run from Trenton to Jersey City.
thumb|right|US 1/9 Truck eastbound at Route 7 in Jersey City
When the U.S. Numbered Highway System was established in 1926, the current truck route became a part of the US 1/9 concurrency. A year later, in the 1927 New Jersey state highway renumbering, Route 25 was designated to run along the entire length of the route along with US 1/9 as part of its journey from the Benjamin Franklin Bridge in Camden to the Holland Tunnel in Jersey City, while Route 1 was also designated along the portion north of Communipaw Avenue in Jersey City as a part of its routing from Bayonne to Rockleigh.
Following the opening of the Pulaski Skyway in 1932, US 1/9 and Route 25 were moved to the new bridge. After trucks were banned from the Pulaski Skyway in 1934, the portion of Route 25 between Newark and Route 1 was designated as Route 25T. In the 1953 New Jersey state highway renumbering, US 1/9 Truck was designated to replace all of Route 25T as well as the portion of Route 1 between Route 25T and the Tonnele Circle.
Beginning in 2009, NJDOT replaced the viaduct that carries the route over St. Paul's Avenue and a CSAO line. The St. Paul's Viaduct was built in 1928 and determined structurally deficient. The $271.9-million (equivalent to $ in ) replacement was completed in September 2011. In addition to replacing the St. Paul's Avenue viaduct, the approaches to US 1/9 Truck between Route 7 and the Tonnele Circle were improved in preparation for the construction of the Replacement Wittpen bridge.
In 2021, with the opening of the new Wittpenn Bridge, the former intersection with Route 7 and US 1/9 was demolished, and the former overpass that originally bypassed the intersection was rerouted to the bridge instead. A replacement ramp to reallow traffic onto Newark Avenue after the ability to do so was removed at the intersection was opened on April 21, 2023, at 9:00 pm.
Studies are being conducted to make the intersection with Route 440 a multilevel traffic circle and to make the northern and southern (Route 440) approaches into a multi-use urban boulevard that includes grade separations and additional medians. The studies are in anticipation of a general increase of activity in Port of New York and New Jersey, as well as new development in West Side, Jersey City, and Hackensack River Greenway.