This is the most dangerous stretch of highway in NJ, by far
Over the weekend, I was reading a great article by Big Joe Henry about the Pulaski Skyway, dubbed the toughest three mile road in New Jersey. And it got me wondering — what is truly the most dangerous stretch of highway in the state?
Every single day, we report on accidents ranging from the very serious to fender-benders. And it is no wonder, as New Jerseyans do a lot of driving.
According the NJ DOT, over 75 billion vehicle-miles were driven on public roads in New Jersey in 2022. And in that same year, over 236,000 crashes were reported throughout the Garden State. 646 of those accidents involved at least one fatality.
Crash Rate Analysis
To determine New Jersey's most dangerous stretch of highway, I pored through a large dataset from the New Jersey Department of Transportation listing miles traveled and crash occurrences along every segment of highway in the state.
Before I get to the rankings and numbers, a few bullet points to remember:
—There are many ways to define "most dangerous." In this case, I am talking about "crash-iest," the segment of NJ highway with the most frequent officially reported vehicle accidents, taking into account the length of that segment and the number of drivers who travel it.
—I am ranking highway segments by a statistic called "Crash Rate," which is the number of crashes along a defined segment of highway divided by the segment length times average daily traffic times 365 days. The units are "crashes per million vehicle-miles".
—The traffic and crash data is from 2022, the latest year with complete data available.
—The New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway are unfortunately NOT included in these statistics. The NJ DOT apparently does not collect that data in the same manner as other interstate, US, state, and county highways.
—Similarly, local roads are not included. Only interstate, US, state, and county highways that have a designated route number. There are 132 such roads in New Jersey.
The Worst Stretch of Highway in New Jersey
Of all the segments of all the highways in New Jersey, the one with the highest crash rate is...
Route 28 in Somerset County, between mile markers 2.25 and 2.32.
That probably was not your first guess. But that 0.07-mile (370-foot) stretch of highway has a very well-known designation.
The Somerville Circle.
The confluence of Route 28, Route 202, Route 206 in Bridgewater Township can be both confusing and treacherous. Especially when weather or darkness gets in the way.
Bob Williams, New Jersey Traffic North, is constantly reporting on accidents and slowdowns. He claims the Somerville Circle is "one of the worst if not THE worst" pieces of highway in the state, "even with traffic flow signals at all entrances."
"It was rebuilt well over 15 years ago when the new connector overpass was opened. But down below in the active circle, people whip around and some have no idea how to maneuver a rotary," he continued.
It is a bit surprising to see one of NJ's traffic circles take the top prize, as circles and rotaries are generally thought to be safer and more efficient than straight-on intersections. And that is partially true — of the 141 total crashes reported at the Somerville Circle in 2022, none of them were fatal.
Williams contrasted the Somerville Circle to the newer Flemington Circle, which features a more controlled speed limit to slow down traffic and limit crashes.
The crash rate for this segment of Route 28 was reported as 572.71 crashes per million vehicle miles traveled. That is three and a half times greater than New Jersey's second most dangerous highway.
The Rest of the Top 10
To an extent, these statistics may be a bit skewed because the crashiest highway segments in the state are all very short in length. However, that is because these segments are at major intersections — way more prone to accidents than straight stretches of road.
Some of these "most dangerous" highways are surprising. And some are absolutely not.
1.) Route 28 at 202/206 (Somerville Circle)
Bridgewater, Somerset County
Crash rate 572.71
2.) Route 40 at 77/635 (Pole Tavern Circle)
Upper Pittsgrove, Salem County
Crash rate 166.01
3.) Route 18 at 66 (exit 10 for Seaview Square Mall)
Ocean Township & Neptune, Monmouth County
Crash rate 157.61
4.) Route 52 at 559 (just off the Stainton Memorial Causeway from Ocean City)
Somers Point, Atlantic County
Crash rate 137.69
5.) Route 37 at 549/571 (Fischer Blvd)
Toms River, Ocean County
Crash rate 137.46
6.) Route 45 at 644 (N Broad St at Red Bank Ave)
Woodbury, Gloucester County
Crash rate 134.03
7.) Route 168 at 635 (Black Horse Pike at Nicholson Rd)
Mt. Ephraim, Camden County
Crash rate 133.41
8.) Route 93 at 46 (Grand Ave)
Palisades Park, Bergen County
Crash rate 109.34
9.) Route 22 at 635 (Rock Ave)
Green Brook, Somerset County
Crash rate 102.69
10.) Route 33 at 547 (near Collingwood Circle, just past Route 34)
Wall, Monmouth County
Crash rate 99.54
The 25 Most Dangerous Roads in New Jersey
Gallery Credit: Matt Ryan
Dan Zarrow is Chief Meteorologist for Townsquare Media New Jersey. Check out Dan's weather blog or follow him on Facebook for your latest weather forecast updates.
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