Wikipedia:WikiProject U.S. Roads/New Jersey/Selected article/February 2016

U.S. Route 202 is a U.S. Highway running from New Castle, Delaware northeast to Bangor, Maine. In the U.S. state of New Jersey, the route runs 80.31 mi from the New Hope-Lambertville Toll Bridge over the Delaware River at the Pennsylvania border in Delaware Township, Hunterdon County near Lambertville northeast to the New York border in Mahwah, Bergen County. Along the route’s journey, it passes through a variety of suburban and rural environments, including the communities of Flemington, Somerville, Morristown, Parsippany-Troy Hills, Wayne, and Oakland as well as five counties: Hunterdon, Somerset, Morris, Passaic, and Bergen. U.S. Route 202 encounters many major roads in New Jersey, including Route 31, U.S. Route 206, U.S. Route 22, Interstate 80, U.S. Route 46, Route 23, and Route 17. From Somerville to the New York border, U.S. Route 202 generally runs within a close distance of Interstate 287 and interchanges with that route several times. The road ranges from a four-lane freeway between Lambertville and Ringoes in Hunterdon County to a two-lane undivided road through much of the northern portion of the route. North of the Route 53 intersection in Morris Plains, U.S. Route 202 is maintained by individual counties rather than the New Jersey Department of Transportation with a few exceptions.

In the original system of New Jersey state highways, present-day U.S. Route 202 was legislated as pre-1927 Route 5 between Morristown and Morris Plains in 1916 and as pre-1927 Route 16 between Somerville and Morristown in 1921. In 1927, the current route was designated as Route 29 between Lambertville and Ringoes, Route 30 (now Route 31) between Ringoes and Flemington, Route 12 between Flemington and Somerville, Route 31 (now U.S. Route 206) between Somerville and Bedminster, Route 32 between Bedminster and Mountain View, and Route 23 within a portion of Wayne. Meanwhile, U.S. Route 122 was signed in New Jersey to run from the New Hope-Lambertville Bridge in Lambertville, where the route continued south to State Road, Delaware, along Bridge Street, Route 29, and Route 30 to Flemington, and then along present-day County Route 523 to U.S. Route 22 in White House. In the mid-1930s, U.S. Route 122 was renumbered to U.S. Route 202, and realigned to follow its current route to New York border near Suffern, New York where it continued to Bangor, Maine. In 1953, all the state highway designations were removed from U.S. Route 202 except for Route 23 and Route 30 (which became Route 69 before becoming Route 31 in 1967) to avoid long concurrencies with the route. In the 1960s, plans were made to upgrade U.S. Route 202 to a freeway between the Pennsylvania border and Interstate 287 in Bridgewater Township. The only parts of this freeway that were completed were a bypass of Ringoes in the 1960s and a freeway between the Delaware River and Ringoes in 1974; the rest was canceled due to opposition from residents along the route. With the completion of the U.S. Route 202 freeway in Hunterdon County, the former alignment became Route 179. The portion of U.S. Route 202 concurrent with Route 23 in Wayne was upgraded from a four-lane road to a six-lane road in the 1980s.