Маршрут 109: Дорога в округе Кейп-Мей, Нью-Джерси

State highway in Cape May County, New Jersey, US

Route 109 is a 3.06 mile (5 km) state highway located in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States. The route runs from Jackson Street in Cape May north to an intersection with U. S. Route 9 (US 9) in Lower Township. It crosses one of two road bridges over the Cape May Canal (the other is Route 162) and provides access to the southern end of the Garden State Parkway and County Route 621 (Ocean Drive) as well as to Cape May. Only the section of road in Lower Township is state maintained; the rest is maintained by Cape May County and signed as County Route 633, which extends 0.34 mile (1 km) past the southern terminus along Jackson Street and Perry Street to County Route 626 in West Cape May. Present day Route 109 was designated as a part of pre 1927 Route 14 in 1917 before becoming the southernmost portion of Route 4 in 1927. By the 1940s, US 9 extended south to Cape May from Absecon along this part of Route 4. In 1953, the Route 4 designation was dropped from this segment of road to avoid the concurrency with US 9. In 1972, US 9 was rerouted to head to the Cape May–Lewes Ferry terminal, with the former alignment into Cape May becoming Route 109.

Route 109 begins at an intersection with County Route 633 in Cape May, heading to the northeast on Lafayette Street, a two lane undivided road that is county maintained and signed as a part of County Route 633, which itself extends past the southern terminus of Route 109 along Jackson Street and Perry Street to County Route 626 in West Cape May. The route passes through residential and commercial areas of Cape May, passing southeast of the terminus of the Cape May Seashore Lines railroad at the Cape May Welcome Center/Cape May Bus Terminal located at the former Cape May City Rail Terminal and intersecting the northern terminus of County Route 653. At the intersection with Sidney Avenue, Route 109 splits into a one way pair that has two lanes in each direction, with the northbound direction following Sidney Avenue east before turning north on Washington Street and the southbound direction remaining on Lafayette Street. In the 1927 New Jersey state highway renumbering, this portion of pre 1927 Route 14 became the southernmost part of Route 4, a route that was to run from Cape May north to the George Washington Bridge. By the 1940s, US 9 was extended south from Absecon to Cape May, running concurrent with Route 4. In the 1953 New Jersey state highway renumbering, which eliminated long concurrencies between U. S. and state routes, the Route 4 designation was dropped along this portion of road, leaving US 9 as the sole designation. The current high level bridge over the Cape May Canal was built in 1960, replacing a wooden swing bridge built by the U. S. Government when the Cape May Canal was constructed during World War II. On November 7, 2009, the bridge carrying Route 109 over the Cape May Canal was named the Cape May County Veterans Memorial Bridge, honoring all veterans.