HIGHLAND PARK, N.J. – The New Jersey Department of Transportation has completed a new traffic pattern along Route 27 in Highland Park, converting the busy corridor into a single travel lane in each direction with a center turn lane in an effort to improve safety and traffic flow.
The changes, implemented December 18, cover the stretch between Sixth Avenue/Woodbridge Avenue (milepost 17.48) and Brookhill Avenue (milepost 18.04). The reconfiguration, known as a “road diet,” reduced the number of lanes from two each way to one while adding a continuous center lane for left turns.
State transportation officials said the previous four-lane setup lacked dedicated turn lanes, often causing congestion and rear-end collisions as vehicles slowed or stopped to make left turns. The new layout is designed to reduce speeds, ease turning movements, and improve safety for motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists in the borough’s active downtown business district.
NJDOT noted that similar “road diet” projects have successfully improved traffic operations on other state highways, including Route 29 in Lambertville, Route 130 in Burlington City, Route 45 in Woodbury, and Route 9 in Lakewood.