“when left to their own devices, traffic engineers will always make new jersey” - WTYP

There’s definitely a historic/political aspect to it. Some of the roads, properties, and municipalities around here date back to the colonial period. Then there was boroughitis in the late 19th century which balkanized the state into over 500 municipalities with their own municipal governments, tax bases, and development prerogatives just as suburbanization was coming about. By the end of this process, NJ had more municipalities per-capita than any other state in the US. The concept of central planning couldn’t possibly be more foreign.

There’s a reason the suburbs in NJ look rather different from the larger cookie-cutter HOA developments which are much more common in the midwest. Development took place over a much longer period in a much more arbitrary way. This is reflected in the road system as well. There’s more to the story than just boroughitis and the length of settlement, but these definitely compound the problem.

Is this true - are New Jersey roads really more confusing and chaotic than other road systems

Used to hear my folks talking about these things from time to time – jughandles

“They are the bane of hurried drivers and the butt of at least one Jersey joke: to make a left turn in this state, you have to make three rights.”

Italians