Why Does One of the Busiest Interstates in NJ Have New Red Lights?

For the past 300 years, one of the most frustrating things for drivers in South Jersey has been the interchange of Route 42/Interstate 76 and Interstate 295 in Bellmawr.

When that section of the 42 Freeway opened in the 1950s, engineers decided it would be a good idea not to have a traditional cloverleaf interchange at I-295, but instead, use a series of awkward weaving merges and indirect access to various roadways to allow traffic to move between 42/76 and 295.

While that may have made sense more than half a century ago, it became quite a bottleneck as the region's population rapidly expanded over the decades that followed.

With that in mind, plans were created to improve that massive interchange and construction began in the winter of 2013 (holy cow -- it's been over a decade already?!).

So, over the past ten years or so, work has (slowly) progressed in Bellmawr and everything appears to be on track for work to be done sometime in 2032 (holy cow -- we have another 8 years of this to go?!).

• READ MORE: Why Has NJ Route 41 Been 'Temporary' for Decades? The Answer!

One of the changes that drivers have seen so far is the improvement of northbound traffic coming off of 42 approaching the interchange for Route 168 — but there's something a bit bizarre there.

Red lights. Six of them.

• READ MORE: Can You Get a Ticket for Driving Too Slow in New Jersey?

Why does a massive decades-long improvement project on a busy interstate highway include the installation of red lights? Isn't the idea to keep traffic moving as quickly as it can?

Yes — but they're there for a rather simple reason.

In long tunnels or underpasses like the one just off of 42, traffic lights had to be installed as a way to control traffic in the event that something bad happens there, like an accident, fire, or whatever.

So, technically speaking, those red lights had to be installed, and they do serve an actual purpose. And they'll never turn red unless traffic absolutely has to stop there.

Now truth be told, if something bad does happen, traffic is going to stop anyway, and whatever color those traffic signals are will be irrelevant as dozens of state police vehicles with flashing blue and red lights will grab everyone's attention.

Of course, red lights on interstates in and around New Jersey aren't exactly rare.

Red Lights on Other Interstates

If you've ever driven between the Ben Franklin Bridge and Center City Philadelphia on Interstate 676, you know there are red lights at Franklin and 8th Streets.

And a much busier example would be the series of red lights along Interstate 78 near the Holland Tunnel.