Route 46 is a 2-hour long drive, and each mile is steeped in NJ history. How it came to be

Route 46 was where icons (and the everyman) got their kicks.

A throwback representing much of what we love about New Jersey, the highway's watering holes drew some of the largest celebrities of the 20th century: Babe Ruth, Jackie Gleason and the Rat Pack.

Some of its relics — Little Ferry's Rosie’s Diner and Palisades Park's disco/punk rock club the Soap Factory — splashed New Jersey across TV 30 years before the "Jersey Shore" crew cast its pall over the state.

Doreen Rutherford owns one of those relics, Hunter's Lodge in Knowlton Township. Predating Route 46 and its previous incarnations, Routes 5 and 6, the motel and restaurant had been shuttered when Rutherford revived it in 2012.

Like other popular spots of yesteryear, the building had become a reflection of how the once-vital roadway became passé.

Since Route 80 was completed in the early 1970s, relatively few drive any more of the 74 miles (or 75 miles, depending on which map is used) that make up Route 46 than deemed necessary. It's a conduit to other highways; a service road to reach businesses. It's an early example of the last-mile problem and a Rodney Dangerfield punchline. It gets no respect.

"It really doesn't," Rutherford said. People take Route 46 for the last stretch of their journey. Places like Hunter's Lodge and Hot Dog Johnny's, down the road in White Township, have survived by becoming destinations rather than rest stops, banking on nostalgia. "I get people from all over who come here just to visit," she added.

It wasn't always that way.

Route 46's history is solidly rooted in New Jersey's history, geography and love affair with the car. The highway encapsulates much of what non-Jerseyans think of the state. The portion from Fort Lee to Wayne has dense towns, plucky businesses, crowded strip malls and one of the nation's busiest general aviation airports.

Go west of Dover, though, and another facet of New Jersey unfolds. Rural farms, such as RH Farms near Hackettstown, offer freshly harvested local produce from roadside stands. Farther west lies the densely forested Vienna section of Independence and a winding stretch of highway that traces the Pequest River.

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More Route 46: Take a detour down memory lane with our list of enduring and long-gone Route 46 landmarks

Early roadways of New Jersey

That stretch of U.S. 46 reflects some of the oldest local history. Before Europeans descended on her shores, the state's residents seasonally traced the valleys from the Delaware to the Atlantic to harvest the region's bounty. Later, New Jersey became the "Crossroads of the Revolution," where soldiers beat a path across the highly contested northern parts of the state.

The pathways provided a foundation, but as the state's population and commerce shifted, more and more towns realized that better roads were needed.

Initially, the movement was for turnpikes, which were privately owned toll roads. In the early 1800s, 51 companies were formed and 30 of them built 350 miles of improved roads. Built were Union Turnpike (Morristown to Dover to Sparta), Washington Turnpike (Morristown to Delaware via Schooley's Mountain) and Parsippany & Rockaway Turnpike, according to state documents.

The turnpikes, however, were not financially successful. Canals and rail lines were. It wasn't until bicycles became popular that demand for improved roads arose, according to the state Department of Transportation New Jersey Historic Roadway Study.

In 1891, New Jersey became the first state to adopt a "state-aid" plan to provide counties with money for road improvements. The money would become vital as automobiles and trucks went from curiosities to members of American households, the state Transportation Department study shows.

In 1900, there were just 300 vehicles registered in New Jersey, according to the Federal Highway Administration. By 1918, there were almost 120,000. In 1920, 20% of American families owned an automobile, and by 1929, it was 60%.

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Holland Tunnel and George Washington Bridge bring traffic to NJ

To accommodate early drivers, New Jersey created a highway commission in 1909. Initially, about a dozen highways were considered for construction.

On Aug. 10. 1910, Paterson's Morning Call newspaper reported that the original Route 46, then called Route 5, was to be built along 62 miles from Newark to the Delaware. Meanwhile, planners on both sides of the Hudson started mulling a fixed crossing. In 1919, they agreed to build the Holland Tunnel, and, in 1923, Swiss-born architect and engineer Othmar Ammann proposed a design that ultimately became the George Washington Bridge, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Both conduits have had a profound impact on North Jersey. They allow tens of millions of cars to pass back and forth between Manhattan and New Jersey. But when the bridge opened in October 1931, it dumped cars on woefully unprepared Jersey streets. There was no highway to carry them away.

The situation left "Bergen County holding the bag with possible criticism of not having the roads done on time," then-Bergen County Freeholder William R. Browne told The Record.

More on NJ highways: Here's when North Jersey's major highways were built and expanded

New Jersey answered the need for roadways

Officials had attempted to get ahead of the game. They knew the coming of the bridge required an expanded road system, and they renamed Route 5 to Route 6, as part of the program. However, at that time, large parts of Route 6 existed only on paper, including much of the stretch from Paterson to Fort Lee. That would change in 1930, when state officials proposed a $300 million road program, the Oct. 19, 1930, edition of The New York Times reported.

"A considerable part of which will be spent in providing adequate channels for the swelling tides of moto travel across the state and to and from Manhattan," the Times wrote. Coupled with Route 4 (yes, that one), Route 6 led to Teterboro and beyond.

Dozens of bridges were built to cross the Hackensack and Passaic rivers and numerous other waterways. In December 1937, the final span connected Clifton to Hasbrouck Heights. The steel and concrete bridge cost $346,000.

Changes were almost immediately needed. The Paterson bypass was soon proposed to skirt the congested Silk City. Drivers were making their way west to the cooler climes of the Northern Highlands and beyond to the Poconos.

Inns and cocktail lounges, like Hunter's Lodge and King Cole Grove, opened near the plentiful campgrounds by the Delaware. Touristy places, including the Cherokee Trading Post in 1939 and Hot Dog Johnny's in 1944, began popping up.

The Lodge, its owner noted, began to see celebrities show up. Baseball great Babe Ruth was among them. The Lodge's popularity with celebrities enjoyed a long run thanks to the Pocono resorts' gain in popularity after World War II. By the 1950s, the resorts attracted celebrities, including actor Kirk Douglas and the Rat Pack, which included Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop. The Lodge offered them respite on their travels.

"They'd come here because they would be treated like normal people," Rutherford said. "Jackie Gleason liked to fish here."

Route 6 becomes Route 46

In 1953, New Jersey vehicle registrations topped 1.8 million. The nation gained a transportation-minded president in Dwight Eisenhower and Route 6 got a new name, Route 46, and a new mission.

While an expanded interstate highway system had long been pondered, Eisenhower believed the U.S. Interstate Highway System was essential for national defense. In June 1956 he signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act, which authorized $25 billion for its construction over the next 13 years.

Route 80 was coming.

"When Route 80 came through, it had a profound effect on the number of trucks," former longtime Clifton Mayor Jim Anzaldi said. "They used to travel on Route 46. When Route 80 came through, most of that truck traffic switched over to the new highway. There still are trucks, but nothing like in the '50s and '60s before 80 was completed."

Some places suffered due to the loss of traffic.

Others, like the Cherokee Trading Post in Mount Olive, survived until 2016 in part because they evolved with the changes. Besides trinkets, it began to sell quality Western gear, making the Post a destination rather than a tourist trap. It was briefly occupied by a bed company but is currently vacant.

In the more crowded east, Route 46 has continued to thrive to the benefit of towns such as Totowa, Little Falls, Woodland Park and Clifton.

"Route 46 west between Woodland Park and Totowa is known as the 'Golden Mile,'" Totowa Mayor John Coiro said. "Very few vacancies. When one business leaves, another comes in."

With one of the highest-grossing Home Depot stores in the state — plus Applebee's, Marshalls, Total Wine, Aldi, Standard Tile, Sushi Lounge, Tesla and Lidl — Route 46 keeps Totowa's property taxes among the lowest in Passaic County, Coiro said.

But the highway, according to town officials, is no longer a through road for adventurers and dreamers. Drivers take Route 46 for practical purposes: to access commerce or get to other highways, including Route 3, which opened in September 1949.

A lot was lost along the way.

In February 1981, a highway crew that was removing brush in Fort Lee uncovered a 40-year-old sign bearing the highway's official name: United Spanish War Veterans Memorial Highway. By then, there were fewer than 100 veterans of that conflict remaining.

Like the highway, the sign was and is a wonderful anachronism.

Fun facts about Route 46

At about 74 miles long (75 miles on some maps), Route 46 takes roughly one hour and 50 minutes to traverse, according to Google Maps.

The trip brings drivers through the full diversity of New Jersey's modern human ecosystems. There are long stretches of tree-lined highway in Roxbury, Netcong and Oxford.

There are single-family homes fronting the road in parts of Mount Olive, Mine Hill and Ridgefield Park, and in Dover, Parsippany and Clifton, there's a wide array of businesses. Many have direct links to the transportation industry.

A rough visual survey of Route 46 shows slightly more than one gas station per mile. There are roughly 1.1 car dealerships per mile and 0.9 car repair shops per mile. Human maintenance is also huge for the highway. There are more than 2.8 restaurants per mile. That does not include about three dozen fast-food spots, two dozen delis and two dozen coffee shops along the length of the highway.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Route 46 has a history solidly rooted in New Jersey