County Route 663 | ||||
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Central Avenue | ||||
Route information | ||||
Length: | 1.60 mi (2.57 km) | |||
Major junctions | ||||
South end: | CR 644 in Jersey City | |||
NJ 139 in Jersey City | ||||
North end: | CR 681 in Jersey City | |||
Highway system | ||||
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Central Avenue in Jersey City Heights is the main commercial thoroughfare for that section of Jersey City, New Jersey, USA, and is designated County Route 663 for 1.60-mile (2.57 km) of its length. It runs just north of Newark Avenue near Five Corners to Paterson Plank Road near Transfer Station. The avenue continues north through Union City without the county route designation to 35th Street (CR 674), two blocks norrth of Hackensack Plank Road.
Central Avenue was the "Main Street" of Hudson City, one of the municipalities which elected to join Jersey City in a referendum held in 1863. The avenue begins at what had been the southern border of the town that is now near the county seat of Hudson County and the historic Hudson County Courthouse. Travelling north it almost immediately passes over three man-made ravines, or "cuts" through the part of the Hudson Palisades called Bergen Hill. The now-unused Bergen Arches and the single track Long Dock Tunnel were created for railroads, while the The Depressed Highway (the bridge over which was replaced in 2017) was created to allow traffic to by-pass local roads while travelling between the Holland Tunnel and the Pulaski Skyway. In July 2012, the Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders passed a resolution to extend the avenue between Hoboken Avenue and Newark Avenue and are considering acquiring property to do so.