Front Plate Required: Yes
Area Codes: 201, 551, 609, 732, 848, 856, 862, 908, 973
License Plates:
Windshield Stickers:
Road and Highway Signs:
County Roads:
Highways:
Highway Adoption:
None
Historical:
None
The central part of New Jersey is wooded or marshlands. In autumn and winter coverage, green junipers stand out agains the otherwise leafless trees. There are plenty of small towns scattered around the center, but most of the urbanized areas are toward the state's border.
Inland New Jersey
Marshlands
Passenger vehicles registered in New Jersey require a registration sticker and a pale yellow license plate on both front and back. Both of New Jersey's biggest cities are shared with neighboring states: Trenton is on the east side of Philadelphia, and Newark makes up the western end of New York City. Vehicles with either state license plate can be found on both sides of the state border. Another exception is state or muncipal vehicles, which have blue plates.
NJ Registration sticker
Yellow license plates
Blue muncipal plates
On state and county roads, mile markers and street name signs generally use a symbol instead of spelling out "state road" or "county road". Many of these roads have rumble strips down the middle, and all county roads are numbered between 500 and 799. County roads with numbers higher or lower than that range are not in New Jersey.
County road mile marker
US highway street sign
New Jersey uses a short arm pole for traffic signals, so look in intersections for these distinct structures that won't appear on the other side of the state border.
Short arm pole and horizontal light
Short arm pole and vertical light
Single arm variant
If you're near a filling station, check to see if an employee is pumping the gas. You will never see a person filling their own gas tank in New Jersey, but you will in Pennsylvania and New York. In more recent coverage, bridges have green markers, but either way, New Jersey will let you know which bridges are in their state as well as what year the bridge was built. Another unique sign is New Jersey's scenic byways, identified by the image of a canoe on a lake.
Employee pumping gas
Bridge marker and plaque
NJ Scenic Byway sign
Some of New Jersey's interstate highways are tolled, marked by EZ Pass tollbooths. The two major toll roads are The New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway. The New Jersey Turnpike runs from the southwest corner to Newark, and its sign is NTPJ inside a stretched hexagon. The Garden State Parkway runs the length of the eastern coast, and its sign includes an image of the state. Bollards aren't normally used on New Jersey interstate highways, but the toll roads do use them.
Toll road map
EZ Pass tollbooth
Expressway bollards
Garden State Parkway sign
New Jersey Turnpike sign
Sections of eastern Colorado also put the road symbol on street signs. Note the short arm pole and black background in the New Jersey design.
New Jersey
The EZ Pass is not unique, even to New England. It is used many different states, from Florida to Minnesota.
EZ Pass tollbooth
New Jersey is one of several states that uses a circle to mark state highways.
Thanks to I Necessitate A Visage for the info about blue muncipal plates.