Since July, four crashes have killed five people on Route 55 in South Jersey, a 40-mile freeway that runs from Cumberland County up to the Route 42 entrance in Deptford. Assemblyman William Moen, a Democrat, and eight other politicians have written to the state Department of Transportation asking it to examine how the road’s design could have contributed to the deaths.
Moen said a social media post he made about the highway reached about 200,000 people, more than any post in his decade as an elected official. “There’s always that question of, ‘Could there be things that are being used on other highways that the state operates that simply aren’t in place on Route 55?’” he said.
What the numbers show
The Philadelphia Inquirer analyzed about 330 fatal crashes on South Jersey’s limited-access highways between 2019 and July 2026, using NJDOT data. They killed more than 360 people. Seven corridors stood out, each with four or more deaths.
The worst is the interchange where I-76 meets Route 42 and I-295 in Camden County. I-76 there is five lanes wide in each direction and only three miles long, yet every mile has had fatalities. Ten fatal crashes happened within one 1.3-mile stretch, more than on any other segment. The mile of I-295 leading into the I-76 merge has had four deaths.
Chris Pollard of the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission said merges, congestion and sharp bends make roads like I-76 deadlier. “It’s often based on the geography of the road,” he said.
The analysis found distracted driving played a part in nearly half of the fatal crashes, contributing to more than 140 deaths. Alcohol was a factor in more than 75 fatal accidents.
Other hot spots:
A mile of I-295 in Oldmans Township, Salem County, had seven fatal crashes. A half-mile of the New Jersey Turnpike in Mount Laurel Township, Burlington County, had four, as did a 0.6-mile stretch of I-676 before the Ben Franklin Bridge.
Route 55 is a different case
Route 55 is only two lanes and has few, if any, sharp bends. Even so, 46 people died on it between 2019 and this July. One 0.64-mile segment near Mantua Township, Gloucester County, has had four fatal crashes in recent years, including a wrong-way crash in July that killed a Bridgeton resident.
NJDOT spokesperson Steve Schapiro said the department is in talks with legislators to “identify safety improvements needed along the corridor.” Miranda Toner, Moen’s spokesperson, said the assemblyman has been briefed and has received an official letter from the department outlining plans for the route.
The state’s high-injury list
In January 2025 the legislature approved the New Jersey Target Zero Commission, created to eliminate all traffic fatalities and serious injuries on public roads by 2040. The law requires NJDOT to track fatal crash data through a High-Injury Network, which flags one-mile segments with seven or more fatal or serious-injury crashes between 2021 and 2023. No part of Route 55 is on it. Various miles in Camden, Gloucester, Burlington and Cumberland counties are.
The map updates every three years, so recent crashes will not appear until 2028. Schapiro said 90 percent of the 88 state-maintained segments on the network are undergoing projects now, and the rest will get safety work too.
