Route 130 in Burlington County has become synonymous with danger, especially for pedestrians. The 23-mile stretch is a wide, high-speed corridor often lacking basic pedestrian infrastructure like continuous sidewalks, crosswalks, or refuge islands. Safety advocates and transportation researchers have repeatedly ranked it the most dangerous road for pedestrians in New Jersey. Since 2009, at least 16 people on foot have died trying to cross or walk along Route 130.
Unlike urban roads designed with multiple user types in mind, Route 130 was built for speed and car volume. It has multiple lanes, inconsistent pedestrian signals, and long crossing distances. Pedestrians often have to wait for long gaps in fast-moving traffic to cross, even at marked intersections. The New Jersey Bike & Walk Coalition has highlighted how simple safety fixes like reducing speed limits, adding visible crosswalks and completing sidewalk networks remain largely absent. This is not due to a lack of solutions but rather decades of political inertia.
Small Improvements, Slow Progress
Through years of advocacy, Route 130 has seen incremental safety improvements. In 2016, the state passed “Antwan’s Law,” named after a Burlington City teen killed while crossing near his high school. The law reduced speed limits in school zones and required flashing signs near the School.
Local lawmakers have pushed for more stringent penalties and targeted safety funds for dangerous state roads like Route 130. Law enforcement has periodically increased speed enforcement, but these efforts address symptoms rather than root causes.
In 2018, NJDOT funded a 3.5 million dollar overhaul of the five-legged intersection at Route 130, Columbus Road, and Jones Street. The project added ADA-compliant ramps and new pedestrian crossing signals. More recently, Burlington County secured funding to extend the Rancocas Creek Greenway Trail across Route 130 between Pennington Park and Rainbow Meadow Park. The 19 million dollar plan includes a new pedestrian and bike bridge over the highway and safer at-grade crossings. Senator Troy Singleton, a long-time advocate for Route 130 improvements, has called this project the county’s highest safety priority. However, the project is still in the planning and design phase and is expected to remain there for several more years.
What Still Needs to Change and Why It Hasn’t
Despite isolated upgrades, Route 130 continues to lack comprehensive safety infrastructure. Advocates have laid out a clear set of needed improvements:
- Lower speed limits on commercial stretches between towns like Cinnaminson and Willingboro
- High-visibility crosswalks and HAWK pedestrian signals at unsignalized crossings
- Median refuge islands to help pedestrians cross in two stages
- Sidewalk extensions to close dangerous gaps
- Bike lanes or shared-use paths to safely connect bus stops and local businesses
These are fundamentals of safe street design, delayed not by difficulty but by red tape, tight budgets, and decades of car-first thinking. Pedestrian safety has paid the price.
A Vision Zero Future
In 2025, New Jersey took a major step by adopting a statewide Vision Zero strategy. Governor Murphy signed legislation establishing a 13-member Target Zero Commission tasked with eliminating traffic fatalities by 2040. The commission was created in response to alarming trends: in 2024, the state saw a 14 percent rise in total traffic deaths and a 32 percent increase in pedestrian fatalities.
The commission’s draft plan outlines 29 recommended laws and dozens of agency actions, all aligned with the “safe system” approach, a model that assumes human error will happen and seeks to design roads that prevent those errors from resulting in deaths. The plan identifies 140 high-injury corridors statewide that require redesign.
Burlington County is already using a 400,000 dollar federal “Safe Streets for All” grant to map high-risk areas and plan safety improvements, with Route 130 near the top of the list. Transportation officials believe that Vision Zero’s emphasis on systemic change rather than isolated fixes will finally give Route 130 the attention and funding it needs.
From Painful Legacy to Safer Future
Route 130 illustrates how outdated roadway design and bureaucratic delays can lead to decades of preventable deaths. For too long, political hesitation and fragmented responsibility have blocked commonsense safety upgrades. But New Jersey’s new Vision Zero framework offers a hopeful turning point. If the state commits to redesigning its most dangerous corridors, Route 130 could become a model of transformation.
Sources
Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission. Transportation Improvement Program actions for New Jersey (Board meeting minutes, March 22, 2018).
Hayes, M. Governor Murphy Signs Legislation Creating Target Zero Commission. NJTPA
New Jersey Governor’s Office. Governor Murphy Signs Legislation Creating Target Zero Commission. NJ.gov
New Jersey Bike & Walk Coalition. Empathy and Equity: Solving the Route 130 Pedestrian Crisis. NJBWC
Safe Routes New Jersey (Rutgers). Students Take the Lead as Governor Murphy Signs New Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety. Safe Routes NJ.
Singleton, T. Route 130 Tops ‘Most Dangerous’ List for Fifth Consecutive Year troysingleton.comtroysingleton.com (TroySingleton.com).
Singleton, T. Route 130 Safety Study Could Give Burlington County Leverage to Fix Road troysingleton.comtroysingleton.com (TroySingleton.com).
Burlington County Board of Commissioners. Burlington County Receives $400,000 Grant to Identify Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Improvements co.burlington.nj.us.
Burlington County Board of Commissioners. New Burlington County Trail Project Will Create Pedestrian-Friendly Crossing on Route 130 co.burlington.nj.usco.burlington.nj.us.
