A few years ago, a friend of mine from High School moved to Maplewood, NJ, which is located about 10 miles West of Newark, near I-78, NJ-24 (which SHOULD be, or at least connect with, I-278, but that's another story :) ). It is a relatively well-off area, surrounded by other generally affluent areas like Short Hills, and the somewhat less well-off, but certainly not impoverished, town of Millburn. One would then think, that in such an enclave, the local towns would want to / could afford to spend the (generally) token sums needed to post County route markers *where a county road diverges from the main road*. (I'm not even asking for "reassurance" markers every mile or so, I mean a sign to indicate that a given County Route makes a left or a right off of the main route so that you can actually *follow* it properly!) After visiting Maplewood a few times, oftentimes I tried to get back home by following CTY-577 and at other times via CTY-527, both of which are essentially N/S county routes which run between I-280 and I-78 (and indeed, CTY-527 is a very long route, posted, from what I can tell, at over 65 miles, and until I get a *decent* map which shows all the county routes [many do a VERY poor job at this], I'll assume that CTY-527 goes south/(west?) beyond New Brunswick but I lost it there and just gave up!). However, each time I tried to follow them, I would always get lost in Millburn, which borders Maplewood in a "triangle" demarcated by CTY-527 to the "west", CTY-577 to the "east", and I-78/NY-124 to the south. Seeing how CTY-527 is well marked north of Millburn (at least to I-280) and well marked from New Providence south (where it is a 50 mph road which parallels I-78 [does the "animal bridge" over I-78 just dump all the animals into CTY-527?], I always wondered why I was never able to follow it from Livingston (where it hits NJ-10 and goes up to JCT I-280) all the way south to US-22 (or even I-287 further to the south). So I decided to follow it all the way and finally figure it out. After about 5 trips through Millburn, which is where CTY-527 and CTY-577 go through and come close to each other [do they technically multiplex?] I've come to the conclusion that Millburn is just totally messed up sign-wise so much so that any motorist who doesn't live there will not be able to follow EITHER CTY-527 or CTY-577 *through* Millburn. (Do they want the through traffic to get stuck there and settle down? :) ) If you take CTY-527 south from I-280, when you get to Millburn you cross under the NJT RR tracks, and get to 'JCT' CTY-577 (near the Charlie Brown's restaurant). There is a county sign indicating that CTY-577W is to the right (CTY-577 splits up in Millburn; the westbound section is one block north of the eastbound section, both on one-way roads; it is otherwise the same road). So as you come south on CTY-527 into Millburn, you see a sign which essentially says "If you want County Route 577 west, make a right" and you figure "Well, I want CTY-527 so I'll continue straight." In fact, I think the sign is plain wrong. If you want to go continue on County 527, you NEED to make the right, and follow it (there is a CTY-527 "reassurance sign" after the police station) even though the signs indicate that making a right puts you on CTY-577 (which it does not; from what I can tell CTY-577 is straight ahead). Then, assuming you figure that out, you follow CTY-527 till it gets to NJ-124, and you are required to make a right (both lanes) and are placed onto NJ-124 West. "Fine" you think, CTY-527 is multiplexed with NJ-124. If you look to your left as you drive west on NJ-124, there is even a CTY-527 marker (intended for northbound CTY-527 drivers but you can still see it) and you think "OK, great, so they will tell me when I have to break off to continue on CTY-527". Nope -- there is NO SIGN AT ALL! There is a sign for CTY-512 (one of the even E/W [508, 510, 512] roads heading through the "I-78 hills" which probably served commuters before I-78 was finally built there; it's actually a pretty long and interesting road in and of itself) heading west, but NOTHING for CTY-527. (Northbound drivers are more fortunate; CTY-527 is well posted as you approach and then cross over NJ-124 and head into Millburn; I can't recall if the LEFT turn from NB CTY-527 posted in Millburn so you can turn up the "Charlie Brown's" road and go under the RR tracks and continue north on CTY-527 or if it too is misposted and you get routed onto CTY-577 N instead.) So assuming you make it through downtown Millburn on dumb luck and manage to follow SB CTY-527 all the way to NJ-124 near Short Hills, nothing will ever tell you that CTY-527 continues south of NJ-124 and I don't see how any SB motorist could ever find it (without driving north on it first, and even then it is not obvious due to the cumbersome interchanges necessitated by NJ-24 and I-78). (BTW, the way to do it is to make a left where it says CTY-512, and then take the Jersey-U (all turns right) exit, stay in the left lane, get on a ramp which appears to be I-78, but will also dump you to CTY-527 S. You can also go strainght from the Jersey-U light and hit CTY-527 in a few blocks at a 90 degree angle, where you will make a right.) OK, so let's say you're crazy enough to figure this out, you've still got a few more "traps". As you head down CTY-527, the road goes up a somewhat steep hill, but CTY-527 breaks off to the left and heads down towards I-78 and US-22. There is no *visible* sign for this; the sign has apparently been rotated counter-clockwise so motorists on CTY-527S will not see it and will just continue straight (and hit CTY-512 again if the continue up the road). Essentially, the sign no longer tells SB drivers they need to make a left...and more perniciously, due to the way it is rotated, it tells NB drivers that they need to make a LEFT to follow CTY-527, which is wrong (if they do they will head up the hill to CTY-512), since they need to make a right to follow CTY-527 all the way to Millburn and north. OK, so let's say you get by that; a few feet down you get to a fork in CTY-527, and you are presented with another set of signs; one says something like "I-78E" and points to the left and the other saying "I-78W/US-22" and points right. (I'm not sure about this; I was WAY to disgusted at this point to care about any signs other than CTY-527!). Fortunately, I drove N on CTY-527 previously, and knew to take the right fork (and a reassurance sign confirms this about .5 miles down), but again, this is SO mis-signed that anyone who didn't put the time into it would have no idea which way to go. CTY-527 is pretty well signed further down (especially at a rotary with other CTY routes), all the way to US-22. South of US-22, it gets to some town (can't recall the name) where the signage drops, and you have to guess at it again. At JCT CTY-533 (I think there is a CTY-533 and a CTY-533 BYPASS since I've been on CTY-533 where the A&P and Arbys is and it was a much larger road, but both roads seemed like they went through similar areas), you make a left at the light, go through the town for a bit, and then at the fork make a right, go under the RR tracks, and continue south on CTY-527, all the way to New Brunswick where it hits NJ-27 (the "old" US-1?) at the New Brunswick RR Station. (Does it continue from there? No signage, of course, to say "END CTY-527" or anything else to tell you what happens to it.) CTY-577 is also lost in Milburn, and at the Charlie Brown's it appears that southbound traffic is directed onto CTY-527S by the poor signage (there is a sign pointing to CTY-527N near the RR station parking lot on CTY-577W (I believe it is marked E/W there even though 577 is N/S; this seems pretty common in NJ, just like some signs along US-1 in CT are "E/W" even though it is obviously a N/S route) but nothing else to indicate that you need to make a left at the Charlie Brown's to keep going on CTY-577 and head south to JCT NJ-124 and NJ-82. NB on CTY-577 is also a mess, and you can come West on NJ-124, see the signs for CTY-577N, follow them, and end up in front of a Home Depot on NJ-124 and completely miss Millburn and CTY-577N. (If so, go to the Mobile/Exxon/Amoco station corner [which comes off of I-78], make a left, and follow the road till you see the CTY-630/CTY-577 signs (Exxon on right) and you will be back on CTY-577. Make a RIGHT after the Whole Foods market for CTY-577N, otherwise you'll be on CTY-577S and head right back into Millburn and back to NJ-124!. Note that the JCT CTY-577 is not signed "N" or "S", just that it makes a right at the Whole Earth markets. It is left as an exercise for the way-too-weary driver to figure out which way is which ;( ) Overall I understand that these are mainly loca If the towns on the "I-78 hills" in the swath of mountains sandwiched between I-78 and US-22 (the ones who held up I-78 for so long) can properly post and sign CTY-527 and not have it become such an intrusion into their relatively affluent, privacy-coveting communities, somewhat less affluent places and/or those with actual "downtowns" like Millburn which attract significantly more traffic should also be able to post accurate and informative signage for the benefit of their taxpayers and the motoring public in general. Regards, Doug d1@interpage.net Interpage(TM) Network Services Inc. / http://www.interpage.net "Just a minute -- I have another little friend who would like to eat -- err MEET you..."