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| Namesake | Former community along road |
| Maintained by | West Milford Township |
| Length | 9.3 mi (15.0 km)[1] |
| Location | West Milford, New Jersey, USA |
| Coordinates | 41°03′15″N 74°27′08″W / 41.054275°N 74.452189°W |
| South end |  Route 23 in West Milford |
| North end | Warwick Turnpike in West Milford |
| Construction | |
| Completion | 1700s |
| Other | |
| Known for | Legends of paranormal activity |
Clinton Road is located in West Milford, Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. It runs in a generally north–south direction, beginning at Route 23 near Newfoundland and running roughly 10 mi (16 km) to its northern terminus at Upper Greenwood Lake.
The road and the land around it have gained notoriety over the years as an area rife with many legends of paranormal occurrences such as sightings of ghosts, strange creatures, and gatherings of witches, Satanists, and the Ku Klux Klan. It is also rumored that professional killers dispose of bodies in the surrounding woods—with one recorded case of this occurring.[2] It has been a regular subject of discussion in Weird NJ magazine, which once devoted an entire issue to it. In the words of a local police chief, "It's a long, desolate stretch and makes the imagination go nuts."[3]
There are very few houses along the road and much of the adjoining property is undeveloped publicly owned woodlands (either City of Newark watershed or state forest) and the road itself is a narrow two-lane highway that receives little maintenance, is not part of New Jersey's county route system and was until fairly recently unpaved for some of its length, connecting two areas of minimal population and growth and thus having little traffic even at the busiest times of day.
It is also notorious for having the country's longest traffic light wait.[4] This occurs at a double intersection where Route 23 crosses the road. The two lights can cause motorists to wait for 5 minutes in total. The lengthy wait was a result of traffic planners giving increased priority to Route 23 to reduce backups during rush hour.[5]
- ^ "Directions from Paterson Hamburg Turnpike to 506 Warwick Turnpike". Google Maps. Retrieved October 22, 2014.
- ^ Moran, Mark and Sceurman, Mark; Weird NJ: Your Travel Guide to New Jersey's Local Legends and Best-Kept Secrets; Barnes & Noble Books, New York, New York, 2003, p. 206
- ^ Justo Bautista & Maia Davis (August 13, 1998), Haunted-House Nightmare -- Rumors Bring Visitors Who Make New Jersey Family's Life Miserable, Hackensack Record reprinted in The Seattle Times.
- ^ Caren Chesler (June 24, 2001), "On the Road; The Longest Light", The New York Times.
- ^ Frassinelli, Mike (June 14, 2010), "N.J. motorists continue to be frustrated by 'nation's longest traffic light'", The Star-Ledger