Waterloo Valley Rd
Is Waterloo Valley Rd a public road the entire length? Is it safe to drive? I seem to remember that road being very hazardous.
DriverNot a good road to drive, daughter was on it the other day due to a detour and said it was terrible. It's always been that way.
Bessie It's public, just full of potholes from the quarry trucks.
I wouldn't call it dangerous, just slow because you basically weave your way down it around all of the obstacles.
Mark Mc. The trucks from Saxton Falls Sand and Gravel have destroyed this road over the years and Mt Olive will not repair it. The gravel place won't fix it either so the road is essentially impassable. The trucks all come in thru the south end now so they're probably destroying the bridge by Stephens State Park as well.
I would agree, not dangerous, but your car sure takes a beating and it's a very long drive, probably due to all the weaving you do.
It's not just bad road, to run it's entire length you'll really need an SUV. With a regular car you'll take a beating up and until the quarry section one way or the other. But from there it's not actually paved. You might maneuver it at the moment with all of the dry weather that might get you through.
People see that on a map as some quick way through to the ITC without knowing there's a big gotcha in the middle.
GC Funny, this post, because I accidentally ended up on that road last week....was trying to get over to 206....which I eventually did, but I had my doubts for awhile. Slow going, some of it. Came across a nice man on a motorcycle and asked him where the road would end up, and he said "How did you GET on this road??". Does that tell you anything ? :) FYI, it ends up in the Intl Trade Zone and I did get out to 206.
LVMomOfBoys It's great on a mountain bike as long as you have at a minimum a front shock absorber.
thehazguy I take the kids on it a couple of times a year because they think it's fun, but it is a rough ride.
Rich I used to love this road! When I worked at UPS I used to take this road home. I had a jeep at the time so it was like a fun off roading adventure lol.
Sunshine 
Bonv http://theweirdusmessageboard.yuku.com/topic/861/Waterloo-Valley-road#.T_iV7Wt5mSM
More info on the "weird" road. I'm intrigued!
Rebecka. Ha- Bonv I just watched Deliverance last night! I also just drove Waterloo Valley road end to end yesterday as well. It is passable but as GC pointed out a truck or SUV is the best option. I was in my truck for the ride and to top it off I had my Ipod playing Bluegrass as I drove along as I often do.
Greg Greg - You put bluegrass on and then watch Deliverance? Just what exactly does this say?? ;-)
I think that messageboard is a bit overreacting and misinformed. Places without 20,000 people per sq foot aren't creepy just because they are "desolate". ;-)
And what is with the perfectly paved section that runs next to rt 80? Almost like they were planning to make an exit there.
About 10 years ago, before all the dummies wore down the lines with the drag racing, and the weeds were cut back it looked like a major thoroughfare in the middle of nowhere.
Went down there tonight. Little junk on the sides, TV couch, etc. Caught a toad, saw several others and a frog.
alpha1beta that road is a rutted out piece of crap...and no one ever drag raced out there...and when there is heavy rain...certain sections of the road are flooded...at one time Waterloo Valley road connected through to Waterloo Village...but a bridge across the Musconetcong river was damaged in the early 70s...and then Rt 80 construction... cut the road off and made the road a loop...from what is now the ITC...through the Stephens State park area...terminating on Willow Grove Street...when you travel on Rt 80 heading west you can still make out the abandoned sections of Waterloo Valley Rd
oldman 
Wild Angel I use it twice a month from Hackettstown to Rt 206 and its fine. Never had any problems.
botheredbyu GC Greg isn't talking just desolate here, there are places back there where, if you listen hard, you can hear the banjos twanging.
Bothered, you must not be from the area. You are thinking of Waterloo/Willow Grove.
htownchik 
ucityfolks I took my kids down that road as a "shortcut" from the ITC when they were younger teens, having had one previous not-so-good experience and knowing what to expect. There used to be a creepy junkyard of a property (since cleaned-up) a ways down, and there was the usual assortment of debris and clothing scattered along the road.
I made up a story about some local hillbillies who ran the junkyard down the road and would flood the road and dig potholes so cars would get stranded. They would then come out of the woods to "assist" the stranded motorists, then kidnap them and sell their cars for parts. Oh, yeah - the people were never found because the hillbillies also happened to be cannibals.
It didn't take long before the decent section of the road ran out and we were fording the seasonal streams that crossed the road and dodging potholes. The kids got pretty nervous and started screaming for me to turn around.
At least they weren't bored that day...
jjmonth4 botheredbyu
Just curious why you would take Waterloo Valley Road to get from H'town to 206, rather than taking Waterloo Road itself? I mean if you want to take twice as long and give your chiropractor extra work sure, but otherwise - ???
Personally, I only take Waterloo Valley Road if Waterloo Road is closed due to a downed tree or accident, since I would rather go that way and reminisce about the roads I used to travel "for fun" back in my teens and 20's than to backtrack towards Hackettstown, then cut over to 517 via Bilby or down to 46 in order to get back home to the Hopatcong area.
Phil D. @PhilD. :) We have taken that road before, only if necessary, like when the Great Dane was missing last year, but the rutts in the road cannot be good for your car, unless you're looking for a fun ride as others have mentioned.
Oopss.... sorry Phil. Thought the thread was about Waterloo not Waterloo valley.
I turned down that road once, thinking it was a short cut to the trade zone. Boy was I wrong. It was unpaved and full of ruts. We didn't see a car for the entire length to the trade zone. All I could think of was you could dump a body in the woods there and no one would ever find it. It was very creepy!!!!
Tanya botheredbyu
LOL, that's OK, I've done the same thing before too.
Before the last several rebuild/repavings Waterloo Road itself wasn't quite as nice as it is now, although I don't remember a time when it was ever near as bad as Waterloo Valley Road, even when Waterloo Valley Road was in better shape. Too bad they took out the one passing zone that was on it (Waterloo Road, that is).
SO - Tanya and Bessie - why would thoughts of discarding bodies be on your mind???
;-)
@Phild..it's just so long, never any other cars. I've usually been there on weekends or early evening, no trucks on the road, just empty. The road goes on forever and all I can think is why would anyone knowingly be on this road. I'll be honest though, I think that thought about a lot of places in Warren and Sussex County, there are so many woods and regularly untraveled places. I know weird...maybe the fact that we watch all those murder shows contributes to this train of thought.
I used to work in the Trade Zone years ago and one time I took that road home and although it was bumpy and pretty much deserted, it wasnt at all scary. Too rough on the car, so just decided to take Rt 46 home after that.
BrownEyesGuy Bessie
I figured that was probably the reason, but thought I'd inject a bit of twisted humor into the mix. I mean with all the talk of banjo-playing and dead bodies being discarded perhaps that's where Jimmy Hoffa REALLY is buried:-D
I honed my driving skills on the backroads through the Weyerhauser pine forests in Coastal NC as well as on various backroads and mine roads there and in VA & WV as well. I also explored a lot of old strip mines and mining roads, etc. in PA & NJ while on the hunt for rock, mineral and fossil specimens.
It was definitely fun to do so, while not tearing up the car in the process so I enjoy driving a road like that once in a while, since it's more "off road" than your typical SUV driver ever gets. I laugh at some of the SUV drivers that encounter a slight bump in pavement and almost come to a full stop before slowly crawling up it like they're crawling up the back side of Half Dome. They must have been shifting into 4WD, then into Low-low HAHAHA!
htownchik - originally no, but have been out here over 20 years. I just wasnt thinking.
@PHilD..Jimmy Hoffa could be buried there..who would know. I love a back road as much as the next person, but ruts that you could lose a wheel in..I'll stay off of it if I can. Your description of the SUV going up the bump is pretty funny!
That used to be a nice, well maintained road back in the 1950s and 1960s. By the 1970s the sand and gravel trucks from saxton falls sand & gravel had started to take their toll on this country crown road. I'm guessing that a series of nasty ice storms have decimated much of the shady canopy which once shielded the road from the summer sun. The road was always fun for us as kids because of the "thank you ma'ams" and gentle humps that would cause butterflies in your stomach. There were a couple of quaint old farm houses along that road back 40 years ago.
I drove it the other day in a vehicle which supersedes four wheel drive...a rental car with full insurance. To those who have written that the condition of the road is deplorable; you are correct! It's beat to hell. The cool thing is that nature is taking it back.
"Life will find a way..." Dr. Ian Malcolm
Peter Tuohy "I drove it the other day in a vehicle which supersedes four wheel drive...a rental car with full insurance."
LMAO! That is classic.
That road has seen better days for sure....
The trucks from saxton falls do not travel out the way that the road is bad, they only travel from the pit to new Waterloo valley road, and that is the most maintained stretch of that road thanks to them.
I occasionally take a slow ride down that road as there is some nice views of the quarry lakes.
Darrin FYI.. I was down the stretch from the Trade zone behind Tilcon today and they have graded it rather nicely. I was able to cruise @ 20MPH and it looked like it continued smooth on past where I turned on Kennedy rd to go to Waterloo rd.
Have any of you seen the old railroad turntable pit and locomotive maintenance pit just off of waterloo valley rd? It's actually easy to get to. I'm not sure if it's private property but I doubt it. I believe it dates to the 1870s. There's a map that shows the relative position of the abandoned facilities on a website called "The Sussex Branch Memorial" which is hosted by a guy named Dave Rutan. It might be worth a look if you're interested.
OHH, i would totally like to go see that. Have you seen it? can you pm me and let me know how to get there?
Darrin:
How good of a job did the county do with the repaving of Waterloo Valley Rd?
Did they just dress the top with reprocessed asphalt or did they actually pave the road?
Or did they just fill in the potholes?
No paving, they just re graded the dirt that has been there to get the potholes out of it
I stumbled upon this site looking for information on my hunting clubs deer hunting zone. I have never traveled the full road. We always enter through Waterloo rd / willow grove, onto Waterloo valley road. Our hunting club is property across from Saxton falls sand and gravel. We have seen them regrade the road from their "Saxton Falls Sand and Gravel" sign to the actual gravel pit coming from Waterloo rd / willow grove. I have come into the sand and gravel pit through Kinney rd but from there to willow grove is the furthest I have gone. As far as the gravel trucks I watch them come in and out from Waterloo rd/ willow grove all the time about half a mile or so to the pits. My question is if I go north/east from Kinney rd towards the ITC does it get worse or is it like that pothole mess it is after passing the gravel pit and ponds? I'm just confused on which parts you guys are talking about see how there are so many roads named nearly the same. I would like to go up there one day and travel as much of it as I can to see what it's all like I have a big truck. Has anyone done the road from Kinney to the international rd? And I see you can head south just before getting to international and go on "old Waterloo rd" down past some power lines it looks like on the map. is that passable down to lazier?
Kyle Old Waterloo Road goes through the compost pile area (used to be great place to ride dirt bikes), but there's a gate at Camp Pulaski pond, so you can't get through.
The road isn't bad at all since the re-grading, you mentioned you have a truck? what are you worried about! I pass cars on it all the time
I've driven the whole length from International Dr to Waterloo Rd in an SUV, just because I was curious. Before the regrading. You can make it now, could have it made it then, just need to slow down at some points. And I wouldn't do it if you recently paid for an alignment.
hktownie Commenting is no longer available.