 By 1927, what is now Route 54 was an unnumbered, unpaved road connecting Buena to Hammonton. Route 54 was legislated in 1938 to run from US 30 / Route 43 and US 206 / Route 39 in Hammonton south along Lincoln Avenue to an intersection with Main Road in Landis Township, Cumberland County (now a part of Vineland). The only portion of Route 54 that was taken over as a state highway was north of the US 40 / Route 48 intersection in Buena. The portion of Lincoln Avenue south of US 40 remained a county route called CR 25 in Cumberland County and CR 55 and CR 19 in Atlantic County. This road is presently both Cumberland and Atlantic CRs 655 and a part of Atlantic CR 619. In the 1953 New Jersey state highway renumbering, Route 54 was defined onto its current alignment between US 40 in Buena Vista and US 30 / US 206 in Hammonton. In the late 1960s, a freeway was proposed for the US 206 / Route 54 corridor, running from US 30 in Hammonton south to Route 55 and the proposed Route 60 near Vineland and Millville. The freeway between Vineland / Millville and Hammonton was to cost $ 47 million and was intended to provide a better route between the two areas than the existing two-lane roads. This proposed freeway was never built due to environmental and financial issues.
