By Larry Higgs | NJ Advance Media

Some of the state’s deadliest highways last year weren't among the busiest roads, and drivers might not expect them to have such a high death toll.

Some busy interstate highways that made the 2015 list had a lower death toll in 2016. Replacing them in some cases were smaller state highways in rural counties, or those ladened with side streets and driveways that complicate traffic patterns.

This year’s list of the state's deadliest highways, compiled from state Department of Transportation and State Police crash statistics contains repeat offenders from 2015 as well as a few surprises that may make drivers be a little more cautious.

Over all, highway deaths increased in 2016, which experts blamed on more traffic.

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A truck is engulfed in flames on Route 73 near the Atlantic City Expressway on Route 73 on March 13, 2017. (Bill Duhart | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

19. Route 73

Route 73, which runs from Atlantic County to the Delaware River in Camden County, had five fatalities in 2016. They include a pedestrian who was killed on July 26 while crossing the highway in Maple Shade and a three-vehicle collision that killed a motorcycle driver in Winslow Township on July 4. In 2015, three people were killed on the highway.

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Police investigate a fatal collision on Route 22 in Bridgewater which killed two pedestrians on August 25, 2016 after a 2004 Toyota Sienna struck a 29-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman walking in the left lane of Route 22 west. (Robert Sciarrino | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

18. Route 22 (Tie)

Route 22 tied with four other state highways that had six fatalities each in 2016. In 2015, there were seven fatalities on Route 22 and the state DOT is conducting a study of how to improve part of the highway.

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Larry Higgs | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

18. Route 35 (tie)

Route 35 tied with four other state highways with six fatalities in 2016. Among those killed was a 26-year-old man who was hit by a car while crossing the highway in Brielle on Aug. 22, 2016. The highway had three fatalities in 2015.

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Michael Mancuso for Nj.com

18. Route 206 (Tie)

Route 206 tied with four other state highways with six fatalities in 2016, One of the worst crashes was a head-on collision on Feb. 26, 2016 in Mount Olive which killed a woman who was a passenger in a car that collided with an oncoming vehicle. There were three fatalities on the highway in 2015.

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18. Route 322 (Tie)

Route 322 tied with four other state highways with six fatalities in 2016. In 2015 there were no fatalities on the highway. Among the fatalities was a June 29, 2016 crash, which claimed the life of a man after his motorcycle collided with a bus in Hamilton Township.

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Michelle Caffrey | For NJ.com photo

14. Route 130

An informal memorial appeared at the location on Route 130 where Antwan L. Timbers Jr., 16, of Burlington City, was killed on May 22, 2016 by a alleged hit-and-run driver, who later turned himself in to authorities. Route 130 tied with four other state highways with eight fatalities in 2016. In 2015, Route 130 had 12 fatalities.

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13. Route 47 (tie)

Route 47 tied with four other state highways that had eight fatalities each in 2016, according to state DOT statistics. Last year there were six fatalities on the highway, which runs from Cape May County to Route 130 in Camden County.

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Firefighters at the scene of a dump truck that flipped over and blocked Route 295. (Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

13. Route 295 (Tie)

Route 295 had eight fatalities last year, tying it with two other highways. In 2015, there were five people killed on the highway. Officials are hoping that the eventual completion of a project to improve the junction between Routes 295, 76 and 42 will help reduce the number of crashes.

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Police investigate the scene of a four car, fatal crash on Route 70 in the Whiting section of the township, which claimed the life of a 21-year-old Burlington County man on April 15, 2016. (Manchester Police photo)

11. Route 70

Route 70 had nine fatalities in 2016, according to state DOT statistics. In 2015, there were two people killed on the highway.

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Linden police investigate the scene of an August 24 collision that killed a woman who was crossing Route 27. (Tom Haydon | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

10. Route 27 (Tie)

Route 27 tied with one other state highway that had 10 fatalities each in 2016, according to state DOT statistics. In 2015, there were six people killed on Route 27.

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A tractor-trailer burns after it crashed into a bridge abutment on Route 78 in Tewksbury Township on July 14, 2016. The crash killed the truck driver and closed the highway for six hours. (Rich Maxwell for NJ.com)

10. Route 78 (Tie)

Route 78 tied with Route 27 with 10 fatalities in 2016. In 2015, nine people died on the highway. In eight months last year, six people died in crashes on a 30-mile section of the Interstate between the Pennsylvania border and Interstate 287 in Somerset County.

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Noah Addis for NJ.com

8. Route 80 (Tie)

Route 80 tied with three other highways that had 11 fatalities each in 2016, according to state DOT statistics. The highway saw an increase from nine fatalities in 2015.

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Flowers and mementos are left at a memorial on Route 49 in Maurice Township where two Bridgeton High School teenagers died in May 16, 2016 crash after their Bridgeton High School prom. (Brittany Wehner | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

8. Route 49 (Tie)

Route 49 tied with three other state highways that had 11 fatalities each in 2016. In 2015, seven people lost their lives on the highway.

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Cara McCollum, Miss New Jersey 2013, stands on top of her parade float before the annual Miss New Jersey Parade in 2014 in Atlantic City. McCollum died from injuries received in a Feb. 16, 2016 crash after her car ran off Route 55 in Pittsgrove. (NJ.com file photo)

8. Route 55 (Tie)

Route 55 tied with three other state highways that had 11 fatalities each in 2016. That's an increase from seven fatalities in 2015.

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Traffic passes the scene of a fatal crash on Route 1 in Linden between a motorcycle and a truck that killed a 39-year-old Elizabeth man on May 16, 2016.

8. Route 1 (Tie)

Route 1 tied with three other state highways that had 11 fatalities each in 2016. In 2015, seven people were killed on the highway.

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Three people were killed and two seriously injured in a March 15, 2016 two-vehicle crash on Route 9 in Old Bridge, which closed the highway for hours. (John O'Boyle | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

4. Route 9

Route 9 had 15 fatalities in 2016, according to state DOT statistics. There were 14 deaths on the highway in 2015.

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Michael Mancuso for NJ.com

3. Route 30

Route 30, also know as the White Horse Pike in some places, had 18 fatalities in 2016, according to state DOT statistics. In 2015, 12 people lost their lives on Route 30.

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Firefighters work on a crash that occurred at Exit 14C on the New Jersey Turnpike Hudson County extension in Jersey City where a father and his five-year old daughter died after their car was struck from behind on Feb. 24, 2016 by a Mercedes and pushed into the rear of a van in the toll plaza. (Michael Dempsey | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

2. New Jersey Turnpike

The Turnpike had 21 fatalities in 2016, according to State Police statistics. In 2015, the Turnpike had 18 deaths.

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Larry Higgs | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

1. Garden State Parkway

The Garden State Parkway had the most fatal crashes of any highway in the state in 2016 with 32 deaths in 2016, compared to 10 people killed in 2015, according to State Police statistics. The worst crash happened on July 1, 2016 when two people were killed and 12 injured, four of them seriously, in Holmdel after a northbound passenger van spun out, and hit a guardrail and an overpass abutment.

A man riding in the van was ejected and hit by the van and a female passenger died at the scene of the crash.

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Larry Higgs | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Read more about highway safety:

The deadliest N.J. roads in 2015.

Fatal crashes piling up on this stretch of Route 78.



Traffic fatalities soared in 2016.



See the location of every fatal crash on the Garden State Parkway in 2016.