The entire length of US 130 follows a part of the Ocean Highway, a coastal highway that ran from New Brunswick south to Jacksonville, Florida. The stretch from New Brunswick to Robbinsville was signed as the Cranbury Trail, an alternative to the Lincoln Highway running from New Brunswick to Trenton. The current route was designated as portions of three state routes prior to 1927. In 1916, the road between the Camden area and Bordentown was legislated as part of pre-1927 Route 2 while the current US 130 north of Robbinsville was to become a part of pre-1927 Route 1. In addition, pre-1927 Route 17S was legislated to run from Penns Grove northeast to Westville in 1923; the only portion of road built ran from Pennsville south to Salem. When the U.S. Highway System was established in 1926, US 130 was designated to connect US 30 in Camden to US 1 in Trenton, following pre-1927 Route 2. In the 1927 renumbering a year later, the US 130 alignment was designated Route 25 from Camden to Bordentown, Route 39 from Bordentown to White Horse, and Route 37 from White Horse to Trenton.