Interstate 78 in New Jersey

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Main article: Interstate 78

Interstate 78
Main route of the Interstate Highway System

Length:

67.83 mi^[1] (109.16 km)

West end:

Interstate 78 Toll Bridge in Phillipsburg

Major
junctions:

NJ 31 in Clinton

US 22 in Pohatcong Twp

I-287 in Bedminster Twp

NJ 24 in Springfield
GSP in Union/Hillside

US 1/9 in Newark

I-95/NJTP in Newark

NJ 139 in Jersey City

East end:

Holland Tunnel in Jersey City

New Jersey State Highway Routes
< NJ 77		NJ 79 >

Interstate 78 is an east-west route stretching from Union Township, Pennsylvania to New York City. In New Jersey, I-78 is called the Phillipsburg-Newark Expressway and the Newark Bay Extension. Interstate 78 runs for 66 miles (106 km) in the state of New Jersey from the Interstate 78 Toll Bridge at the Pennsylvania state line to Holland Tunnel at the New York state line. I-78 continues in Manhattan for less than a mile.

1 Route description
2 Exit list
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Route description

Major cities Bolded cities are officially-designated control cities for signs
Phillipsburg Clinton Springfield Newark Jersey City New York City

The westernmost section of Interstate 78 in New Jersey was constructed in the 1990s, after a more northerly alignment along present day U.S. Route 22 was rejected by community opposition. The new alignment ends at Exit 3 in New Jersey, where US 22 rejoins I-78. The section from Exit 3 to Exit 13, west of Clinton, was built c. 1960. This section runs along Musconetcong Mountain with a summit near milepost 10; the west slope features an automatic deicing spray.^[2] From Exit 13 to Exit 15, old US 22 was upgraded on the spot, and Route 173 joins I-78 and US 22 for a concurrency. I-78 and US 22 continue east concurrently south of Clinton and Annandale to Exit 18.

At Exit 18, US 22 splits onto a four-lane surface highway, while I-78 continues roughly parallel. Exit 29, a complicated interchange at Interstate 287, provides access to other areas of northeast New Jersey. This section of freeway, completed c. 1970, continues to Exit 41, a local exit for Drift Road in Watchung. The section from Drift Road to Route 24 (Exit 48) in Springfield Township was delayed because of environmental impacts to the Watchung Reservation. That section, opened in 1985 and 1986, was redesigned to allow construction to proceed. Extra land was added to the Nike Site Road overpass (milepost 45.74) and a separate land bridge at milepost 46.18 was built to allow for animal migration. These land bridges were later scorned by local communities for the amount of deer (and the resulting damage to flora on private property) that moved into the neighboring towns of Summit, New Providence and Berkeley Heights. The road was also designed to use a narrower right-of-way with no median strip and just a Jersey barrier dividing the highway.

At Route 24, I-78 divides into local and express lanes. There is currently a project underway to rebuild the highway between Route 24 and the Garden State Parkway. As part of this project, the express lanes had been closed until November 2006, and work on the local lanes is expected to begin in March 2007.^[3] In this section of the highway, most access is via the local lanes, though Exit 49 (Route 124) includes a direct westbound onramp to the express lanes. Exit 56, which provides local access to Irvine Turner Boulevard in southwestern Newark, is a large semi-directional T interchange with full access to the local and express lanes. The interchange was built as the south end of the never-built Route 75, which would have connected to Interstate 280 (where unused ramps were also built) and Route 21.

The final interchange on the free part of I-78 is the massive complex at the Newark Airport, called the Newark Airport Interchange, with ramps to and from U.S. Route 1/9, U.S. Route 22, Route 21, and many local roads. Several ramps provide access to the express lanes. Just to the east, the local and express lanes rejoin at the toll gate for the New Jersey Turnpike. An interchange just beyond the toll booth provides full access to Interstate 95, the main line of the Turnpike; I-78 then rises onto the Newark Bay Bridge into Bayonne. Exits 14A and 14B, numbered as part of the New Jersey Turnpike, provide local access to Bayonne and Jersey City, and Exit 14C is the number given to the toll plaza at the end of the turnpike extension. After the toll plaza, there is a recently built exit for a Hudson-Bergen Light Rail park and ride. Then after an exit for Grand and Montgomery Streets, I-78 heads down to surface level and merges with the Route 139 freeway. I-78 and Route 139 head east along 12th Street (eastbound) and 14th Street (westbound) in downtown Jersey City, running through four traffic signals (in violation of Interstate standards) before heading into the Holland Tunnel (tolled eastbound) under the Hudson River into New York City.

The freeway like many other interstates in New Jersey once had solar powered emergency call boxes every 1.0 mile, however with the advent of cell phones the usage of these call boxes became extremely limited. So to save on maintenance costs the NJDOT removed these call boxes in 2005, and with difficulty replacing parts, they are disappearing from many other freeways such as I-195, I-280, I-295, I-80, NJ 55, NJ 208. [1] [2]

[edit] Exit list

County	Location	Mile	#	Destinations	Notes
Warren	Phillipsburg	0.00	Pennsylvania state line. I-78 continues into Pennsylvania on the Interstate 78 Toll Bridge.
	Greenwich Twp	3.94	3	US 22 west, NJ 122 – Phillipsburg, Alpha
		Western terminus of I-78/ US 22 concurrency.
		5.48	4	CR 637 – Warren Glen, Stewartsville	Westbound exit, eastbound entrance.
	Franklin Twp	7.03	6	Warren Glen, Asbury	Eastbound exit, westbound entrance.
Hunterdon	Boro of Bloomsbury	7.46	7	NJ 173 – West Portal, Bloomsbury
	Union Twp	11.76	11	NJ 173 – West Portal, Pattenburg
		13.42	12	NJ 173 – Jutland, Norton
		15.01 15.07	13	NJ 173 west	Westbound exit, eastbound entrance.
	Franklin Township	16.06	15	NJ 173 east, CR 513 – Clinton, Pittstown
	Clinton Twp	17.32	16	To NJ 31 north – Washington	Eastbound exit, westbound entrance.
		17.60 17.87	17	NJ 31 – Washington, Flemington, Clinton, Trenton	Access from I-78 eastbound to/from NJ 31 southbound and I-78 westbound to/from NJ 31 northbound only.
		Eastern terminus of I-78/ US 22 concurrency.
		18.34 18.83	18	US 22 east – Annandale, Lebanon
	Boro of Lebanon	20.78	20	Cokesbury, Lebanon, Round Valley Rec. Area	Westbound exit, eastbound entrance.
	Tewksbury Twp	25.03	24	CR 523 to CR 517 – Oldwick, Whitehouse
Somerset	Bedminster Twp	27.11	26	CR 665 – Lamington, North Branch	CR 665 was formerly CR 523 Spur.
	Bedminster Twp	30.80 30.87	30	I-287 to US 202, US 206, I-80 – Morristown, Somerville
	Warren Twp	34.58	33	CR 525 – Bernardsville, Martinsville
		37.39	36	CR 651 – Basking Ridge, Warrenville
		40.98	40	CR 531 – The Plainfields, Watchung, Gillette
Union	Boro of Watchung	42.22	41	Berkeley Heights, Scotch Plains
	Boro of Watchung	44.01	43	Berkeley Heights, Watchung
	Berkeley Heights Twp	44.52	44	New Providence, Berkeley Heights	Eastbound exit and entrance only.
	Springfield Township	46.72	45	CR 527 (Glenside Avenue) – Summit	Eastbound exit, westbound entrance.
		~48.2 ~49.1		Begin/end local and express lanes.
		49.28	48	NJ 24 west to I-287 – Springfield, Morristown	Exit from westbound local lanes only; entrance to eastbound local and express lanes.
	Union Twp	50.58	49	NJ 124 to NJ 82 – Springfield, Union, Maplewood	Exit from eastbound local lanes only; entrance to westbound local and express lanes.
	51.43	50	Vauxhall Road – Vauxhall	Eastbound exit, westbound entrance.
	53.11	52	Garden State Parkway	No trucks. Toll plaza at exit. No access from Parkway southbound to I-78 eastbound or Parkway northbound to I-78 westbound.
	Hillside Twp	54.32	54	Hillside, Irvington	Eastbound exit, westbound entrance.
Essex	City of Newark	54.88 55.00	55	Hillside, Irvington	Westbound exit and entrance, eastbound entrance only.
		56.45	56	Hillside Avenue to Clinton Avenue – Downtown Newark
		57.23 57.45	57	US 1/9, NJ 21 north – Newark Airport, Newark	Newark Airport Interchange.
		58.03	58A	US 1/9 south to US 22 – Port Newark, Elizabeth
		58.32	58B	US 1/9 north
		~58.6		Toll plaza for New Jersey Turnpike. Local and express lanes end at toll plaza.
		58.93	14	I-95 – New Jersey Turnpike	Exit unnumbered eastbound; westbound traffic must exit Turnpike at Exit 14 to remain on I-78.
Hudson	City of Jersey City	62.01 (N3.5)^[4]	14A	NJ 440 – Bayonne, Bayonne Bridge
		64.20 (N5.5)^[4]	14B	Jersey City, Liberty State Park
		~64.5 (N5.9)^[4]	14C	Toll plaza for New Jersey Turnpike.
		64.63		Liberty State Park, Light Rail Park & Ride	Eastbound exit, westbound entrance.
		65.60		Grand Street, Montgomery Street	Eastbound exit, westbound entrance.
		66.49		NJ 139 west to US 1/9 – Pulaski Skyway
		Western terminus of I-78/ NJ 139 concurrency.
		66.76		Jersey Street	Traffic signal
		66.85		Erie Street	Traffic signal
		66.94		Grove Street	Traffic signal
		67.03		Luis Munoz Marin Boulevard	Traffic signal
		~67.1		Toll plaza for Holland Tunnel.
		New York state line. Interstate 78 continues into New York through the Holland Tunnel.