State Highways of New Jersey

The state started building this road in 1937, when the second tunnel crossing to New York opened. The depressed roadway through Union City opened first, followed shortly thereafter by the famous “helix” going down to the tunnel. Prior to construction of the helix, traffic used the marginal roads and Boulevard East to get to the tunnel plaza. In 1952, when the New Jersey Turnpike opened, the North Bergen Viaduct and the direct approach to the Turnpike (exits 16 and 17) were added to the road. As each section of roadway opened (except for the Turnpike approach), it was added to NJ 3, which had originally ended (and once again ends) at NJ 1 (now US 1/US 9) in North Bergen.

When the road was added to the Interstate system in 1959, the entire road, including the Turnpike approach, became I-495, a loop from the Turnpike, which had been designated I-95 north of interchange 10 in Woodbridge. The grandest plan for I-495 had it extending all the way across Manhattan and nearly the length of Long Island, and then crossing Long Island Sound to rejoin I-95 at either Old Saybrook or New London. But when Robert Moses’ Mid-Manhattan Expressway (which would have connected the Lincoln and Queens-Midtown tunnels) was canceled and the Sound crossing was deemed prohibitively expensive, the New Jersey freeway section was dropped from the Interstate system in 1980. Interestingly, the entire Long Island Expressway is designated I-495 even though it no longer connects to I-95 at any point. New Jersey retained the 495 number for its highway, and it took twenty years for the last Interstate shield to be removed. (An erroneous I-495 shield placed in 2008 directs traffic from the Boulevard, SR 501, to NJ 495.)

Mile	Street Name	Feature
	Road continues eastward as Lincoln Tunnel
3.45	New York City, New York Co Weehawken Twp, Hudson Co
3.45	Eastern terminus of , Weehawken Twp, Hudson Co
3.45	Lincoln Tunnel	Hudson River	tunnel	Hudson River
2.65				Lincoln Tunnel toll plaza
2.50		Boulevard East	overpass	Boulevard East
2.23		Boulevard East	overpass	Boulevard East
1.96		Park Ave	overpass	Park Ave
1.89		Pleasant Ave	overpass	Pleasant Ave
1.89		Weehawken Twp, Hudson Co Union City, Hudson Co
1.81		Port Authority of NY & NJ jurisdiction NJDOT jurisdiction
1.73	Lincoln Tunnel Approach	Hudson Ave	underpass	Hudson Ave
1.68	Lincoln Tunnel Approach	Palisade Ave	underpass	Palisade Ave
1.65	Lincoln Tunnel Approach	32 St	underpass	32 St
1.60	Lincoln Tunnel Approach	New York Ave	underpass	New York Ave
1.54	Lincoln Tunnel Approach	Bergenline Ave	underpass	Bergenline Ave
1.43	Lincoln Tunnel Approach	Central Ave	underpass	Central Ave
1.33	Lincoln Tunnel Approach	Summit Ave	underpass	Summit Ave
1.23	Lincoln Tunnel Approach	J.F. Kennedy Blvd	underpass	J.F. Kennedy Blvd
1.23	Lincoln Tunnel Approach	Union City, Hudson Co North Bergen Twp, Hudson Co
1.05	Lincoln Tunnel Approach	Pedestrian crossing	underpass	Pedestrian crossing
0.94	North Bergen Viaduct	Paterson Plank Rd	underpass	Paterson Plank Rd
0.90	North Bergen Viaduct	Tonnelle Ave	overpass	Tonnelle Ave
0.86	North Bergen Viaduct	Northern Railroad	overpass	Northern Railroad
0.84	North Bergen Viaduct	Susquehanna Railroad	overpass	Susquehanna Railroad
0.78		NJDOT jurisdiction New Jersey Turnpike Authority jurisdiction
0.55			overpass
0.19		Ramp from	underpass	Ramp from
0.08		North Bergen Twp, Hudson Co Secaucus Town, Hudson Co
0.00		New Jersey Turnpike	merge	New Jersey Turnpike
0.00	Western terminus of , Secaucus Town, Hudson Co