The Newark-Pompton Turnpike followed today’s Bloomfield Avenue out of Newark and up to Verona, where it turned northward and went through the Pompton section of Pequannock, ending at the Paterson-Hamburg Turnpike in Riverdale. That old road rose out of Paterson and continued through Wayne, Pompton Lakes, Bloomingdale, West Milford, and on into Sussex County. In the pre-1927 state highway system, Route 8 followed the entire length of the Pompton Pike and then followed the Hamburg Pike up to Sussex.
With the state creating a new highway network in 1927, NJ 23 was legislated as following old Route 8 north of Verona. (Part of Bloomfield Avenue became NJ 9, a designation since discontinued. Bloomfield Avenue is now CR 506 and CR 506 Spur.) However, parts of both old turnpikes in both Passaic and Morris counties were soon bypassed. NJ 23 diverged from the Pompton Pike north of the Mountain View section of Wayne, and the new highway climbed a steep hill in Rivervale in bypassing the Hamburg Pike, which hugs the Pequannock River for a good stretch west of Pompton Lakes.
NJ 23 rejoins the Hamburg Pike in West Milford, but work to improve the highway has removed most all vestiges of the old road. Old stretches of the turnpike that still exist despite the bypass are labeled Old Route 23 rather than Hamburg Pike. The old highway name is not seen again until the road enters the borough of Hamburg, home of the famed Gingerbread Castle. NJ 23 continues in a northwesterly direction, up the hill to High Point and then back down, crossing into New York within several hundred feet of the Port Jervis city line.
When the original NJ 23 bypass was built, there were four traffic circles on the road, including one in Wayne where the highway diverged from the Pompton Pike and another at the intersection with Black Oak Ridge Road and Ratzer Road. These were reconfigured in the 1970s and ’80s. Traffic following CR 504 was most seriously affected.
Other diversions occurred when Interstate 80 was built and the Spaghetti Bowl interchange was created, and when a new overpass was built to carry traffic over the Lackawanna Railroad. Old Turnpike Road and Holy Cross Way are pieces of the old Pompton Pike alignment of NJ 23.
The mileage log is from the highway’s origin at Bloomfield Avenue in Verona.
| Mile | Street Name | Feature (South to North) |
| 4.00 | Entering Little Falls Twp, Passaic Co | |
| 4.37 | Newark-Pompton Tpk | Main St, CR 631 {signal} |
| 4.54 | Newark-Pompton Tpk | Passaic River {bridge} |
| 4.00 | Entering Wayne Twp | |
| 4.59 | Newark-Pompton Tpk | [Hobson Ave, to Old Turnpike Rd, CR 703] |
| 4.72 | NJ 23 | (Willowbrook Blvd) {signal} |
| 4.79 | NJ 23 | Unnamed stream {pipe} |
| 4.86 | NJ 23 | (North Leg) {signal} |
| 4.88 | Northbound and southbound alignments diverge | |
| 5.06 | NJ 23 | Erie Railroad {underpass, northbound only} |
| 5.25 | NJ 23 | Pellington Blvd, US 46 {underpass northbound, overpass southbound} |
| 5.32 | NJ 23 | Erie Railroad {underpass, southbound only} |
| 5.50 | NJ 23 | Bergen-Passaic Expwy, I-80 {overpass} |
| 5.62 | NJ 23 | Singac Brook {bridge} |
| 5.62 | Northbound and southbound alignments reunite | |
| 5.67 | Newark-Pompton Tpk | Ramps to/from I-80 {underpass} |
| 6.01 | Newark-Pompton Tpk | West Belt Pkwy {overpass} |
| 6.44 | NJ 23 | (Fairfield Rd, CR 679) |
| 6.56 | NJ 23 | Pedestrian crossing {underpass} |
| 6.67 | NJ 23 | Branch Pompton River {bridge} |
| 6.82 | NJ 23 | US 202 {merge} |
| 6.82 | Next 2.12 miles co-signed with US 202 | |
| 6.99 | NJ 23 | Mountain View Blvd, US 202 {overpass} |
| 7.02 | NJ 23 | Lackawanna Railroad {overpass} |
| 7.07 | NJ 23 | Ramp from NJ 23 southbound to Alps Rd {overpass} |
| 7.21 | Newark-Pompton Tpk | [Alps Rd, CR 670] |
| 7.36 | Newark-Pompton Tpk | Packanack Brook {bridge} |
| 7.68 | NJ 23 | (Newark-Pompton Tpk, CR 683) {overpass} |
| 8.28 | NJ 23 | Packanack Lake Rd {signal} |
| 8.86 | NJ 23 | U-turn ramps, (CR 504) {signal} |
| 8.94 | NJ 23 | US 202 northbound {merge} |
| 9.27 | NJ 23 | Branch Pompton River {culvert} |
| 9.45 | NJ 23 | US 202 southbound {signal} |
| 9.64 | NJ 23 | Pompton River {bridge} |
| 9.64 | Entering Pequannock Twp, Morris Co | |
| 9.64 | Next 7.35 miles are in Morris County | |
| 16.99 | Entering West Milford Twp, Passaic Co | |
| 16.99 | NJ 23 | Pequannock River {bridge} |
| 17.02 | NJ 23 | Susquehanna Railroad {bridge} |
| 17.03 | NJ 23 | Ramp from NJ 23 southbound to Paterson-Hamburg Tpk {bridge} |
| 17.05 | NJ 23 | Paterson-Hamburg Tpk, CR 694 {merge} |
| 17.65 | Northbound and southbound alignments diverge | |
| 17.73 | NJ 23 | Unnamed stream {pipe} |
| 18.10 | NJ 23 | Peckmans Brook {culvert} |
| 18.20 | NJ 23 | Pequannock River {bridge, southbound only} |
| 18.20 | Entering (Kinnelon Boro, Morris Co) [West Milford Twp, Passaic Co] | |
| 18.65 | NJ 23 | Unnamed stream {pipe, northbound only} |
| 19.49 | NJ 23 | Macopin River {bridge, northbound only} |
| 19.49 | NJ 23 | Pequannock River {bridge, southbound only} |
| 19.49 | Entering West Milford Twp, Passaic Co | |
| 19.80 | Northbound and southbound alignments reunite | |
| 20.26 | NJ 23 | Echo Lake Channel {bridge} |
| 20.42 | NJ 23 | (Charlottesburg Rd) [Echo Lake Rd, CR 695 {signal} |
| 21.10 | Northbound and southbound alignments diverge | |
| 21.19 | NJ 23 | Branch Kanouse Brook {culvert} |
| 21.27 | NJ 23 | Kanouse Brook {bridge} |
| 21.70 | NJ 23 | [Old Route 23] {signal} |
| 21.84 | NJ 23 | [Union Valley Rd, CR 513] |
| 21.94 | NJ 23 | Pequannock River {bridge, southbound only} |
| 21.94 | Entering (Jefferson Twp, Morris Co) [West Milford Twp, Passaic Co] | |
| 22.19 | NJ 23 | [LaRue Rd] {signal} |
| 22.54 | NJ 23 | Pequannock River {bridge, southbound only} |
| 22.54 | Entering West Milford Twp, Passaic Co | |
| 22.61 | NJ 23 | [Clinton Rd] {signal} |
| 22.80 | Northbound and southbound alignments reunite | |
| 22.87 | NJ 23 | (Oak Ridge Rd, CR 699) {signal} |
| 23.21 | NJ 23 | Paradise Rd {signal} |
| 23.50 | NJ 23 | Schaeffers Pond Brook {bridge} |
| 24.10 | NJ 23 | [Doremus Rd] {signal} |
| 24.35 | NJ 23 | Susquehanna Railroad {overpass} |
| 24.50 | NJ 23 | (Reservoir Rd) {signal} |
| 24.80 | NJ 23 | Dunkers Pond Brook {bridge} |
| 25.31 | NJ 23 | Pequannock River {bridge} |
| 25.31 | Entering Jefferson Twp, Morris Co | |
| 25.31 | Next 0.21 mile is in Morris County | |
| 25.52 | Entering West Milford Twp, Passaic Co | |
| 25.52 | NJ 23 | Pequannock River {bridge} |
| 25.80 | NJ 23 | [Canistear Rd] {signal} |
| 26.20 | NJ 23 | Pequannock River {bridge} |
| 26.20 | Entering Jefferson Twp, Morris Co | |