Interstate 78 in New Jersey

Template:Infobox Interstate 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.

Major Cities

Bolded cities are officially-designated control cities for signs.

New Jersey Desciption

From Phillipsburg to NJ Route 24

The 1990s alignment ends at exit 3 in New Jersey, where U.S. Route 22 rejoins I-78. Unlike in Pennsylvania, US 22 from the Delaware River east to I-78 is not a freeway; this is one reason the newer bypass was built. I-78 from exit 3 to exit 13 (west of Clinton) was built ca. 1960, with the freeway east of exit 11 built next to the old road (now Route 173). This section runs up and down Musconetcong Mountain with a summit near mile 10; the west slope features an automatic deicing spray. [1] From exit 13 to exit 15, the old road was upgraded on the spot, and Route 173 joins I-78 and US 22 for a three-way concurrency. I-78 and US 22 continue east around the south side of Clinton to exit 16 (Route 31 north) on a ca. 1957 bypass.

From Route 31, I-78 and US 22 continue concurrently to exit 18, running south of Annandale on a ca. 1970 freeway. 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. The ca. 1970 freeway ends at 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 (mile 45.74) and a separate land bridge at mile 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.

From NJ Route 24 to Holland Tunnel

File:I-78 near springfield nj.jpg

I-78 is approaching Springfield, NJ where local and express lanes split.

At Route 24, a freeway heading northwest towards Morristown, I-78 divides into local and express lanes. As of September 2006, the express lanes have been closed due to repair work. Most access is via the local lanes, though exit 49 (Route 124) includes a direct westbound onramp to the express lanes. Exit 48 was built as the planned western end of Interstate 278, but that road was never built beyond Linden. Even the busy Garden State Parkway interchange (exit 52) only has ramps on the local lanes. There are also no ramps from the Parkway north to I-78 west or the Parkway south to I-78 east; traffic making those movements is directed to enter I-78 going the other way and make a U-turn at the next local interchange. 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 is called the Newark Airport Interchange on the free part of I-78 is the massive complex at the Newark Airport (exits 57 and 58), with ramps to and from U.S. Route 1, U.S. Route 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 and its Newark Bay Extension. An interchange just beyond the toll booth provides full access to Interstate 95, the main line of the Turnpike, and I-78 then rises onto the Newark Bay Bridge into Bayonne. At the interchange with I-95, the Phillipsburg-Newark Expressway (the name that I-78 carries most of the way across New Jersey) ends, and I-78 then becomes the New Jersey Turnpike Ext.--Newark Bay (Hudson County) Extension. 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 eastern toll gate (the toll near the Newark Airport is numbered exit 14). After the toll gate and a recent exit for a Hudson-Bergen Light Rail park and ride, 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.

Exits in New Jersey

County	Location	Mile	#	Destinations	Notes
PA state line. I-78 enters New Jersey from Pennsylvania via 78 Toll Bridge.
Warren	Greewich Twp	3.9	3	File:New Jersey 122.svg US 22 west/ NJ 122 - Phillipsburg, Alpha
		Western terminus of I-78/ US 22 duplex
		5.5	4	County Route 637 - Warren Glen, Stewartsville	Westbound only.
	Franklin Twp	6.1	6	Warren Glen, Asbury	Eastbound only.
Hunterdon	Boro of Bloomsbury	7.4	7	File:New Jersey 173.svg NJ 173 - West Portal, Bloomsbury
	Union Twp	11.8	11	File:New Jersey 173.svg NJ 173 - West Portal, Pattenburg
		13.4	12	File:New Jersey 173.svg NJ 173 - Jutland, Norton
		13.3	13	File:New Jersey 173.svg NJ 173 west (Service Road)	Westbound only.
	Franklin Township	16.1	15	File:New Jersey 173.svg NJ 173 east - Clinton, Pittstown	junction CR 513.
	Clinton Twp	17.3, 17.6, 17.9	16-17	File:New Jersey 31.svg NJ 31 - Washington, Flemington
			Eastern terminus of I-78/ US 22 duplex
		18.3	18	US 22 east - Annandale, Lebanon	Eastbound only.
		18.6	18	Annandale	Westbound only.
	Boro of Lebanon	20.8	20	Cokesbury, Lebanon, Round Valley Rec. Area	Westbound only.
	Tewksbury Twp	25.0	24	CR 523/ to CR 517 - Oldwick, Whitehouse
Somerset	Bedminster Twp	27.1	26	CR 523 SPUR - Lamington, North Branch
	Bedminster Twp	30.9	30	I-287/ to US 202, US 206, I-80 - Morristown, Somerville
	Warren Township	33.2	33	CR 525 - Bernardsville, Martinsville
		37.4	36	CR 651 - Basking Ridge, Warrenville
		41.0	40	CR 531 - The Plainfields, Watchung, Gillette
Union	Boro of Watchung	42.2	41	Berkeley Heights, Scotch Plains
	Boro of Watchung	44.0	43	Berkeley Heights, Watchung
	Berkeley Heights Twp	44.5	44	New Providence, Berkeley Heights	Eastbound only.
	Springfield Township	44.8	45	CR 527 (Glenside Avenue) - Summit	Eastbound only.
		Begin/End local and express lanes here
		48.7	48	File:New Jersey 24.svg NJ 24 west/ to I-287 - Springfield, Morristown	Westbound only.
	Union Twp	50.6	49	File:New Jersey 124.svg File:New Jersey 82.svg NJ 124/ to NJ 82 - Springfield, Union, Maplewood	Eastbound local lanes only.
	51.4	50	Vauxhall Rd - Vauxhall
	52.0	52	Garden State Parkway	No Trucks. Toll gate at exit. No access from pkwy south to 78 east & pkwy north to 78 west.
	Hillside Twp	54.6	54	Hillside, Irvington	Eastbound only. Use interchange to make U-turns for missing ramp movements at GSP/78 interchange.
Essex	City of Newark	54.9, 55.0	55	Hillside, Irvington	Westbound only.
		56.5	56	(Hillside Avenue) to (Clinton Avenue) - Downtown Newark
		57.5	57	File:New Jersey 21.svg NJ 21 (McCarter Highway) north - Newark Airport, Newark	Newark Airport Interchange.
		58.3	58	US 1-9/ to US 22 - Port Newark, Elizabeth	Newark Airport Interchange.
		58.6	Toll Booths at Toll Gate. Begin/End New Jersey Turnpike Newark Bay (Hudson County) Extension.
		59.2	"59"-14	I-95 - New Jersey Turnpike
Hudson	City of Jersey City	62.0/N3.4	14A	File:New Jersey 440.svg NJ 440 - Bayonne	Access to Bayonne Bridge.
		64.2/N5.6	14B	Jersey City, Liberty State Park
		64.5/N5.9	14C	Toll Gate	to Grant St
		66.8/N8.18	Begin/End New Jersey Turnpike Newark Bay (Hudson County) Extension. Begin/End 12th and 14th Streets.
		66.5		File:New Jersey 139.svg NJ 139 west - Pulaski Skyway	Westbound only.
Holland Tunnel/ NY State line. I-78 continues into New York City.