Interstate 78 In New Jersey Article Index for
Interstate 78
Website Links For
Interstate
 

Information About

Interstate 78 In New Jersey




  type Interstate
  route 78
  map Interstate 78 (NJ) mappng
  name Notes Main route of the Interstate Highway System
  alternate Name Phillipsburg-Newark Expressway<br>New Jersey Turnpike - Newark Bay Hudson County Ext
  length Mi 6783
  length Round 2
  length Ref Interstate 78 Straight Line Diagram from the New Jersey Department Of Transportation
  direction A West
  direction B East
  starting Terminus Interstate 78 Toll Bridge in Phillipsburg
  ending Terminus Holland Tunnel in Jersey City
  junction NJ 31 in Clinton <br> US 22 in Pohatcong Twp <br> I-287 in Bedminster Twp <br> NJ 24 in Springfield <br> GSP in Union / Hillside <br> US 1/9 in Newark <br> I-95 / NJTP in Newark <br> NJ 139 in Jersey City
  previous Type NJ
  previous Route 77
  next Type NJ
  next Route 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.


ROUTE DESCRIPTION


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 Township , was built c. 1960. This section runs along Musconetcong Mountain with a summit near milepost 10; the west slope features an automatic Deicing spray.1 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 Township 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 Impact s 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 2007.2 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 49, and the westbound local lanes at this point, were designed to accommodate the semi-directional T terminus of the unbuilt extension of Interstate 278 (Union Freeway). 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 Columbus Drive and Montgomery Street, 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 Signal s (in violation of Interstate Standards ) before heading into the Holland Tunnel (tolled eastbound) under the Hudson River into New York City .

The expressway (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 highways such as I-195 , I-280 , I-295 , I-80 , NJ 55 , NJ 208 . [http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/newjersey/nj_politics/story/7249540p-7103827c.html


EXIT LIST



SEE ALSO



REFERENCES



EXTERNAL LINKS