New Jersey Route 3
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| Route 3 |
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| Length: | 10.84 mi (17.45 km) | ||||||||
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| Formed: | 1927 | ||||||||
| West end: |  US 46 in Clifton |
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| Major junctions: |
 GSP in Clifton NJ 21 in Clifton NJ 17 in Rutherford NJ 120 in East Rutherford  I-95/NJTP in East Rutherford- Secaucus NJ 495 in North Bergen |
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| East end: |  US 1-9 in North Bergen |
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Route 3 is a state highway in northern New Jersey, extening 10.84 miles (17.45 km), connecting Hudson County to Passaic County in the west. Its western terminus is at an intersection with U.S. Route 46 in Clifton and its eastern terminus is at an intersection with U.S. Route 1/9 in North Bergen. Route 3 is sometimes called the Secaucus Bypass.
The beginning of Route 3 is a divided highway but not yet a freeway, as there are a few businesses on this part of the roadway. Three miles further down, the road becomes a freeway, but does not meet Interstate Highway standards. The intent of this road is to lead towards the Lincoln Tunnel. From 1939 to 1959, NJ 3 extended east along Route 495; it was truncated back to its original terminus when the Lincoln Tunnel opened on December 22, 1937 and the approach became I-495 (now NJ 495).
Route 3 now ends at the US 1-9/Interstate 95/New Jersey Turnpike interchange and becomes NJ 495, which goes through the Lincoln Tunnel and runs concurrently to several streets in Manhattan before crossing through the Queens-Midtown Tunnel into Long Island and becoming Interstate 495 (Long Island Expressway).
The east end at US 1-9 was channelized and traffic lights were added in 1959; it had formerly been a circle.
There is a local-express lane configuration between the New Jersey Turnpike (Western Spur) and NJ 495.
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[edit] Popular culture
The road was the inspiration for a story in The New Yorker in 2004 by Ian Frazier.[1]
[edit] History
Prior to the 1953 renumbering, Route 3 ran from Paterson along today's Route 20, through Clifton, Passaic, Wallington, Carlstadt, and East Rutherford along local streets, and finally down Paterson Plank Road (part of which is today's Route 120). The current eastbound bridge over the Hackensack River was built in 1934; prior to this, the road followed Paterson Plank Road over a no-longer-existing bridge.
The section of what is now Route 3 from US 46 in Clifton to Route 120 in East Rutherford was built in the late 1940s and early 1950s and was originally designated Route S3 (indicating a spur of Route 3) until the 1953 renumbering, when Route 3 was shifted onto its current alignment. In 1942, a spur of this road in Clifton was commissioned, later labeled Route S3 Spur; this route was renumbered Route 161.
In the 1953 New Jersey state highway renumbering, Route 3 in Secaucus was shifted off its original alignment on surface streets to the newly built Secaucus Bypass. The original alignment then became Route 153. Only the section west of Paterson Plank Road was state-maintained after the renumbering, and the entire route was decommissioned c. 1988.
[edit] Related routes
There are two former spurs of Route 3:
Route S3, now a section of Route 3
Route S3 Spur, now Route 161
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- New Jersey Route 3 Straight Line Diagram from the New Jersey Department of Transportation
- An enlarged view of road jurisdiction at the confluence of NJ 3 and NJ 46 in Clifton
- An enlarged view of road jurisdiction at the confluence of NJ 3 and NJ 17 in Rutherford
- An enlarged view of road jurisdiction at the confluence of NJ 3, NJ 120 and I 95 in East Rutherford
- An enlarged view of road jurisdiction at the confluence of NJ 3, NJ 495, I 95 / NJ Turnpike, US 1 in Secaucus and North Bergen
- New Jersey Roads: Route 3
- "Route 3: What I saw on the road through New Jersey" by Ian Frazier
