Interstate 280 (New Jersey)

Interstate 280 (New Jersey)

New Jersey State Highway Routes
Interstate and US

Interstate 280 (abbreviated I-280) is a 17.85-mile (28.73 km) Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It provides a spur from I-80 in Parsippany-Troy Hills, Morris County to Newark, and I-95 (the New Jersey Turnpike) in Kearny, Hudson County. In Kearny, access is provided toward the Holland Tunnel and Lincoln Tunnel to New York City. The western part of the route runs through suburban areas of Morris and Essex counties, crossing the Watchung Mountains. Upon reaching The Oranges, the setting becomes more urbanized and I-280 runs along a depressed alignment before ascending again in Newark. I-280 includes a lift bridge, the William A. Stickel Memorial Bridge over the Passaic River between Newark and Harrison. The highway is sometimes called the Essex Freeway. I-280 interchanges with several roads, including the Garden State Parkway in East Orange and Route 21 in Newark.

A part of present-day I-280 in Newark west of the Stickel Bridge was legislated as Route 25A in 1939, a spur of Route 25 (U.S. Route 1/9) that was to run from Jersey City west to Newark. This portion of road would become Route 58 in 1953 (the Route 58 designation was removed in the 1990s). When the Interstate Highway System was being planned, the Route 3 freeway was planned to become an Interstate. The New Jersey State Highway Department favored the Essex Freeway instead between I-80 in Parsippany-Troy Hills to I-95 in Kearny instead. The latter would become the Interstate and be designated I-280. This road was built in the 1960s and be completed west from Newark in 1973. The portion east of Newark to the New Jersey Turnpike opened in 1980. I-280 was once planned to continue east to I-78 near the Holland Tunnel but never was extended east of the New Jersey Turnpike. In the 2000s, the Stickel Bridge was reconstructed after the original structure was determined to be structurally deficient. Interstate 280 is one of two 3 digit interstate designations to appear on opposite coasts. Interstate 110 in California and Florida is the other one.