New Jersey Route 3 - History

History

Route 3 was legislated by the 1927 New Jersey state highway renumbering to run from the New York border on the west shore of Greenwood Lake to Route 1 (now U.S. Route 1/9) in Secaucus. In 1929, the route west of Paterson was designated to become part of Route S4B, a spur of Route 4, and Route 3 was modified to end at Route S4B north of Paterson. Route S4B was never built west of Paterson while the portion that was built became Route 208 in 1953.

Following the 1929 amendments, 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) to Secaucus. In 1939, Route 3 was extended east along present-day Route 495 to the Lincoln Tunnel into Manhattan, New York City.

The section of what is now Route 3 from U.S. Route 46 in Clifton to Route 120 in East Rutherford was planned to be built as a freeway in the mid 1930s designated as Route S3, a spur of Route 3. Construction started in 1940, but it was interrupted by World War II. It would resume, with the first section of freeway opening between Route 17 to Route 3 (now Route 120) in 1942. The freeway was completed by 1949, including a bypass of Secaucus that was designated as a bypass of Route 3. The freeway had cost a total of $10 million to build and cut commuting times between Northern New Jersey and Manhattan. Before the freeway was completed, Route S3 was designated to follow Allwood Road between Hepburn Road and Bloomfield Avenue in Clifton; the road was later returned to Passaic County and is currently County Route 602. In 1942, a spur of Route S3 in Clifton was commissioned; this became Route S3 Spur in 1948 and Route 161 in 1953.

In the 1953 New Jersey state highway renumbering, Route 3 was realigned to follow the entire length of the Route S3 freeway. In addition, Route 3 in Secaucus was shifted off the Paterson Plank Road to the newly built Secaucus Bypass. The original alignment of Route 3 became Route 153. Only the section west of Paterson Plank Road was state-maintained after the renumbering, and the entire route was eliminated by the 1990s. In the mid-1950s, Route 3 was planned as one of the original routes of the Interstate Highway System; however, the New Jersey State Highway Department had deemed it too expensive to bring it up to Interstate Highway standards and Interstate 280 was favored instead. In 1958, the Lincoln Tunnel approach was designated as Interstate 495 and Route 3 was truncated back to U.S. Route 1/9 in North Bergen.

Many improvements have occurred to the Route 3 freeway. In the 1970s, the interchanges with Route 17, the New Jersey Turnpike western spur, and Route 120 were improved with the construction of the Meadowlands Sports Complex in the area. The bridge over the Berrys Creek, originally built in 1948, was reconstructed in the mid-1990s and Route 3 was widened to eight lanes in the area near the bridge. In 2003, the interchange with Route 495 and the intersection with U.S. Route 1/9 was improved at a cost of $16 million.

Plans were name improve Route 3 near the Meadowlands Sports Complex with the construction of American Dream Meadowlands. An overpass between eastbound Route 3 and northbound Route 120 was completed in May 2009 at a cost of $38.1 million, a flyover from southbound Route 120 to eastbound Route 3 was completed in early 2010 at a cost of $13 million, and improvements to the New Jersey Turnpike interchange was completed in the later part of 2010 at a cost of $49 million.