Precursors and planning Route 100 and Route 300 were two state highways proposed in the 1930s by the
New Jersey State Highway Department as precursors to the New Jersey Turnpike. The road that is now the New Jersey Turnpike was first planned by the State Highway Department as two freeways in 1938. Route 100 was the route from New Brunswick to the George Washington Bridge, plus a spur to the
Holland Tunnel, now the Newark Bay Extension of the Turnpike. Route 300 was the southern part of the turnpike from the Delaware Memorial Bridge to New Brunswick. However, the State Highway Department did not have the funds to complete the two freeways, and very little of the road was built under its auspices. Instead, in 1948, the NJTA was created to build the road, and the two freeways were built as a single toll road.
Route S100 was a proposed spur of Route 100 in Elizabeth. It was never built, although
Route 81 follows a similar alignment. According to a letter to the editor written by Kathleen Troast Pitney, the daughter of
Paul L. Troast, the first chairman of the NJTA: A brochure
Interesting Facts about the New Jersey Turnpike, dating from soon after the road's opening, says that when the turnpike's bonds are paid off, "the law provides that the turnpike be turned over to the state for inclusion in the public highway system". Due to new construction, and the expectation that the turnpike pays for policing and maintenance, this has never come to pass.
Construction The project of building the turnpike had its challenges. One major problem was the construction in Elizabeth, where either 450 homes or 32 businesses would be destroyed, depending on the chosen route. The engineers decided to go through the residential area, since they considered it the grittiest and the closest route to both Newark Airport and the
Port Newark–Elizabeth Marine Terminal seaport. When construction finally got to Newark, there was the new challenge of deciding to build either over or under the
Pulaski Skyway. If construction went above the skyway, the costs would be much higher. If they went under, the costs would be lower, but the roadway would be very close to the Passaic River, making it harder for ships to pass through. The turnpike was ultimately built to pass under. As part of a 2005
seismic retrofit project, the NJTA lowered its roadway to increase vertical clearance and allow for full-width shoulders, which had been constrained by the location of the skyway supports. Engineers replaced the bearings and lowered the bridge by , without shutting down traffic. The work was carried out by
Koch Skanska in 2004, under a $35 million contract (equivalent to $ in ). The project's engineers were from a joint venture of Dewberry Goodkind Inc. and HNTB Corp. Temporary towers supported the bridge while bearings were removed from the 150 piers and the concrete replaced on the pier tops. The lowering process for an section of the bridge was done over 56 increments, during five weeks of work. While continuing up to the
Meadowlands, the crossings were harder because of the fertile marsh land of silt and mud. Near the shallow mud, the mud was filled with crushed stone, and the roadway was built above the water table. In the deeper mud, caissons were sunk down to a firm stratum and filled with sand, then both the caissons and the surrounding areas were covered with blankets of sand. Gradually, the water was brought up, and drained into adjacent meadows. Then, construction of the two major bridges over the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers was completed. The bridges were built to give motorists a clear view of the New York City skyline, but with high retaining walls to create the illusion of not being on a river crossing. After the turnpike was completed in 1952, the NJTA and the
New York State Thruway Authority (NYSTA) proposed a extension of the New Jersey Turnpike that would run from its end (at US 46 in
Ridgefield Park at the time) up to
West Nyack, New York, at
I-87 (
New York State Thruway). The section through New Jersey was to be constructed and maintained by the NJTA, while the section in New York was to be built and maintained by the NYSTA. The purpose of this extension was to give motorists a "more direct bypass of the New York City area" to
New England, by using the
Tappan Zee Bridge. The extension was to parallel
New York State Route 303 (NY 303) and the present-day CSX
River Subdivision, and have limited interchanges. It was to have an interchange with the
Palisades Interstate Parkway and at Interstate 87 (New York State Thruway) in West Nyack. This project did not survive; by 1970, it became too expensive to buy right-of-way access, and community opposition was fierce. Therefore, the NJTA and the NYSTA canceled the project. On May 25 of that year, the widening between exit 4 and exit 10 was completed, along with this came the Pearl Harbor Memorial Extension linking exit 6 on the mainline with the
Delaware River-Turnpike Toll Bridge and
Pennsylvania Turnpike. On May 15, 1962, the authority opened a new trumpet interchange at exit 12. The ramps, which replaced the nonstandard half-diamond interchange at the location, cost $3,500,000 (equivalent to $ in ) to construct, and unlike the old ramps, contained a southbound exit and northbound entrance. On August 7, 1962, the NJTA announced a major project to replace exits 17 and 18, in addition to expanding exit 16's toll plaza. This work was being done in preparation for the
1964 World's Fair. It would involve moving the northern end of the ticket system from Ridgefield to Secaucus, as well as replacing the partially at-grade exits 17 with a new grade separated exits 17 in order to reduce congestion and upgrade said road to
Interstate Highway standards. It would also involve replacement of the exit 16 toll plaza with a new 24-lane-wide structure, and relocating exit 18 to be at the new northern end of the ticket system near exit 16. Construction on the new exit 17 began immediately. The original exit 17 had its northbound ramps permanently closed on June 16, 1963, to allow construction of the replacement exit 16 toll plaza to proceed. On September 19, at 3:30 p.m., the new exit 17 was completed. It contained a wider toll plaza, was fully grade separated, was located slightly father to the north, and operated on a coin drop system rather than the ticket system like the rest of the road, with trucks, buses, and trailers charged based on their weight. It was at this point that the original exit 18 toll plaza located in Ridgefield was demolished. The new exit 18, which had more collection lanes than the original and was located in Secaucus, began charging tolls on February 25, 1964, concurrent with opening of the new exit 16 toll plaza. Another improvement made was the introduction of automatic ticket dispensers with the new exit 18 and exit 16. These were also later installed at exits 14, 14A, and 14C, as well as the exit 6 toll barrier. On May 29, the entrance ramps from Route 3 were opened, completing the two-year long project. In 1965, construction began on an entirely new interchange with the under-construction Route 32 between exits 8 and 7. On February 14, 1966, this interchange, numbered as exit 8A was opened to traffic, though only partially; the connection to Route 32 westbound opened on November 5 at noon. This abolished the express-local roadway system and established a new system, with the outer roadway for all vehicles and inner roadway for cars only. Other aspects of the plan included constructing a new exit 10 in Edison Township, closing old exit 10 and rebuilding exit 11 to provide access to the
Garden State Parkway in Woodbridge, reversing the trumpet at exit 12 in Carteret, and relocating exit 13 in Elizabeth to provide direct access to the
Goethals Bridge and
I-278 instead of Trenton Road. On July 27, 1968, it was announced that the replacement exit 13 would open on July 31. The interchange was opened as planned, and the old exit, which was a split interchange with Trenton Avenue, was closed permanently and slated for reverse engineering, this was completed by October. The new exit 11 was completed on September 18, 1969, at which point the original exit 10 was closed. The new exit 10 was opened on January 13, 1970, with new dual-dual setup opened the next day on January 14. The Western Spur, a new extension of the turnpike meant to let through traffic bypass Secaucus, was opened on September 3, 1970. With this, multiple changes were made to the existing roadway. It was officially named the Eastern Spur, new unnumbered interchanges connecting it with the Western Spur were built, as well as a major renumbering to make it consistent with the new spur scheme, exit 15 was renumber exit 15E, exit 16 as exit 16E, and exit 18 as exit 18E. They also built exit 15W's connection with the original road, and rebuilt exit 15E to provide access to Western Spur traffic. With the
Bergen-Passaic Expressway being built on the north side of Ridgefield Park in 1964, this left a mile-long gap between the turnpike and expressway approaches onto the
George Washington Bridge. This gap was closed on October 20, 1971, when an expanded interchange with US 46 was opened, which connected to the Bergen-Passaic Expressway and replaced the trumpet interchange that only served US 46. The
New Jersey Turnpike smog accident occurred in the town of
Kearny, on October 23 and 24, 1973. The first collision occurred at 11:20 p.m. EDT on the 23rd. Further accidents continued to occur until 2:45 a.m. the next day as cars plowed into the unseen accident ahead of them. Sixty-six vehicles were involved, and nine people died as a result. Thirty-nine suffered non-fatal injuries. The primary cause of the accident was related to a fire consisting of burning garbage, aggravated by foggy conditions. This produced an area of extremely poor visibility. In 1971, the authority announced plans to extend the dual-dual setup from exit 10 in Woodbridge to exit 9 in
East Brunswick. This project was completed northbound on November 14, 1973, and southbound on January 13, 1974, and involved a major reconstruction of exit 9, replacing the underpass with an overpass and building a wider toll plaza to replace the existing one. On May 30, 1974, exit 7A was opened to traffic. The interchange, which had been planned for since 1973, the interchanges toll plaza was replaced with a wider one and ramps replaced, and none of the original 1951 configuration remained. In 1971, the NJTA proposed building the
Alfred E. Driscoll Expressway. It was to start at the Garden State Parkway south of exit 80 in Dover Township (now
Toms River) and end at the turnpike approximately north of exit 8A in
South Brunswick. As a proposed part of the turnpike system, its seven interchanges would have included toll plazas except at the northern end of the turnpike. By 1972, the proposed road met fierce opposition from
Ocean,
Monmouth, and
Middlesex counties with quality of life as the main concern. The NJTA proceeded anyway and began selling bonds. But by December 1973, Governor-elect
Brendan Byrne decided to stop the project altogether. Despite this, the authority continued with its plan. It was not until February 1977 that the authority abandoned its plan to build the road. The rights-of-way were sold in 1979, shelving the project indefinitely. In 1973, the NJTA began planning for exit 13A. The interchange would be constructed in order to provide direct connections to the nearby
Newark Liberty International Airport, which had previously required taking convoluted routes via exit 13 or 14. In the 1987, the authority announced a plan a to rebuild the Western Spur. If this were ever to be completed, it would have added truck lanes. In addition, a new exit 15 W-A would be constructed, which would have served an extension of
Route 17, and exit 16W would have its ramps connecting to the turnpike be entirely replaced by a new ramp containing a wider toll plaza. However, this project was never carried out, As part of this, a new 12-lane toll plaza and trumpet interchange located away from the original ramps were to be constructed, and the existing toll plaza was demolished, However, this created some problems in the East Brunswick area. Analysis of noise and air quality impacts were made in a lawsuit decided in New Jersey Superior Court. This case, in the early 1970s, was one of the early examples of
environmental scientists playing a role in the design of a major highway in the US. The computer models allowed the court to understand the effects of roadway geometry, in this case width, vehicle speeds, proposed
noise barriers, residential setback and pavement types. The outcome was a compromise that involved substantial mitigation of noise pollution and air pollution impacts. Groundbreaking for this project began on June 23, 1987. Construction of the dual-dual roadway setup was completed on October 22, 1990, the rebuilding of Exit 8A from a trumpet into T-intersection to a dual trumpet interchange was completed in May 1991. In January 1992, the turnpike was extended by from I-95 exit 68 to exit 72B, NJDOT had sold this segment of roadway to balance the state budget. In 1996, an HOV lane was opened between exits 11 and exits 14 on the truck lanes. The cost of this project was $361 million. It is reserved for use only during peak hours. By 1997, various improvements had also been made to the stretch between exits 14 and exits 15E in Newark. This part of the project cost $148 million. In May 1998, the speed limit was increased from between exits 1 and exits 13. Despite this, no other segment north of it had its speed limit raised. Later that year, a bill to rename the mainline road as the
New Jersey Veterans Turnpike was proposed by the
New Jersey General Assembly. Proposed by
Jack Collins, this memorial would have resulted in $500,000 worth of signage being replaced. Despite passing the assembly, it was never signed into law. in addition, the toll plaza was replaced with a new wider one that contained
E-ZPass lanes, this part of the project was completed in February 2000. On September 30, 2000, NJTA began using E-ZPass for electronic toll collection on the mainline. Discounts were available to all users of the E-ZPass system until 2002. The cost to implement the E-ZPass system forced the NJTA to eliminate the discounts during peak hours and instead impose a $1 per month E-ZPass fee to account holders. A replacement exit 1 toll barrier was completed in July 2004. Planned since the 1990s, the new plaza features 23 lanes, a walkway to allow for the toll collectors to avoid crossing traffic, and four high-speed E-ZPass lanes (two in each direction). Construction of the plaza had started in early 2001, and had cost $44 million to construct. The plaza was located approximately north of the original toll gate. In January 2004, the authority opened the new 18W express gantries in Carlstadt; these allowed for two lanes in each direction, though were restricted to EZ-Pass users only. In order to address chronic congestion, the authority opened a new two lane ramp at exit 8A to carry traffic onto the newly extended
CR 535 in February 2006. The ramp that allowed traffic onto
Route 32 westbound was then closed off permanently (though not demolished); despite redundancy, the eastbound ramp was left intact. In May 2006, hybrid vehicles were permitted to use the HOV lanes during peak periods. In 2005, the authority began to lower the Eastern Spur (between mileposts 107.3 and 107.5) in Newark. In April, the NJTA completed a project that rebuilt exit 12 in Carteret. The project, carried out in order to reduce truck traffic, involved constructing new elevated ramps from Roosevelt Avenue east to the toll gate, replacing what was previously a fully an at-grade interchange with a unidirectional one. In addition, the seven-lane toll booth was demolished, and a new 17-lane one was constructed in its place. While it initially planned to be completed in November or December 2009, though was delayed five to six months behind schedule. The NJTA began accepting E-ZPass at all toll lanes on March 5, 2011, previously only marked lanes allowed for such. In the middle of that year, the authority also reconstructed the
Route 495 westbound overpass across the turnpike at exit 16E in Secaucus in order to add a third lane to said ramp. In late 2012, the authority completed a project that made many safety improvements to exit 2 in
Woolwich Township. A traffic signal at the T-intersection with
US 322, and turn lanes were added, in addition, a fourth access point was also constructed. In November 2004, Governor
Richard Codey advocated a plan to widen the turnpike by extending the dual-dual configuration south from exit 8A in Monroe Township to exit 6 in Mansfield Township. This was to be completed by 2014 when Pennsylvania was supposed to finish an interchange, that would connect its turnpike to the existing I-95 in
Bristol Township, Pennsylvania. Finances were to be supplied by rerouting money from the planned
Route 92 Turnpike extension. On January 1, 2007, the NJTA released its plan for exit 8 in East Windsor Township. The old interchange, located west of the turnpike, would be demolished and replaced with a new one located to the east of the turnpike. Other interchanges were also to be upgraded with this widening project. Exit 6 in Mansfield Township would have its dual two laned ramps replaced by multiple pairs of single lane ramps, exit 7 in
Bordentown Township would have new depressed ramps added, exit 7A in
Robbinsville Township would have three extra collection lanes added to its gate, and exit 8A in Monroe Township would have a new ramp added. The NJTA would also add a third truck lane between exit 9 in East Brunswick Township and exit 8A in Monroe Township. No overpass replacement was needed since overpasses were already designed with future expansion in mind. Only final preparation and paving of an outer lane in the outer roadways were required to accommodate the extra lane. New signage and lighting was installed as part of the widening project. It was thought that some transmission towers that ran near the turnpike would have to be replaced to make room for the newly constructed roadways. However, this idea was dismissed because it would have been cost prohibitive, and the towers, in fact, did not need to be. The widened turnpike features six lanes in each direction (3-3-3-3), double the previous capacity. The new exit 8 opened in January 2013, featuring a new toll plaza consisting of 10 lanes, with direct access to
Route 133 (Hightstown Bypass) without going through any traffic lights, as well as to Route 33 by using a grade-separated interchange. Milford Road was converted into an overpass crossing over the new interchange 8 ramp. The junction with the realigned Milford Road, Route 33 and Monmouth Street was also modified. On July 2, 2009, a ceremonial groundbreaking took place near exit 8 to initiate the widening of the turnpike. On January 28, 2014, the last two of the project's 31 construction contracts was awarded. On May 17–18, 2014, the NJTA switched traffic from the inner roadway for the new outer roadway to do repairs and resurfacing of the inner roadway. The rehabilitated northbound lanes opened on October 26, 2014, while the southbound lanes opened a week later on November 3, 2014. The final cost reported to be $2.3 billion. The project employed 1,000 workers a day, and at one point was the largest active road construction project in the Western Hemisphere. displaying a warning about construction ahead. These signs have since been replaced. All of the turnpike's original
variable-message signs (VMS) were replaced from 2010 to 2015, and many new signs were also added. The replacement signs, which feature full graphic color matrix technology, are more up-to-date and feature travel times to major routes when not otherwise in use. In late October 2015, the southbound inner roadway exit ramp at exit 7A was closed to make repairs to the overpass crossing over the truck lanes. Steel plates beneath the deck of the exit ramp overpass "were not built to specification" when it was originally constructed, and to avoid premature replacement in the future, the ramps were repaired. These repairs were completed in late November 2015. To reduce congestion, the NJTA has widened
Route 18 and reconstructed all the associated ramps at exit 9 (except the ramp to Route 18 north) in East Brunswick Township. Construction began in late 2012 and was completed in mid-2016. The authority planned to reconstruct exit 14A in Jersey City and its connectors in Bayonne because the interchange was in "poor condition" and suffered from chronic congestion. This was part of a bigger project to address future traffic volume along
Route 440. Official groundbreaking occurred on March 11, 2015, with an expanded toll plaza and connector bridge targeted for completion in late 2018 with a $310 million budget. The newly expanded exit 14A reopened in May 2018 ahead of its anticipated opening later in the year. On September 22, 2018, following the completion of
an interchange between I-95 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Pennsylvania, I-95 was rerouted over the Delaware River Turnpike-Toll Bridge, closing a gap that had existed on I-95 within New Jersey due to the cancellation of the Somerset Freeway. Signage on the New Jersey Turnpike for I-95 was extended from
I-195 at exit 7A in
Robbinsville Township to exit 6, the Pearl Harbor Memorial Extension was also signed. In conjunction with the
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's replacement of the
Goethals Bridge, improvements were being studied at exit 13 in Elizabeth and Linden. However, the interchange was ultimately left as is, with no improvements being made. On March 24, 2020, the NJTA temporarily suspended cash toll collection due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. Drivers without E-ZPass transponders had their license plates photographed at the toll plazas and were sent bills in the mail. Cash collection resumed on May 19 of that year. In January 2020, the NJTA announced plans to construct E-ZPass express lanes at exit 18E. This project was completed in November 2021. Additionally, the toll plaza at exit 6 was reconfigured in order to add a second E-ZPass express lane in each direction, as the original configuration had become obsolete. From late April to May 2022, the ramps onto US 206 at exit 7 were temporarily closed so the overpass could be demolished. On June 9, 2023, the
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) approved redesignating the Eastern Spur as I-695 and officially designating the Western Spur as I-95. However, as of 2026, no physical signage for I-695 has been erected. In late 2025, the branch lanes at the exit 11 toll plaza were removed. ==Future projects==