Route 3 is a major

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

in the northeastern part of

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

. The route runs from U.S. Route 46 (US 46) in

Clifton Clifton may refer to: People * Clifton (surname) * Clifton (given name) Places Australia *Clifton, Queensland, a town ** Shire of Clifton *Clifton, New South Wales, a suburb of Wollongong * Clifton, Western Australia Canada * Clifton, Nova Sc ...

, Passaic County to US 1/9 in

North Bergen North Bergen is a township in the northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township had a total population of 63,361. The township was founded in 1843. It was much diminished in territory by ...

, Hudson County. The route is a

divided highway A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...

for its entire length, and intersects many major roads, including US 46, which takes travelers to Interstate 80 (I-80) west for commuting out of the city-area,

Garden State Parkway The Garden State Parkway (GSP) is a controlled-access toll road that stretches the north–south length of eastern New Jersey from the state's southernmost tip near Cape May to the New York state line at Montvale. Its name refers to New Jerse ...

and Route 21 in

, Route 17 and the Western Spur of the

New Jersey Turnpike The New Jersey Turnpike (NJTP) is a system of controlled-access highways in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The turnpike is maintained by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA).The Garden State Parkway, although maintained by NJTA, is not cons ...

(

I-95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadia ...

) in East Rutherford, the Eastern Spur of the New Jersey Turnpike (also I-95) in Secaucus, and Route 495 in North Bergen, for traffic going to the

Lincoln Tunnel The Lincoln Tunnel is an approximately tunnel under the Hudson River, connecting Weehawken, New Jersey, to the west with Midtown Manhattan in New York City to the east. It carries New Jersey Route 495 on the New Jersey side and unsigned Ne ...

into

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Route 3 serves as the main artery to the Lincoln Tunnel from I-80, in conjunction with a portion of US 46 and Route 495. Portions of the route are not up to interstate highway or freeway standards; with businesses, bus stops, and narrow lanes. Despite this, many construction projects over the years have been underway to alleviate this issue. Route 3 also provided access to Hoffmann La Roche's former American headquarters in Nutley, the

Meadowlands Sports Complex The Meadowlands Sports Complex is a sports complex located in East Rutherford, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. The facility is owned and operated by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA). The complex currently con ...

and

American Dream Meadowlands American Dream is a retail and entertainment complex in the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States. The first and second of four opening stages occurred on October 25, 2019, and on December 5, 2019. The remainin ...

in East Rutherford. The road inspired a story in

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

in 2004 by

Ian Frazier Ian Frazier (born 1951 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American writer and humorist. He wrote the 1989 non-fiction history ''Great Plains'', 2010's non-fiction travelogue ''Travels in Siberia'', and works as a writer and humorist for ''The New Yorker ...

due to its views of the

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

skyline. Route 3 was originally the

Lincoln Tunnel Approach Route 495 is a freeway in Hudson County, New Jersey, in the United States that connects the New Jersey Turnpike (Interstate 95, I-95) at exits 16E and 17 in Secaucus to New York State Route 495 (NY 495) inside the Lincoln Tunnel in Weehawk ...

and ended at the state line in the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between Ne ...

, though it was scaled back following the construction of I-495; which is now Route 495 due to also not meeting interstate highway standards. Route 3 was originally established in 1927 to run from the

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

state border on the west shore of

Greenwood Lake Greenwood Lake is an interstate lake approximately long, straddling the border of New York and New Jersey. It is located in the Town of Warwick and the Village of Greenwood Lake, New York (in Orange County) and West Milford, New Jersey (in ...

to Secaucus. In 1929, the western terminus was cut back to Paterson when the alignment west of there was planned to become part of Route S4B. Route 3 originally followed present-day Route 20 through Paterson and ran along local streets to East Rutherford, where it followed present-day Route 120 and the Paterson Plank Road to Secaucus. It was extended east to the Lincoln Tunnel in 1939. The freeway section of Route 3 between US 46 in Clifton and East Rutherford was completed in the 1940s as Route S3 as well as the Secaucus Bypass, which was designated a bypass of Route 3. Route 3 was moved to the Route S3 freeway and the Secaucus Bypass in 1953 and was truncated to US 1/9 in North Bergen in 1959 when the Lincoln Tunnel approach was designated as I-495. The Route 3 freeway has seen many improvements over the years such as widening and interchange reconstructions. It underwent a major reconstruction, completed in 2016, to modern highway standards with bridge replacements, including a new

Passaic River Passaic River ( ) is a river, approximately long, in Northern New Jersey. The river in its upper course flows in a highly circuitous route, meandering through the swamp lowlands between the ridge hills of rural and suburban northern New Jersey, ...

bridge between

and Route 17 in Rutherford.

Route description

Route 3 heads to the southeast, from an interchange with US 46 and County Route 621 (CR 621, Valley Road) as a six-lane

with a

Jersey barrier A Jersey barrier, Jersey wall, or Jersey bump is a modular concrete or plastic barrier employed to separate lanes of traffic. It is designed to minimize vehicle damage in cases of incidental contact while still preventing vehicle crossovers resu ...

. It is not up to

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

standards, as it contains a few businesses with

right-in/right-out Right-in/right-out (RIRO) and left-in/left-out (LILO) refer to a type of three-way road intersection where turning movements of vehicles are restricted. A RIRO permits only right turns and a LILO permits only left turns. "Right-in" and "left-in" r ...

access. The route interchanges with CR 623 (Grove Street) and CR 509 (Broad Street), then the

, where it passes south of the Allwood Road Park & Ride serving

NJ Transit New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit, and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey, along with portions of New York State and Pennsylvania. It operates bu ...

buses. All interchange movements are present between Route 3 and the Garden State Parkway, except from the southbound Garden State Parkway to westbound Route 3 and from eastbound Route 3 to the northbound Garden State Parkway. Past the Garden State Parkway, Route 3 eventually turns into a six-lane

that is not designed to

Interstate Highway standards Standards for Interstate Highways in the United States are defined by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) in the publication ''A Policy on Design Standards: Interstate System''. For a certain highway to ...

. It interchanges with CR 622 (Bloomfield Avenue), before it passes over

Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31, ...

's Newark Industrial Track line and intersects CR 603 (Passaic Avenue), which heads south into Nutley to become Route 7. The next interchange is for CR 601 (Main Avenue). Past that interchange, Route 3 passes over NJ Transit's Main Line and comes to an interchange with the Route 21 freeway before passing over the route. Route 3 crosses the

on a fixed bridge, which replaced a double-leaf trunnion

bascule bridge A bascule bridge (also referred to as a drawbridge or a lifting bridge) is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances a span, or leaf, throughout its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. It may be single- o ...

in 2013, into Rutherford,

Bergen County Bergen County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.CR 507 (Riverside Avenue). The freeway continues through a residential area and comes to an exit that provides access to southbound Route 17. Past this interchange, Route 3 is closely paralleled by Route 17 to the south until Route 3 interchanges again with Route 17, which continues to the north of Route 3. The route widens to eight lanes and enters the

New Jersey Meadowlands New Jersey Meadowlands, also known as the Hackensack Meadowlands after the primary river flowing through it, is a general name for the large ecosystem of wetlands in northeastern New Jersey in the United States, a few miles to the west of ...

, crossing into East Rutherford and then passing over NJ Transit's

Bergen County Line The Bergen County Line is a commuter rail line and service owned and operated by New Jersey Transit in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The line loops off the Main Line between the Meadowlands and Glen Rock, with trains continuing in either dir ...

and

Berrys Creek Berry's Creek (sometimes referred to as ''Berrys Creek'' or ''Berry Creek'') is a tributary of the Hackensack River in the New Jersey Meadowlands in Bergen County, New Jersey. The creek watershed contains a diverse array of wetlands, marshes, and ...

. Route 3 passes to the south of the

, containing

MetLife Stadium MetLife Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, 5 mi (8 km) west of New York City. Opened in 2010 to replace Giants Stadium, it serves as the home for the New York Giants a ...

(the home stadium of the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

and

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

), and the

Meadowlands Racetrack The Meadowlands Racetrack (currently referred to as Meadowlands Racing & Entertainment) is a horse racing track at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States. The track hosts both thoroughbred racing and harness ...

. The route narrows back to six lanes and comes to a ramp which provides access to the Western Spur of the

(

). Route 3 interchanges with Route 120 and the

carriageway A carriageway (British English) or roadway (North American English) consists of a width of road on which a vehicle is not restricted by any physical barriers or separation to move laterally. A carriageway generally consists of a number of tra ...

s separate. The route passes under the Western Spur of the New Jersey Turnpike and becomes eight lanes again. The Route 3 Bridge crosses the

Hackensack River The Hackensack River is a river, approximately 45 miles (72 km) long, in the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, emptying into Newark Bay, a back chamber of New York Harbor. The watershed of the river includes part of the subur ...

into

Secaucus Secaucus ( ) is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the town's population was 16,264,Hudson County. It interchanges with the Meadowlands Parkway and continues southeast into a residential area with the carriageways joining back together. At the interchange with CR 681 ( Paterson Plank Road), Route 3 widens into a local-express lane configuration with three express lanes and local lanes each in the eastbound direction and two express lanes and three local lanes in the westbound direction. The route passes by the

Mill Creek Mall The Mall at Mill Creek, formerly known as Mill Creek Mall, is a strip mall located in Secaucus, New Jersey in the New Jersey Meadowlands. It is situated in the Harmon Meadow Plaza complex, approximately from New York City, and is owned by Hartz ...

and crosses under the Eastern Spur of the New Jersey Turnpike (I-95). Route 3 comes to an eastbound exit and entrance with Harmon Meadow Boulevard and features a

cloverleaf interchange A cloverleaf interchange is a two-level interchange in which all turns are handled by slip roads. To go left (in right-hand traffic; reverse directions in left-driving regions), vehicles first continue as one road passes over or under the ...

with Paterson Plank Road. The route crosses the Penhorn Creek into

. In North Bergen, the route comes to a truck-restricted eastbound ramp for eastbound Route 495. Route 3 then interchanges with Route 495, which provides access to the New Jersey Turnpike and the

. Past this interchange, the local-express lane configuration ends and Route 3 heads southeast as a four-lane highway. The route meets a westbound exit and entrance for the North Bergen Park & Ride, a

park and ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system ( ...

lot serving NJ Transit buses, and passes over

New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway The New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (or New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad and also known as the Susie-Q or the Susquehanna) is a Class II American freight railway operating over 400 miles (645 km) of track in t ...

's New Jersey Subdivision line and

Conrail Shared Assets Operations Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CSAO) is the commonly used name for modern-day Conrail ( reporting mark CRCX), an American railroad company. It operates three networks, the North Jersey, South Jersey/Philadelphia, and Detroit Shared Assets Area ...

' Northern Branch line before it comes to its terminus at a traffic light with US 1/9 south, with no direct access from Route 3 east to US 1/9 north.

History

Route 3 roughly follows the course of the Paterson and New York Plank Road (more commonly known as the Paterson Plank Road) legislated in 1851 to run from Paterson to a ferry at Hoboken. The portion of this road running east from Passaic was legislated as an unnumbered state route in 1926. In the

1927 New Jersey state highway renumbering In 1927, New Jersey's state highways were renumbered. The old system, which had been defined in sequence by the legislature since 1916, was growing badly, as several routes shared the same number, and many unnumbered state highways had been d ...

, Route 3 was legislated to run from the

border on the west shore of

to Route 1 (now US 1/9) in

Secaucus Secaucus ( ) is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the town's population was 16,264, 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.State of New Jersey, Laws of 1929, Chapter 126. Following the 1929 amendments, Route 3 ran from Paterson along today's Route 20, through

Passaic Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city had a total population of 70,537, ranking as the 16th largest municipality in New Jersey and an increase of 656 from the 69, ...

, Wallington, Carlstadt, and East Rutherford along local streets, and finally down Paterson Plank Road (part of which is today's Route 120) to Secaucus. Before 1938, a bypass around the original Paterson Plank Road bridge over the Hackensack River was built, parts of which were later incorporated into today's Route 120. As of this point, plans were in place to bypass the Plank Road to the north, going north of Wood Ridge and Wallington and replacing River Road up to Route 6, where it would rejoin the old alignment. In 1939, Route 3 was extended east along present-day Route 495 to the

into

. The section of what is now Route 3 from US 46 in Clifton to Route 120 in East Rutherford was planned to be built as a

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 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. 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 CR 602. In 1942, a spur of Route S3 in Clifton was commissioned; this became Route S3 Spur in 1948 and Route 161 in 1953.State of New Jersey, Laws of 1942, Chapter 77.State of New Jersey, Laws of 1948, Chapter 221. In the

1953 New Jersey state highway renumbering On January 1, 1953, the New Jersey Highway Department renumbered many of the State Routes. This renumbering was first proposed in 1951 in order to reduce confusion to motorists. A few rules were followed in deciding what to renumber: *No state ro ...

, 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 through Secaucus (partly now known as Flanagan Way) became Route 153; the entire route was eliminated by the late 1980s. The remaining sections under state maintenance were designated as Route 20, still under the assumption that they would be joined in the future. In the mid-1950s, Route 3 was planned as one of the original routes of the

Interstate Highway System The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. T ...

; however, the New Jersey State Highway Department had deemed it too expensive to bring it up to

and I-280 was favored instead. In 1959, the Lincoln Tunnel approach was designated as Interstate 495 and Route 3 was truncated back to US 1/9 in

. Many improvements have been made to the Route 3 freeway. In the 1970s, the interchanges with Route 17, the

western spur, and Route 120 were improved with the construction of the

in the area. The bridge over the

, 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 US 1/9 was improved at a cost of $16 million. Plans were made to improve Route 3 near the Meadowlands Sports Complex with the construction of the American Dream shopping and entertainment complex. 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. Route 3 underwent a major reconstruction to modern highway standards with noise walls installed and bridge replacements, including the new

bridge that is now functional, between Main Avenue in Clifton and Route 17 in Rutherford. All work was completed by 2016. In a separate project, the roadway was resurfaced in 2013 from just west of the Route 17 north interchange to US 1/9 in

. The NJDOT is rebuilding the interchange at US 46 and Valley Road in

. This project will reconfigure ramps, bring bridges up to standard, and will provide for three-lane connections between Route 3 and US 46. It is projected to cost more than $250 million. Construction on the first contract began in December 2015 with completion by October 2019. Construction on the second contract began in February 2020. In January 2022, the officials announced funding of a project to replace the 1934 eastbound bridge over the Hackensack River. The new bridge structure will be able to support adding light rail over the bridge in the future. The plan is to have a new light rail line from

Secaucus Junction Secaucus Junction (known as Secaucus Transfer during planning stages and signed simply as Secaucus) is a NJ Transit Rail Operations commuter rail hub in Secaucus, New Jersey. The $450 million, station opened on December 15, 2003, and was ded ...

and

, but funding for the light rial is not immediately available.

In popular culture

Route 3 was the inspiration for a story in ''

'' in 2004 by

, for its iconic views of the

skyline. In this story, Frazier describes a bus journey along the route, mentioning scenes along the road such as traffic congestion, the

, and the Tick Tock Diner off Route 3 in

. He also described a walking journey he once took into

along Route 3, encountering heavy, noisy traffic speeding by and debris along the side of the road. In a

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves ...

sketch featuring

Horatio Sanz Horacio Sanz (born June 4, 1969), better known by his stage name Horatio Sanz, is a Chilean-born American actor and comedian. He was a cast member on '' Saturday Night Live'' from 1998 to 2006. Early life Sanz was born on June 4, 1969 in Sant ...

and

Derek Jeter Derek Sanderson Jeter ( ; born June 26, 1974) is an American former professional baseball shortstop, businessman, and baseball executive. As a player, Jeter spent his entire 20-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the New York Yankees ...

, the fictional business "Derek Jeter's Taco Hole" is on Route 3 in

Nutley, New Jersey Nutley is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 30,143. What is now Nutley was originally incorporated as Franklin Township by an act of the New Jersey Legisla ...

between Kinko's and "El Duque's Shoe Repair". (Route 3 does not actually pass through Nutley.)

Exit list

References

External links

An enlarged view of road jurisdiction at the confluence of NJ 3 and NJ 46 in CliftonAn enlarged view of road jurisdiction at the confluence of NJ 3 and NJ 17 in RutherfordAn enlarged view of road jurisdiction at the confluence of NJ 3, NJ 120 and I 95 in East RutherfordAn enlarged view of road jurisdiction at the confluence of NJ 3, NJ 495, I 95 / NJ Turnpike, US 1 in Secaucus and North BergenNew Jersey Roads: Route 3Police Scanner Frequencies for Route 3Speed Limits for State Roads
{{DEFAULTSORT:New Jersey Route 003 Transportation in Hudson County, New Jersey Transportation in Bergen County, New Jersey Transportation in Passaic County, New Jersey 003 Limited-access roads in New Jersey Freeways in the United States

Route description

History

In popular culture

Exit list

See also

References

External links