U.S. Route 46

U.S. Route 46 (US 46) is an east–west U.S. Highway completely within the state of New Jersey, running for , making it the shortest signed, non-spur U.S. Highway. The west end is at an interchange with Interstate 80 (I-80) and Route 94 in Columbia, Warren County, on the Delaware River. The east end is in the middle of the George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River in Fort Lee, Bergen County and US 1-9. Throughout much of its length, US 46 is closely paralleled by I-80. US 46 is a major local and suburban route, with some sections built to or near freeway standards and many other sections arterials with jughandles. The route runs through several communities in the northern part of New Jersey, including Hackettstown, Netcong, Dover, Parsippany-Troy Hills, Wayne, Clifton, Ridgefield Park, Palisades Park, and Fort Lee. It crosses over the Upper Passaic River at several points. The road has been ceremonially named the United Spanish–American War Veterans Memorial Highway.

What is now US 46 was originally designated as three separate routes. Pre-1927 Route 5 was created in 1916 to follow the road from Delaware to Denville, pre-1927 Route 12 in 1917 to follow the route between Hackettstown and Paterson, and pre-1927 Route 10 in 1917 to run between Paterson and Edgewater. In 1927, Route 6 was legislated to run from Delaware east to the George Washington Bridge, replacing portions of Routes 5 and 12 and paralleling the former Route 10, which itself became Route 5 and Route 10N, the latter being shortly removed from the state highway system. In 1936, US 46 was designated to run from US 611 in Portland, Pennsylvania, east to the George Washington Bridge. The route replaced Pennsylvania Route 987 to the Delaware Bridge over the Delaware, and from there followed Route 6 across New Jersey. In 1953, the Route 6 designation was removed from US 46 in New Jersey, and later that year, the route was realigned to end at US 611 in Columbia, New Jersey, replacing a part of Route 94. US 611 had been brought into New Jersey by two new bridges over the Delaware River, following a freeway between them that became a part of I-80. In 1965, US 611 was aligned back into its original Pennsylvania route (which from 1953 until 1965 was US 611 Alternate), and US 46's western terminus remained as an interchange ramp with I-80 and Route 94.

Route description

Warren County

US 46 begins at a complex interchange with I-80 and Route 94 near the Portland–Columbia Toll Bridge leading to Pennsylvania Route 611 in the community of Columbia in Knowlton Township, Warren County. From this interchange, the route heads southeast along the east bank of the Delaware River as a four-lane divided highway briefly before narrowing into a two-lane undivided road. The road passes through wooded mountainous areas before reaching the community of Delaware. In Delaware, US 46 intersects Route 163, the approach to the former Delaware Bridge, before passing a few commercial establishments. From here, the route continues alongside the river, passing more rural areas of woods and farms with occasional development as it enters White Township. US 46 makes a sharp turn to the east away from the Delaware River, widening into a four-lane divided highway again as it bypasses the town of Belvidere and has a few businesses on it. The road turns back into a two-lane undivided road and comes to a crossroads with CR 519. Past this intersection, US 46 continues through rural sectors with some business before coming to the northern terminus of Route 31.

From this point, the route continues east through dense woods prior to turning northeast into Liberty Township. The road passes through the community of Townsbury before crossing into Independence Township. Here, US 46 enters more agricultural areas and turns east again, with development increasing along the road as it passes through Great Meadows-Vienna. It continues southeast before entering Hackettstown, where the road becomes Main Street. In Hackettstown, the route crosses NJ Transit's Morristown Line and Montclair-Boonton Line before coming to an intersection with CR 517. Here, CR 517 forms a concurrency with US 46, and the two routes continue southeast through the downtown area. At the intersection with the northern terminus of Route 182, CR 517 splits from US 46 by heading south on that route while US 46 continues to the east.

Morris and Essex counties

Shortly after the Route 182 intersection, the route crosses the Musconetcong River into Washington Township, Morris County, where it heads back into rural surroundings. About a mile into Morris County, US 46 divides and becomes a four-lane highway with a wide median. The road passes a median park and ride lot as it turns north and crosses over a mountain. It continues into Mount Olive Township, taking a sharp turn to the east before the road becomes undivided while remaining four lanes. The road passes rural areas and development as it goes through Budd Lake. In this community, the route passes to the south of the namesake lake as it begins to turn northeast and then north. The road heads northeast again before it enters Netcong and becomes a divided highway as it comes to an interchange with I-80/ US 206. Within this interchange, the lanes of US 46 split. From this point, the route narrows back into a two-lane undivided road and runs through developed areas of Netcong a short distance to the south of NJ Transit's Morristown Line/Montclair-Boonton Line. US 46 meets Route 183 at an intersection (formerly Netcong Circle) before widening into a four-lane undivided road and leaving Netcong for Roxbury Township. Here, the road passes through wooded areas, meeting I-80 at another interchange and briefly becoming a divided highway at the crossing under I-80 and again at the actual interchange. US 46 remains a divided highway with jughandles past this point, continuing southeast into the Ledgewood area.

At a three-way intersection which was formerly Ledgewood Circle, Route 10 begins straight while US 46 turns left to continue east as a two-lane undivided road through more development, crossing the Dover and Rockaway River Railroad's High Bridge Branch. Upon crossing the Dover and Rockaway River Railroad's Chester Branch and passing through Kenvil, the road enters Mine Hill Township, where the road becomes three lanes with two westbound lanes and one eastbound lane. The route passes through Wharton at its southern tip before continuing into Dover. US 46 narrows back into two lanes, becoming Blackwell Street as it passes St. Clare's Dover General Hospital. The road widens to four lanes as Blackwell Street splits from it at an eastbound exit and westbound entrance prior to a bridge over the Rockaway River and NJ Transit's Morristown Line/Montclair-Boonton Line. A short distance later, US 46 intersects the southern terminus of Route 15 and passes over the Dover and Rockaway River Railroad's Dover and Rockaway Branch. From here, the route continues on McFarland Street. US 46 continues east, entering Rockaway Township, where there is an intersection with CR 513. Past CR 513, the road narrows to two lanes as it heads northeast through Rockaway Borough before turning east and crossing the Rockaway River and the Dover and Rockaway River Railroad's Dover and Rockaway Branch. The route continues northeast, entering wooded residential areas as it heads into Denville and has a limited interchange with I-80, where it can only be entered to and from the westbound lane and where US 46 east can only be entered from the eastbound lane and to the eastbound lane. As it crosses under I-80, US 46 becomes a six-lane divided highway.

The road is lined with a moderate number of businesses, most with right-in/right-out (RIRO) access, as it continues southeast through Denville, narrowing to four lanes before coming to an interchange with Route 53. From this interchange, the route continues east before curving southeast and entering Mountain Lakes. In Mountain Lakes, US 46 crosses under the Montclair-Boonton Line before continuing into Parsippany-Troy Hills. Here, the road comes to US 202/ CR 511 before passing under I-287. At this point, the westbound direction of US 46 has a ramp to northbound I-287, with access to and from southbound I-287 provided by US 202. Past the I-287 crossing, the road comes to another partial interchange with I-80 near the western terminus of I-280. Past this interchange, US 46 widens to six lanes and enters Montville. In Montville, the route narrows back to four lanes, and has traffic light-controlled intersections with New Road and Hook Mountain Road/Chapin Road. It then has an interchange with Route 159 and makes a turn to the northeast. Upon crossing the Passaic River at Pine Brook, US 46 enters Essex County into Fairfield Township. A short distance into Essex County, US 46 has another interchange with Route 159 (Clinton Road), providing access to that route and to its continuation as CR 627 (Plymouth Street). Shortly farther along US 46, Route 159 and CR 627 meet it at a traffic light-controlled intersection, providing cross-traffic and turns onto US 46. Past this point, US 46 remains a surface road with RIRO-accessed driveways, but has several intersections controlled by interchanges. Within Fairfield, US 46 has interchanges with Hollywood Avenue and Passaic Avenue as well as two trumpet interchanges providing access to Fairfield Road, which runs a short distance to the south of US 46.

Passaic County

The route crosses the Passaic River again into Wayne in Passaic County. The median splits as the road passes to the north of the Willowbrook Mall, with an exit serving the shopping mall, before reaching the Spaghetti Bowl interchange with partial access to I-80 and full access to Route 23. Within this interchange, US 46 passes under the Montclair-Boonton Line again. From here, it passes businesses and many shopping centers with RIRO access as a six-lane highway, heading into Totowa. In this area, the route has interchanges with CR 640 and Route 62/CR 646. The road turns southeast, crossing the Passaic River a third time into Little Falls. At this point, US 46 runs along the Little Falls/ Woodland Park border, interchanging with CR 639 and Browertown Road. After the exit for Lower Notch Road, the route enters more wooded surroundings, interchanging with Notch Road/Rifle Camp Road before entering Clifton. Upon reaching Clifton, US 46 has an interchange with the western terminus of Route 3 and Valley Road (CR 621), with the Valley Road exit stitched into the Route 3 side of the highway fork. Prior to reconstruction of the interchanges, the Valley Road ramp exited before Route 3 began, and Route 3 branched off immediately after Valley Road.

Past Route 3, the highway narrows to four lanes, continuing east-northeast as a limited-access divided highway with some RIRO-accessed businesses still on it, though many roads are accessed through over and underpasses. US 46 has an exit for Van Houten Avenue/Grove Street before coming to a large interchange with the southern terminus of the Route 19 freeway, CR 509, and the Garden State Parkway. After this, the road passes over Norfolk Southern's Newark Industrial Track line and NJ Transit's Main Line and has an exit for Hazel Street/Paulison Avenue. US 46 then begins a brief concurrency with Piaget Avenue in Clifton with a series of connector streets and three intersections controlled by stoplights. After the third, at Day Street near Christopher Columbus Middle School, the two roads split at a fork, marked as an exit, with US 46 continuing eastbound to the left and Piaget Avenue continuing to the right. Vehicles traveling west on Piaget Avenue have access to US 46 westbound through use of a one way underpass that carries US 46 eastbound over it, and also have access to US 46 eastbound by a right-turn only lane near the intersection of Piaget Avenue and Fourth Street.

After the split, US 46 turns into a limited-access road again and passes under Main Avenue/CR 601 and Norfolk Southern's Passaic Spur line before coming to an interchange with the northern terminus of the Route 21 freeway. From this interchange, the route turns north along the west bank of the Passaic River, crossing the Garden State Parkway again before widening to six lanes and meeting the southern terminus of Route 20 at an interchange near the border of Paterson.

Bergen County

US 46 turns east and crosses the Passaic River a fourth and final time, entering Bergen County