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 Delaware ...

. 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 Scotia ...

Passaic County Passaic County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of New Jersey that is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the population of Passaic County was enumerated at 524,118, an increase of 22,892 (4.6%) from t ...

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 a ...

, Hudson County. The route is a limited-access highway for its entire length, and intersects many major roads, including US 46, which takes travelers to

Interstate 80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one of the or ...

(I-80) west for commuting out of the city-area, Garden State Parkway 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 consi ...

( I-95) 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 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

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; 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 F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche, is a Swiss multinational healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on the SIX ...

's former American headquarters in Nutley, the Meadowlands Sports Complex and American Dream Meadowlands 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 Weeh ...

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 N ...

, 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 to Secaucus. In 1929, the western terminus was cut back to

Paterson Paterson may refer to: People * Paterson (surname) * Paterson (given name) Places Australia *Paterson, New South Wales *Paterson River, New South Wales * Division of Paterson, an electoral district in New South Wales *Paterson, Queensland, a lo ...

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 Paterson Plank Road is a road that runs through Passaic, Bergen and Hudson Counties in northeastern New Jersey. The route, originally laid in the colonial era, connects the city of Paterson and the Hudson River waterfront. It has largely been su ...

to Secaucus. It was extended east to the Lincoln Tunnel in 1939. The limited-access 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 Interstate 495 (I-495) is the designation for several Interstate Highways in the United States, all of which are related to Interstate 95, listed from south to north: * The Capital Beltway, a beltway around Washington, D.C., running through Virgini ...

. The Route 3 expressway 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

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 ...

with a Jersey barrier. It is not up to

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 Garden State Parkway, where it passes south of the Allwood Road Park & Ride serving NJ Transit 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 interchanges with CR 622 (Bloomfield Avenue), before it passes over Norfolk Southern'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 Mainline, ''Main line'', or ''Main Line'' may refer to: Transportation Railway * Main line (railway), the principal artery of a railway system * Main line railway preservation, the practice of operating preserved trains on an operational railw ...

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 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 N ...

, crossing into East Rutherford and then passing over NJ Transit's Bergen County Line and Berrys Creek. Route 3 passes to the south of the Meadowlands Sports Complex, containing MetLife Stadium (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 division. ...

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 J ...

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 ...

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

( I-95). Route 3 interchanges with Route 120 and the carriageways 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 (

), 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, Secaucus, New Jersey in the New Jersey Meadowlands. It is situated in the Harmon Meadow Plaza complex, approximately from New York City, ...

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 Lincoln Tunnel. 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 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 th ...

's New Jersey Subdivision line and Conrail Shared Assets Operations' 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

) 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 Greenwood Lake 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

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 69,7 ...

, Wallington, Carlstadt, and East Rutherford along local streets, and finally down

(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 Lincoln Tunnel 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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. 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 Route 20, or Highway 20, may refer to: International * European route E20 Australia * Sturt Highway (NSW/VIC/SA) * Yarra Bank Highway Brazil * BR-020 Canada * Alberta Highway 20 * British Columbia Highway 20 * Manitoba Highway 20 *New Br ...

, 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. Th ...

; however, the

New Jersey State Highway Department The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) is the agency responsible for transportation issues and policy in New Jersey, including maintaining and operating the state's highway and public road system, planning and developing transportat ...

had deemed it too expensive to bring it up 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 ...

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 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 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 to MetLife Stadium and American Dream Meadowlands, but funding for the light rail 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 Meadowlands Sports Complex, 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 a ...

sketch featuring Horatio Sanz 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 FedEx Office Print & Ship Services Inc. (doing business as FedEx Office; formerly FedEx Kinko's, and earlier simply Kinko's) is an American retail chain that provides an outlet for FedEx Express and FedEx Ground (including Home Delivery) shippin ...

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

003 003, O03, 0O3, OO3 may refer to: *003, fictional British 00 Agent *003, former emergency telephone number for the Norwegian ambulance service (until 1986) *1990 OO3, the asteroid 6131 Towen * OO3 gauge model railway *''O03 (O2)'' and other related ...

Limited-access roads in New Jersey Freeways in the United States