Interstate 80 in New Jersey

Interstate 80 (I-80) is a major Interstate Highway in the United States, running from San Francisco, California, eastward to the New York metropolitan area. In New Jersey, I-80 runs for 68.35 miles (110.00 km) from the Delaware Water Gap Toll Bridge at the Pennsylvania state line to its eastern terminus at I-95 in Teaneck, Bergen County. I-95 continues from the end of I-80 to the George Washington Bridge for access to New York City. The highway runs parallel to U.S. Route 46 (US 46) through rural areas of Warren and Sussex counties before heading into more suburban surroundings in Morris County. As the road continues into Passaic and Bergen counties, it heads into more urban areas. The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) identifies I-80 within the state as the Christopher Columbus Highway.

A freeway along the I-80 corridor had been planned in 1936 and again in 1955 to provide relief along US 46 between the George Washington Bridge and the Delaware Water Gap. With the establishment of the Interstate Highway System, the planned freeway, which had been identified in some planning documents as the Bergen–Passaic Expressway (which same name is also applied sometimes to I-95/Turnpike north of the I-80 interchange), was incorporated into I-80. The freeway was built across New Jersey in stages from the 1960s to 1973. The westernmost four miles (6.4 km) in New Jersey was originally a rerouting of US 611 when built, although that route was later realigned back into Pennsylvania. In the 1990s, high-occupancy vehicle lanes (HOV lanes) had existed on a part of I-80 in Morris County, but the HOV lanes were opened to regular traffic because they were not used frequently.