Everything about New Jersey Route 495 totally explained
Route 495 is a 3.45-mile (5.55 km)
freeway that connects the
New Jersey Turnpike (
Interstate 95) at exits 16E and 17 to the
Lincoln Tunnel, providing access to
midtown Manhattan. Until 1989, the road was
Interstate 495, but the
Mid-Manhattan Expressway that would have connected it to New York's
Interstate 495 (Long Island Expressway) was cancelled. The road is owned and operated by the
New Jersey Department of Transportation between
Route 3 and Park Avenue near the
Union City/
Weehawken border; the road between the Turnpike and Route 3 is owned by the
New Jersey Turnpike Authority, and the road east of Park Avenue, including the "helix" used to get down the
New Jersey Palisades, is owned by the
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Route description
NJ 495 officially begins at the Exit 16E offramp of the northbound lanes of the
New Jersey Turnpike near the boundary of
Secaucus and
North Bergen. The main roadway heads east through North Bergen, where it has a complex interchange with
NJ 3 about 0.8 miles later. This interchange also provides access to
US 1-9. After another 0.4 miles, it has interchange with
County Route 501, which uses 30th Street and 31st Street as
collector/distributor roads. East of this junction, NJ 495 enters
Union City where there's an exit for
Weehawken and
Hoboken. NJ 495 then enters Weehawken as the roadway loops around itself (0.6 miles) to reach the entrance of the
Lincoln Tunnel. At the New York state line, the road continues as
New York State Route 495.
Since 1971, one of the westbound lanes is converted during the morning rush hour to a
contraflow bus lane, known as the "XBL". It is used by buses headed east, mainly to the
Port Authority Bus Terminal just past the Lincoln Tunnel in Manhattan, serving over 60,000 bus commuters each weekday morning.
History
The road was built as an approach to the Lincoln Tunnel, with the first section opening
December 22,
1937 with the first (now center) tube of the tunnel. This section ran only from the tunnel portal south through the
toll booths to a plaza with Park Avenue and
Hudson County Boulevard East. Marginal Street, providing access from Hudson County Boulevard East west over Park Avenue to 32nd Street and the
Bergen Turnpike, was also opened at that time. On
June 30,
1939, the Port Authority opened the rest of the approach, up the helix and west to
Route 3, and it was designated as part of Route 3.
At completion, the approach west of Park Avenue was designated a state highway.
The final section opened
January 15,
1952 with the completion of the
New Jersey Turnpike. The interchange (exit 16) only served traffic to and from the south; exit 17 at Route 3 served traffic towards the north on the Turnpike. The interchange has since been reconfigured, but the numbers remain the same (with the renumbering of 16 to 16E when the Western Spur of the Turnpike opened). In 1959, the road was renumbered from Route 3 to
Interstate 495 (even though the road is far from meeting Interstate standards), but in 1989 I-495 was decommissioned. However, the last Interstate shield wasn't replaced by a state route marker until 2003.
Exit list
There are no exit numbers on NJ 495.
| County |
Location |
Mile |
Destinations |
Notes |
| Hudson |
Secaucus |
0.00 |
|
Westbound exit and eastbound entrance |
| North Bergen |
0.19 |
|
Westbound exit and eastbound entrance |
| 0.78 |
– Park & Ride |
Eastbound exit and westbound entrance |
| 0.78 |
|
Westbound exit and eastbound entrance |
| 0.90 |
|
Westbound exit and eastbound entrance |
| Union City |
1.23 |
|
|
| 2.08 |
Park Avenue – Union City, Weehawken, Hoboken |
|
| Weehawken |
2.23 |
Kennedy Boulevard East – Weehawken |
Westbound exit and eastbound entrance |
| 2.50 |
Hoboken |
Westbound exit and eastbound entrance (Last Exit in N.J.) |
| 2.60 | Lincoln Tunnel toll plaza (eastbound only, $8.00 for 2-axle passenger vehicles during these times: Weekdays 6:00-9:00 a.m., 4:00-7:00 p.m., Sat. & Sun. 12:00 Noon-8:00 p.m. $6.00 all other times using E-Z Pass) |
| 3.45 | New York state line.
Continues as New York State Route 495 into New York City. |
Further Information
Get more info on 'New Jersey Route 495'.
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