THE HOBOKEN FREEWAY: In 1956, the New Jersey State Highway Department, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and the Port of New York Authority reached a tentative agreement to construct the Hoboken Freeway. The Hoboken Freeway, a continuation of the New Jersey Turnpike-Newark Bay Extension (I-78), was to connect the Holland Tunnel and Lincoln Tunnel, and provide service to the Port Authority piers in Hoboken. At the time, construction of the freeway was estimated to cost $9 million.

One year later, the state highway department proposed that the Hoboken Freeway be included in the Interstate highway system. This route, along with the Essex Freeway (I-280), were to be granted Federal-aid (90-10) status in exchange for the previously granted NJ 3 corridor. Despite pleas from state highway officials that the road would serve commercial, industrial and defense interests, the Federal Bureau of Public Roads denied Interstate funding for the Hoboken Freeway. (However, the bureau did grant the exchange for the I-280 corridor.)

Transportation officials continued to push for the 2.2-mile-long, six-lane Hoboken Freeway well into the 1960's. The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) and the Tri-State Transportation Commission described the freeway, now officially designated as the NJ 85 Freeway, as follows:

Beginning at the Holland Tunnel approach roads, the NJ 85 Freeway will extend north through Jersey City, Hoboken and Weehawken to the Lincoln Tunnel. Alignment is in the planning stage.

This north-south route along the Hudson River waterfront will serve heavy industry, high-density residential areas and waterfront redevelopment areas. When completed, it will provide a needed controlled-access route along the Hudson, and an alternate route to the West Side Highway. This will allow better distribution of traffic to the river crossings. Finally, this route will relieve local arterials of congestion.

Most likely, the NJ 85 Freeway would have run north-south along the Palisade Avenue alignment between Jersey City and Weehawken. Construction of the freeway through this urbanized area was estimated to cost $110 million in 1969.

In the late 1960's, two separate planning agencies, the Regional Plan Association and the Tri-State Transportation Commission, recommended not only construction of the NJ 85 Freeway, but also an extension of the freeway north to the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee. The Hoboken Freeway was seen as integral in the redevelopment of Hudson River communities and in the protection of the Hudson River palisades. Nevertheless, the engineering, economic and political challenges of constructing a six-lane freeway through established communities were daunting.

THE HUDSON FREEWAY: In 1972, officials from NJDOT revived plans for the NJ 85 Freeway. Designed to relieve north-south traffic on Tonnelle Avenue (US 1 and US 9), the proposed freeway was to serve a two-mile-wide corridor stretching from Jersey City north to Fort Lee. Six different alignments were recommended for the proposed freeway, all of them west of the original alignment along the Hudson River.

The NJDOT report Master Plan for Transportation described the 7.6-mile-long route as follows:

At the present time, US 1-US 9 in Hudson and Bergen counties is a heavily traveled land service highway running along the west base of the Palisades Range. A combination of through trips and the demand for access to the industrial and commercial development along its length has led to frequent breakdowns in service. Although some measures have been taken to improve vehicular movement and improve safety by the installation of traffic signals, jughandles and center barrier curbs, the only long-range solution can be a freeway on new alignment.

Interchanges were to be located in the following locations:

• EXIT 1: I-78 (Newark Bay Extension and Holland Tunnel Approach) in Jersey City
  
• EXIT 2: US 1 and US 9 (Pulaski Skyway) in Jersey City
  
• EXIT 3: NJ 3 (Paterson Plank Road) in North Bergen
  
• EXIT 4: I-495 (Lincoln Tunnel Approach) in North Bergen
  
• EXIT 5: 69th Street in North Bergen
  
• EXIT 6: US 46 in Ridgefield
  
• EXIT 7: I-95 (George Washington Bridge Approach) in Fort Lee
  

Between I-78 and I-495 (now NJ 495), the NJ 85 Freeway was to have ten lanes, with a 2-3-3-2, local-express lane configuration. From I-495 north to I-95, the expressway was to have six lanes, with wide shoulders and variable medians.

The state applied to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to include the proposed NJ 85 Freeway in the Interstate highway system. However, the FHWA denied the submission. Through the efforts of community activists, the NJDOT quietly shelved the NJ 85 Freeway soon thereafter.

As late as the mid-1970's, the Regional Plan Association (RPA) continued to advocate construction of the NJ 85 Freeway, citing that existing expressways did not adequately serve

Between I-78 and I-495 (now NJ 495), the NJ 85 Freeway was to have ten lanes, with a 2-3-3-2, local-express lane configuration. From I-495 north to I-95, the expressway was to have six lanes, with wide shoulders and variable medians.

The state applied to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to include the proposed NJ 85 Freeway in the Interstate highway system. However, the FHWA denied the submission. Through the efforts of community activists, the NJDOT quietly shelved the NJ 85 Freeway soon thereafter.

As late as the mid-1970's, the Regional Plan Association (RPA) continued to advocate construction of the NJ 85 Freeway, citing that existing expressways did not adequately serve Hudson County. (It cited a theory that desirable expressway spacing was two miles in dense urban areas.) Despite the demise of the proposal some three decades ago, the New Jersey State Legislature has not yet removed the NJ 85 Freeway from the NJDOT official route log.

LIGHT RAIL REPLACES HIGHWAY PLAN: Most efforts since the 1970's have focused on developing mass transit in this north-south corridor. One important example has been the development of the 20.5-mile-long Hudson-Bergen light rail transit system, a public-private partnership between New Jersey Transit and 21st Century Rail Corporation. The first section of this light rail line opened in April 2000.

SOURCES: "Two Road Projects in Jersey Pushed," The New York Times (1/21/1956); "Bypass in Bayonne" by Joseph C. Ingraham, The New York Times (9/09/1956); "FAI 105 Interstate Highway Corridor: Recommendation Report," New Jersey State Highway Department (1957); Regional Highways: Status Report, Tri-State Transportation Commission (1962); "Bulldozing the Palisades," The New York Times (12/26/1966); Transportation 1985: A Regional Plan, Tri-State Transportation Commission (1966); New Jersey Highway Facts, New Jersey Department of Transportation (1967); New Jersey Highway Facts, New Jersey Department of Transportation (1969); "Report on the Status of the Federal-Aid Highway Program," Committee on Public Works, U.S. Senate (1970); "Freeway Planned Across Meadows," The New York Times (12/28/1972); Master Plan for Transportation, New Jersey Department of Transportation (1972); How To Save Urban America by William A. Caldwell, Regional Plan Association-Signet Books (1973); Hudson Transportation Management Association; Raymond C. Martin; Dan Moraseski; Scott Oglesby; William F. Yurasko.

• NJ 85 shield by Ralph Herman.
  

NJ 85 FREEWAY LINKS:

• NJ 85 (Steve Alpert)
  
• Expressway Plans (1964 map) (Regional Plan Association)
  

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