Interstate 287 or I -287 is an Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The highway, along with Interstate 287 in New York, forms a western and northern ring around the New York metropolitan area. The total route is 159 kilometers long, of which 109 kilometers lies in New Jersey. One passes through the endless row of small suburbs south and west of New York.

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Travel directions

De complete I-287 in New Jersey en New York.

The highway begins at a complex interchange with the Garden State Parkway, which runs from Atlantic City toward Paterson. The highway has 2×3 lanes and runs west through the wooded suburbs. A little further one crosses Interstate 95, the New Jersey Turnpike. Because all the suburbs are quite small, cities don’t really stand out as the main points on the route. There is a large industrial estate along the highway between Metuchen and Middlesex. Somerville also has business parks, so not everyone works in New York City. Via a cloverleaf with direct connecting arches you cross the Interstate 78, which runs from Allentown to Newark. I-287 turns northeast here. The area is densely forested, and the suburbs are sparsely built up. The I-287 forms here, as it were, the western border of the New York metropolitan area.

The suburbs are very spacious, with a very low population density, which hardly exceeds in the countryside. You pass Morristown, a slightly larger suburb, where you cross SR-24. At Parsippany, one crosses Interstate 80, which runs from Cleveland to New York. There are also 2×3 lanes available here. One crosses the Ramapo Mountains, and the landscape is more hilly, with some slopes. At Franklin Lakes, one crosses SR-208, a highway to Paterson. Mahwah crosses the New York border, where the highway continues as Interstate 287 in New York.

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History

As early as 1929, a New York highway ring was seen as necessary. The planned bypass was to begin at the Outerbridge Crossing between Staten Island and New Jersey and a second link across the Hudson between Rockland and Westchester County. In the early 1930s, a highway was proposed between Watchung and the Outerbridge Crossing. The Great Depression put these plans on hold for the time being. Official discussions started again in 1937 when a study indicated the need for a fast route between the Outerbridge Crossing, US 1, US 9 and US 22. Traffic increased rapidly after World War II and studies for a Middlesex Freeway resumed in 1947.

In 1951, New Jersey approved a study to determine routes for a highway between US 22 in Sommerville and NJ-17 in Mahwah, near the New York state border. Two years later, a similar study was conducted for the section between Sommerville and the Outerbridge Crossing, the same route proposed in 1937 and 1947. Governor Driscoll approved the construction of this southern route, but has not yet taken action on the northern section. The plans include a 30-kilometer 2×2 lane highway between the Outerbridge Crossing and US 22. For the 1965 plan year, traffic volumes of 25,000 vehicles per day were expected. In 1957, plans for a northern extension to the New York State Thruwayexcavated again after this highway opened. On June 26, 1956, a 150-mile New York bypass was added to the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways. In September 1958 this became I-287 after the beginning of the Interstate Highways.

Construction began on Interstate 287 in Middlesex and Somerset County in 1958. The first sections opened in the early 1960s, and in 1964 there was a through route between the New Jersey Turnpike at Metuchen and Interstate 78 at Bedminster. In the 1960s there was much opposition to the construction of the highway, especially in and around Morristown. There is a National Historic Park here, but in the end the opponents lost out. In 1967 50 kilometers had been completed. In 1973, I-287 was completed between the New Jersey Turnpike and US 202 in Montville.

The northern section between Montville and the New York State Thruway was delayed, and three alternatives were considered, a western, central and eastern alternative. In 1982 the central route was chosen, with a cost of 1 billion dollars for 32 kilometers. Construction of this section finally began in 1988, which was completed on November 19, 1993 after nearly 40 years of planning and litigation. In August 1994, the interchange with the New York State Thruway was opened.

Opening history

Traffic intensities

Lane Configuration