A temporary shield at the western end of I-280, detouring I don't know what, but it should stop.


The Lazy A Ranch relocates to Livingston, or a rare non-button copy letter failure.


Signs keep getting broken on I-280 - trucks or vandals? The signage at Exit 8 is new, but nothing tells you what county you're in. I hope this type of county route signage isn't a trend.


Rare instance of both shields together. This was well before the Turnpike Authority merged with the Highway Authority (the Parkway's former governing body).


On the ramp of Exit 11B, then continuing on Freeway Drive East.


Ending on Freeway Drive East once more. This was just Exit 12A.


The signage in this part of I-280 is original to 1970. Not sure why they lack exit numbers, since other similarly old signage seems to have it. The last assembly is on the C-D road that takes traffic from the onramp for Exit 12A (Harrison/Clinton Sts.) and mixes it with Exit 12B traffic.


Coming down from Exit 12A into the C-D road, first an advance shield on Freeway Drive East, then the much older (i.e. original to 1970) shield on the ramp itself. This is the last original shield remaining, after ones at Exits 5, 6, and 10 have all been removed. (Luckily, I've photographed them.)


The last overpass in the interchange, which would be Oraton Pkwy. N/B, not S/B. That's the idea of frontage roads - the NB road is on the NB side of the freeway.


Looking eastward from a cross street toward the interchange.


The ongoing construction of the new two-lane ramp from the Garden State Parkway to I-280 WB. These November 2007 photos were taken just before bridge beams started going up. As I write this in April 2008, concrete is already being cured on the overpass.


March 2008 photos with all of the bridge steel in place, including the sea of green reinforcement bars, taken from Oraton Parkway NB.


The last picture is on the 6th St. onramp to I-280 and... not Raymond Boulevard. There's extra space on that sign and on the other signs above, and that's your clue that this was going to be NJ 75. 75 was going to be a depressed freeway, just like I-280, cutting through Newark and tying in to Exit 56 on I-78. It would have gone north to NJ 21 and south to US 1-9, a much-needed relief route for 21 through traffic; see more on Steve Anderson's NJ 75 page. Community opposition killed this freeway, as useful as it would be to get to the airport, despite the fact that community opposition couldn't stop I-280 through East Orange. Its legacy is that six through lanes, done in concrete like the rest of I-280 had originally been, continue underneath EB I-280 and abruptly come to a traffic light, while four exit lanes, done in asphalt as exit ramps to NJ 58, carry most of the traffic into and out of the split. You cannot follow I-280 without switching lanes due to exits 12A-B adding/taking lanes.


By the way, the I-280 shield fell off the last sign (the one on the bridge) sometime before summer 2004. Still hasn't been replaced in 2008. Click to see the pre-2004 version.


CR 508 EB is the way to the Holland Tunnel; traffic splits evenly between the remainder of I-280 to the NJ Turnpike and the ramp to 508 east, and it's a two-lane ramp. There were plans to extend the freeway further, meeting NJ 7 and possibly even tying into NJ 139 and US 1-9. But for now, 280 still ends at the original Exit 15W, which until 1971 just went to CR 508.


Along the way, US 1-9 uses a triangular, pointy shield to detour traffic via NJ 21 to I-280, then along CR 508 toward the Tonnelle Circle.


There's a lot to digest when you pass through the tolls at the Turnpike. The first couple of signs no one pays any attention to, but then you come to VMS's. You have to pay attention, because sometimes the ramp to the NB western spur (the north I-95 of the second pic and the way north I-95 traffic is normally directed) will close, and NB I-95 traffic all goes to the eastern spur (normally marked as the Lincoln Tunnel, although it's technically I-95 and does go to the George Washington Bridge). Or the SB ramp will close and one of the two spurs will take motorists and U-turn them at Exit 16E or 16W.
Oh, even though I-280 is Exit 15W, not only is it a full interchange with both spurs, but it in fact ends at the eastern spur, at the ends of the two spindly ramps through the Meadowlands. Exit 15E, US 1-9 Truck to the Holland Tunnel or Newark Airport, is also accessible by both spurs. But Exit 17 to Secaucus is only on the eastern spur.

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Onto the WB side
Exit 12B (Garden State Parkway) ramps
Back to I-280 main page

I-280's eastern end, the NJ Turnpike (I-95)
I-280 runs through Essex County
Exit 4 to Eisenhower Parkway
Exits 4-6 to Livingston
Exit 5 to CR 527
(Exit 12B) to the Garden State Parkway
Exit 15 to NJ 21
Exit 16 or 17 to CR 508
To US 1-9
Back to NJ Roads
Back to Roads