The cute little Jersey freeway whose numbering really should follow NJ 208, since between there and NJ 4's end at NJ 20 there's not much to see (and it's only a surface arterial).


EB on Broadway approaching NJ 20 and the start of NJ 4. Broadway extends west through Paterson, ending just a few blocks above the newly extended end of NJ 19. If you take this plus the opening statement on the page, you can tell I'm in favor of a reroute... extending NJ 19 along Broadway (NJ 4 is Broadway until NJ 208) and 4 along 208.


Things are a bit different WB, lacking BGS's but with a mysterious LGS at the end of the Passaic River bridge/NJ 20 overpass, that once read CLIFTON with a right arrow pointing down the ramp to NJ 20 SB. Thanks to Robert Squadrito for this information.


The BGS's in the first photo look funnier than usual because they're not BGS's, they're actually LGS's. In NJ in the 1960's and 1970's, LGS's were made with a lighter green background, and the letters were painted on (or in this rare case, button copy), while BGS's were a duller shade of green and used button copy. As you can see, the old LGS's tend to fade quite badly. Note that cute little ONLY. West of here, NJ 4 is a surface arterial, while NJ 208 retains that Jersey freeway feel. All of these WB signs are now gone. The photos you see here are courtesy HNTB Corporation, and if you click on the first one, you'll see a slightly newer version courtesy Doug Kerr, which shows that the right lane of NJ 4 went from splitting between 4 and 208 to just following 208 (with a square ONLY legend and an erased arrow).


The base of the WB Saddle River Road exit.


Last old sign EB.


Tape comes to NJ 4 WB at NJ 17, with lanes for 17, a U-turn, and WEST 4.


WB through Paramus, the NJ 17 BGS's are the only nonreflective ones left standing on this part of NJ 4 (there are matching ones at the south end of NJ 208, which you'll see by following the link at bottom). When the obscenely tight NJ 17/NJ 4 cloverleaf was redone, removing a traffic nightmare that had cars forming two lines around the inner loops and stopped across all three lanes of NJ 17 trying to weave, most signage was replaced, but a couple of outliers made it through. Now, there are two flyovers here, and some split roadways.


Obvious error, SB on River Road in Teaneck.


Obvious oldness, NB on River Road.


The last interesting EB signs before a 5-lane section (EB lanes narrow to just two) and the George Washington Bridge approach.


WB signage in the same area, including inconsistent underlining (an all-caps street name would alleviate confusion better, but as you can see the old LGS's have/had underlines as well) and a diagrammatic sign. These signs are all in the Hackensack River area; this Grand Avenue is in River Edge, and Hackensack Ave. is also CR 503. Click on the third photo for an unobstructed view of the exit sign.


WB onramp from Grand Ave. in Hackensack.


NJ 93 runs southward along CR 501 between NJ 4 and US 1-9, crossing US 46 but generally being useless - it should just be plain old 501 the whole way and 501 SPUR or the like at the bottom (where 501 heads off for NJ 63). At least there's a nice old shield among the WB signs shown here. As you can see, Grand Avenue is a popular name, and TRUCK CR 505 is a very persistent route, having made its way over from US 9W and the GWB Plaza area.


Broad Ave. NB, the next-to-last interchange west of I-95 (just west of Jones Rd.). The wrong font is augmented with an upside-down inch mark, while the old white sign in the second photo is in surprisingly good repair.


The original pavement still covers the Broad Ave./NJ 4 EB ramp, which also serves a local neighborhood (hence the "RT-4 (N.Y.C.)" and "TO NY" homemade signs) right before the 4 merge. This ramp is barely two-way up to these signs to get people out of the neighborhood, but the EB curve onto the ramp would be too tight to make an off-ramp here.


The first interchange west of I-95, the WB offramp to Jones Road.


Holy Moses, another one! And then... another one! These are the third and fourth signs with outlined US shields, with two on the US 1/9/46 approach to the bridge. There's also an outlined US 46 shield on Fletcher Avenue just before it becomes US 9W. Thank the Port Authority for leaving these around (well, maybe they can't find the last one, which I barely spotted in slow traffic), and thank the Turnpike Authority for not removing the last old sign from the top of I-95. Yes, NJ 4 merges with the lower-level local lanes (I love alliteration), so by this point this sign counts as an I-95 advance even though the merge hasn't quite happened yet.

NJ 4 ends at NJ 20
Onto NJ 208
Onto the Garden State Parkway
Onto NJ 17
Onto CR 503
Onto NJ 93 and CR 501
Follow TRUCK 505 to CR 505
Onto I-95
Toward US 1/9/46, US 9W, or the Palisades Interstate Parkway
Proposed NJ 4 freeway upgrade on Steve Anderson's nycroads.com
Back to NJ Roads
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