US 22 joins the highway here, and NJ 173 continues as the two-lane old 22 right next to it all the way out to Clinton; the old road goes as far as where 22 diverges from I-78 again, and there is a WB 22 ramp that turns into it. Notice that the first BGS has a square border around the exit tab, while the remaining signs have rounded borders in that location. As you'll see on this page, older (non-reflective) BGS's are square, and newer reflective ones are rounded. All of these are Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission signs, anyway, since in order to get this section of I-78 built into Pennsylvania all of the new freeway was handed over to that authority. (And it was rerouted way around the south of Alpha instead of straight across the north of it thanks to NIMBYs.) Also notice the remnants of the word "ALT", referring to NJ 122's former designation as Alt. US 22.


The last photo, courtesy Scott Colbert, probably wasn't around for long. I imagine the overhead sign stayed instead of the ground sign, even though it seems to be designed more to PennDOT standards than NJDOT (if you overlook the NJ-typical square corners).


Old, unusual signs reward he who travels Exit 7.


For a newer (reflective background) sign, you would expect this to mention CR 513, which begins its multiplex with NJ 173 right here.



See the eastbound side for annotation on the split for NJ 31 (and why NB comes before SB); Exit 16 really goes to NJ 173 East just before it ends at NJ 31.


Beaver Ave. EB at and then onto I-78, where as you can see one can also access US 22 EB (and then U-turn on that ramp to head west, if you're in the know). See, the best signs have to be hunted down.


The last two are on the ramp to I-287. In recent years, the US 202 shields somehow came off the advance signs - and one was replaced by a NJ 202 shield! Exit 26 is now Somerset CR 665, and has been for many years, but the sign predates the decommissioning. If NJ 202 can be updated, why not CR 665?


The reason this signage is newer than that around it is because Exit 43 was WB-only for many years. 43 still has more work to be done to it, as the WB exit (with original signage) only goes to CR 655 NB.


In the last two photos, the Express Lanes fly toward the NJ Turnpike while the Local Lanes serve all the exits between. The upcoming NJ 24 interchange is where most traffic piles onto the remaining concrete-paved miles of I-78, into both sets of lanes. The section of highway to the east was one of the first on 78, actually constructed as both I-78 and NJ 24 (to which an overhead sign on the Garden State Parkway attests). Until 1986, all traffic was using NJ 24 from here westward. Due to this bias, when I-78 was constructed westward, two things happened. The Local and Express lanes were brought together into one mainline immediately west of the interchange (I-78 Local WB gives itself almost entirely to NJ 24, while I-78 Express traffic to 24 must exit to the local lanes), and the EB-WB/WB-EB ramps are fairly tight. The EB-WB ramp is particularly vicious, with a number of overturns and side scrapes. It doesn't help that this is a left exit made blind by the I-78 EB Express lanes overpassing it, followed by a left merge into fast-moving 24 WB traffic.


Courtesy Anthony Simon, this is the 1970's-era sign that still remained by the time this stretch of I-78 opened, but has been gone for a long time. It proves that signs were erected as I-78 was constructed, not when it actually opened.

Eastward on I-78
Over to the WB lanes
Back to US 22 main page
Back to I-78 main page

Exit 3 to NJ 122
Exits 3, 7, 15 to NJ 173
Exit 16 or 17 to NJ 31
Exit 29 to I-287
Exit 29 to US 202, US 206, or both
Exit 29 to I-80
Exit 33 to CR 525
Exit 36 to CR 651
Exit 40 to CR 531
Exit 45 to CR 527
Exit 48 to NJ 24
To NJ Turnpike (I-95), US 1/9, NJ 124, NJ 82, or the Garden State Parkway
Back to New Jersey Roads
Back to Roads