New Jersey Route 24

New Jersey Route 24

Route 24 is a state highway in New Jersey, United States, that extends 10.42 mi (16.77 km) from a junction with Interstate 287 in Hanover Township in Morris County, passing southeast through Essex County, and ends at a junction with Interstate 78 in Springfield Township in Union County. The route is a four- to six-lane freeway its entire length.

The route was created in 1927 to run from Phillipsburg to Newark, replacing pre-1927 Route 12 from Phillipsburg to Penwell and Pre-1927 Route 5 from Morristown to Newark. The route was extended west to the new Easton–Phillipsburg Toll Bridge in 1938 but was cut back to U.S. Route 22 in the eastern part of Phillipsburg in 1953. The western terminus was cut back further around 1970 to Hackettstown with the route west of there becoming part of Route 57. The freeway alignment of Route 24 between the John F. Kennedy Parkway and Interstate 78 was completed in 1972.

With the completion of this freeway, Route 24 east of the John F. Kennedy Parkway became Route 124. The freeway was completed between the abandoned Tri-Borough Road interchange and the JFK Parkway in the 1970s but was not opened until 1992, when the rest of the freeway to Interstate 287 was completed after years of legal, environmental and budgetary problems. At this time, the alignment of Route 24 between U.S. Route 202 in Morristown and the JFK Parkway became a western extension of Route 124 while the route was officially eliminated between Hackettstown and Morristown as it followed county-maintained routes. The former route between Hackettstown and Morristown is still referred to as Route 24 by many and is still signed as such due to local outcry.