The section of I-80 through the Delaware Water Gap had already opened on December 16, 1953, running from the Delaware Water Gap Toll Bridge to Route 94 at Columbia. This road was signed as a realignment of US 611 from Pennsylvania, later receiving the I-80 designation. The old alignment of US 611 in Pennsylvania had become US 611 Alternate. By 1966, I-80 had been completed from Netcong to Denville and from Paterson to I-95. By 1969, the section between I-280 in Parsippany-Troy Hills and Route 23 in Wayne was finished. Also around this time, US 611 was moved off of I-80 and back into Pennsylvania, replacing US 611 Alternate. By 1971, the section between Wayne and Paterson was completed along with the part between US 202 and I-280. A section between US 46 in Denville and US 202 in Parsippany-Troy Hills, was opened in September 1973. Also in 1973, the section between US 206 in Netcong and US 46 and Route 94 in Columbia was completed, and the interchange in Columbia was realigned into a complex array of ramps.