 Around the time the Stickel Bridge opened , the Essex Freeway was planned to connect US 46 in Morris County east to the New Jersey Turnpike in Hudson County , with the intention of alleviating traffic along Route 10 . During planning for the Interstate Highway System in the 1950s , the Bureau of Public Roads proposed an Interstate Highway along Route 3 , to the north of Newark . The New Jersey State Highway Department countered with the proposed Essex Freeway , which would run from I @-@ 80 to the New Jersey Turnpike ( I @-@ 95 ) via the existing Route 58 , saying that the Route 3 corridor " does not meet Interstate standards , and cannot be economically converted to such standards . " The Essex Freeway was selected as the interstate corridor , which was called FAI Corridor 105 before being designated I @-@ 280 in 1958 . 
