 Route 4 was legislated in 1927 to run from Cape May to the George Washington Bridge . This route replaced pre @-@ 1927 Route 14 between Cape May and Seaville , what was planned as pre @-@ 1927 Route 19 between Seaville and Absecon , pre @-@ 1927 Route 4 between Absecon and Lakewood and South Amboy and Rahway , and a spur of pre @-@ 1927 Route 7 between Lakewood and Freehold , with the rest of the route to be built on a new alignment . The present @-@ day routing of U.S. Route 9 between Cape May and South Amboy and Route 35 between South Amboy and Rahway bore the Route 4 designation prior to 1953 , when the route was defined onto its current alignment . Several spurs of Route 4 existed before 1953 and the Garden State Parkway was originally planned as a bypass of Route 4 that was to be designated Route 4 Parkway . Today 's stretch of the route was completed by 1934 , not long after the opening of the George Washington Bridge in 1931 . It was planned to be upgraded to a full freeway , but plans never materialized . Despite this , the route has seen improvements , such as to the interchanges with Route 17 in 1999 and with Route 208 in 2002 . 
