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When Eisenhower introduced the Interstate Defense and Highway System in 1956, there were grandiose plans for I-95 in New Jersey.

When construction started for I-295 in New Jersey in 1959 near Barrington, the highway was labeled NJ 60, the Delaware Valley Thruway. The Meyner administration succeeded in getting Route 60 folded into the interstate system as I-295, and it was so labeled when the first stretch opened in 1961. This was because the funding models for state highways and interstate highways under the 1956 law were radically different. The re-designation of Route 60 into I-295 saved New Jersey a lot of money.

The initial plans for I-95 would have brought the interstate into the New Jersey Turnpike near New Brunswick. By 1965, those plans were thrown into doubt due to cost. A variety of options were considered over the next decade.

I-195 was a case of New Jersey getting ahead of the game. Originally, NJ 38 was to branch from its existing route west of Pemberton, turn northwest as a freeway, and then pick up what is now NJ 138 near the shore. I-195's eastern path was new, but the western path was built on what would have been the Route 38 freeway. With federal monies now laid out on the interstate highway model, New Jersey paid less for it. The Route 38 freeway link from west of Pemberton was deleted from the state’s master plan, and the stretch of Route 38 by the shore was renumbered Route 138. The section of County 530 from just south of Mount Holly to Pemberton, labeled NJ 38 Temporary, was absorbed into the state highway system as plain old Route 38, which now ends at US 206.

Since 1975, no one was sure how I-95 would feed from Scudders Falls to the Turnpike. As that area of New Jersey began to build up, the projected cost began to turn astronomical.

There was also the question of whether Pennsylvania would ever link I-95, the Delaware Expressway, to the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The plans for an I-895 link, which would have connected to PA 413, were deleted years ago due to exorbitant cost.

All things considered, this the cheapest solution.