Route 24 begins at an interchange with I-287 in Hanover, Morris County, heading southeast on a six-lane freeway.

An abandoned cloverleaf interchange exists at this location, as Triborough Road was to be an extension of Eisenhower Parkway.

[1][2] Route 24 crosses into Millburn, Essex County, widens to six lanes, and passes over the Passaic River.

After bisecting the Canoe Brook Country Club, the highway intersects Summit Avenue (CR 657).

Route 24 continues along the Summit–Millburn border until it fully enters Millburn and intersects Hobart Avenue (CR 608) with a westbound exit and eastbound entrance.

The only diversion from that route was a proposed highway from Penwell to Long Valley, closely paralleling the Washington Turnpike.

[3][4] In addition, Route 24N was a planning number for the approach to the new Delaware River crossing (the Easton–Phillipsburg Toll Bridge) in Phillipsburg that opened in 1938.

[12] Construction on the section of the Route 24 freeway between the John F. Kennedy Parkway on the Essex/Morris County border and I-78 began in 1967 and was finished in 1976.

The section across Chatham Borough from JFK Parkway to shortly past the still-existing unused cloverleaf interchange at the Florham Park borough line, once signed as the Triborough Road, a never-built southern extension of the Eisenhower Parkway, was built in 1973-74 but not opened as it did not provide any connections to existing roads.

[13] Plans were made to finish the rest of the freeway to I-287; however construction was halted for many years due to legal, environmental and budgetary problems.

The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) has tried to remove signs from this section, but locals protested because of their familiarity with the Route 24 designation.