The bus lane, which runs the entire length of the freeway, continues into the Lincoln Tunnel's center tube.

Route 495 officially begins at the exit 16E off-ramp from the northbound lanes of the New Jersey Turnpike near the boundary of Secaucus and North Bergen.

The main roadway heads east through North Bergen as a six-lane freeway maintained by the NJTA.

Past this interchange, Route 495 becomes a six-lane freeway maintained by NJDOT that passes over New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway's New Jersey Subdivision line and Conrail Shared Assets Operations' Northern Branch line before intersects US 1/9 at a partial interchange, with a westbound exit and eastbound entrance.

[1] East of this junction, Route 495 enters Union City and heads through developed residential areas, passing under numerous streets.

[1][2] There is an eastbound exit and westbound entrance for Park Avenue, which provides access to Weehawken and Hoboken, where Route 495 becomes maintained by the PANYNJ.

This section ran only from the tunnel portal south through the toll booths to a plaza with Park Avenue and Hudson County Boulevard East.

[15] The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) approved the decommissioning of I-495 between I-95 and Pleasant Avenue/Park Avenue in Union City in 1980.

[20] Starting with the viaduct, which passes over the Conrail rail lines just west of US 1/9, the roadway going east is listed as being eligible for state registry in the New Jersey Register of Historic Places for its engineering, architecture and history.

While local zoning laws prohibit the construction of high-rise buildings that would obstruct sight-lines from higher points in town,[22][23][24] as of June 2013[update] construction of a new residential building partially blocked the view from the lower portion of the roadway.

[26][27] In June 2018, the New Jersey Department of Transportation announced that it would renovate the North Bergen Viaduct (the section passing over US 1/9 and Conrail) over the course of more than two years.