Traffic has slowed down northbound and southbound lanes on NJ Interstate 287 for many years. It has increased travel times to where it has overflowed into local roads. This is pretty major for Piscataway and for the rest of Middlesex County, especially since this traffic appears daily.

Delays can begin to stagger near multiple exits and entrances between 3 pm to 6 pm, which is pretty normal for across New Jersey congestion. Here are just a few examples of where traffic is normally present:

Exit 4:
Located a mile and a half away from the Piscataway border, a southbound exit ramp and northbound exit ramp would connect to Durham Avenue. If we focus on the exit ramp, the whole entire highway extends to a insane 5-lanes, then after a hundred feet would quickly merge into 3-lanes. This would greatly slow down traffic, sometimes all the way into Piscataway, as cars try to safely merge onto the highway.

Exit 9:
Located near the southeast end of Piscataway, there are two separate entrance ramps that go into the northbound lands just before crossing the river. The only problem is that these entrance ramps quickly switch into exit ramps for neighboring exit 10, just across the river. Fast on-coming traffic would be forced to slow down for slow moving traffic just entering the highway, causing great delays.

Best ways to avoid traffic
If you are forced to have to travel on I-287, try your best to travel locally. Centennial Ave is great for an alternate route to pass all of the traffic. Other than this, the best thing to do is not travel from 3 to 6 pm.  You can also use GPS enabled map and traffic apps like Waze or Apple Maps, or check 511nj.org for real-time traffic information for all NJ highways.