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Following the construction of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and the Maine Turnpike during the course of the 1940s, a push came to build a limited-access toll road in New Jersey. In 1947, Governor Alfred E. Driscoll pushed for the idea of a turnpike spanning the state in his inauguration address. The following year, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority Act was passed, which provided funding for the road to be built and also established the New Jersey Turnpike Authority to plan, build, and maintain the highway. The proposed New Jersey Turnpike was to link the Philadelphia and New York City areas and provide connections to several important highways. The proposed route in 1948 was to begin at US 40 and US 130 near the Delaware Memorial Bridge and head northeast. The turnpike would pass to the southeast of Philadelphia and Camden and continue to the Trenton area. The road would continue northeast into North Jersey and reach Newark, where a spur would head east across Newark Bay to Jersey City. The mainline of the New Jersey Turnpike was planned to continue north from Newark to its northern terminus at US 46 near the George Washington Bridge leading to New York City. The turnpike was also planned to serve industrial and commercial establishments across the state. Before construction began, the path of the highway had to be decided. The turnpike authority conducted engineering studies to determine the route and quickly bought over 3,400 land parcels. Most of the land was acquired in 1950 at a cost of $18 million.

General W.W. Wanamaker was hired to oversee construction of the New Jersey Turnpike. A total of 10,000 workers and 600 engineers were hired to construct the turnpike. Construction on the New Jersey Turnpike began in 1950. The project was on a tight schedule to be built within two years. In order to build the turnpike, construction was split into seven sections and a large amount of construction supplies and equipment were needed. The section of the turnpike built through Elizabeth was built along the alignment of 4th Street and required the demolition of homes and the displacement of 200 families. The city attempted to route the highway away from the populated areas on 4th Street, as recommended by the turnpike authority and its consulting engineers, to the waterfront, a routing that would have been longer and more expensive to build. The city sought legal action against the turnpike authority to building the highway along 4th Street. The city's lawsuit to reroute the turnpike was unsuccessful. In June 1950, the NJTA started purchasing properties along 4th Street, and was accused by the city of not offering enough to residents for their properties. In May 1951, a police-imposed blockade prevented dirt trucks from accessing the construction site of the road, which resulted in cessation of construction. The blockade was ordered by the city of Elizabeth in an effort to demand the turnpike authority to reduce the amount of dust coming from the construction site. The most challenging structures to be built along the turnpike were the bridges over the Passaic and Hackensack rivers north of Newark in the New Jersey Meadowlands. The Passaic River bridge was 6,955 feet (2,120 m) long while the bridge crossing the Hackensack River was 5,623 feet (1,714 m) long. These bridges were the longest steel girder structures to be built at the time. Both bridges were also built with a high clearance to allow ships to pass underneath. The first section of the New Jersey Turnpike opened to traffic in November 1951, followed by three more sections. The final section of the turnpike between Newark and the northern terminus opened on January 15, 1952.

Following the completion of the New Jersey Turnpike, the road received positive reception. The Saturday Evening Post called the turnpike "the most spectacular piece of highway ever built" in December 1951 while the Civil Engineering journal referred to the road as "tomorrow's highway built today". The New Jersey Turnpike was viewed as being a "new" and "modern" road with no traffic lights, multiple lanes, and wide interchanges. The toll plazas, service plazas, and turnpike authority buildings were streamlined and referred to as "Streamlined Moderne" by architectural historian Robert M. Craig.