From here, the freeway would parallel US 202 north to the New York border. The anticipated cost of building I-287 in New Jersey was $235 million. The southernmost part of I-287 in Middlesex County was to be cosigned with I-95; this never happened due to the cancellation of the Somerset Freeway. By the mid-1960s, I-287 had been completed between the New Jersey Turnpike and Bedminster Township and from US 46 in Parsippany to US 202 in Montville. More of I-287 in New Jersey had been finished by 1969, with the sections from US 46 south to Route 10 in Hanover Township and from Bedminster Township north to Maple Avenue in Bernards Township opened. The segment of the highway between Maple Avenue and Route 24 opened in 1973, followed by the segment between Route 24 and Route 10 in early 1975, making I-287 a continuous road between the New Jersey Turnpike in Edison and US 202 in Montville. I-287's missing section between US 202 in Montville and the New York State Thruway in Suffern, NY was controversial dating back to 1965 and continuing until its opening in 1993. Property owners along the proposed route fought its completion as part of the freeway revolts of the 1960s and 1970s. Originally, I-287 was proposed to take a more eastern route through the Lincoln Park and Wayne areas; this routing gained opposition as it passed through populated areas. A more western alignment was planned through mountainous areas in 1973, but this was rejected as the cost of building the road through the mountains was too high. In 1977, the current alignment of I-287 was proposed between Montville and Suffern; this was approved by the federal government in 1982 as it was less costly than the western alignment and went through less developed areas than the eastern alignment. Permits allowing construction to begin on this segment were issued in 1988 by the Army Corps of Engineers. Officials in Rockland County, New York filed a lawsuit on November 19, 1993, hours before the highway's official ribbon-cutting, seeking to block its opening. They claimed the incomplete interchange with the New York State Thruway was inadequate to handle the additional traffic. That interchange was not complete until 1994, but the highway opened as planned on November 19 in a ceremony held on the Wanaque River bridge, where New Jersey Governor Jim Florio cut the ribbon. This moment marked the completion of a bypass around New York City that had been planned for decades.