New Jersey Turnpike

The New Jersey Turnpike is one of the most traveled and most recognized highways in the United States. A system of controlled-access toll roads in the U.S. state of New Jersey, it stretches the length of the state and serves as a critical artery connecting the northeastern seaboard. The turnpike is a major thoroughfare providing access to various localities in New Jersey, and provides a direct bypass southeast of Philadelphia for long-distance travelers between New York City and Washington, D.C. The Turnpike was the first modern-day toll road in New Jersey and the third in the nation when it opened in 1951. Since its opening, it has grown from a single corridor into a multi-roadway network embedded in the state's identity — economically, logistically, and culturally.

History and Origins

The push for a high-speed highway across New Jersey had roots in plans developed well before World War II. By the 1930s, the New Jersey State Highway Department proposed the construction of two highways: Route 100, which would connect New Brunswick to the George Washington Bridge, and Route 300, which would form the southern part of the Turnpike running from the Delaware Memorial Bridge to New Brunswick. Financial constraints prevented any significant advances, leading to the formation of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority in the late 1940s. Following its inception, plans took shape to conjoin the proposed routes into a single superhighway.

The NJTA was created in 1949 to oversee construction and maintenance of the New Jersey Turnpike. Funds were raised through revenue bonds, which were repaid through future toll collections. The ambitious project necessitated the contribution of over a hundred contractors, and it was segmented into seven parts to expedite the process.

Construction on the New Jersey Turnpike began in January 1950. It took 25 months to construct the entire 118-mile highway at a cost of $225 million. The first 44-mile stretch of the Turnpike, from Exit 1 in Deepwater Township to Exit 5 in Westampton Township, opened on November 5, 1951. The project was hailed as a major achievement almost immediately upon completion. When the New Jersey Turnpike opened in 1951, it was one of the most impressive roadways in the nation and one of the first modern turnpikes, called "the most spectacular piece of highway ever built" by the Saturday Evening Post and "the world's model highway" by the Newark News.

LIFE magazine hailed the opening of the Turnpike, one of the first roads of its kind in America, as a major event in its January 18, 1952 issue with a story titled "Newly Opened Superroad Unravels Chronic Traffic Jam." In 1952, its first full year of operation, the New Jersey Turnpike carried 17.9 million vehicles and generated $16.2 million in toll revenues.

Route Description and Infrastructure

The 117.2-mile mainline's southern terminus is at the Delaware Memorial Bridge on Interstate 295 in Pennsville Township, and its northern terminus is at an interchange with U.S. Route 46 in Ridgefield Park. The toll road provides a major link between Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York City.

The route is divided into four roadways between Exit 6 and Exit 14. The inner lanes are generally restricted to cars, while the outer lanes are open to cars, trucks, and buses. This configuration, known as the "dual-dual" system, was introduced to manage the heavy and varied traffic load the Turnpike carries. In 1966, the Turnpike introduced its "dual-dual" roadway system where passenger cars used the inner roadways while the outer roadways were used by all vehicles.

The Turnpike has 12-foot-wide lanes, 10-foot-wide shoulders, and 13 of the highway's service areas are named after notable New Jersey residents. Along with the Garden State Parkway, the New Jersey Turnpike is noted for naming its service areas after notable New Jersey residents. Turnpike service areas consist mostly of fast-food restaurants. Each rest area also includes restrooms, water fountains, a Sunoco gas station with a small convenience store, with gas price signs posted about half a mile before reaching the rest area, and a separate parking area for cars and trucks. All 21 service areas on the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway have been replaced or rehabilitated since 2014.

The entire length of the New Jersey Turnpike is part of the National Highway System, a network of roads important to the country's economy, defense, and mobility. It is designated Route 700, an unsigned route, from Exit 1 (Delaware Memorial Bridge) to Exit 6, and as Interstate 95 from Exit 6 (Mansfield Township) to Exit 18 (Secaucus–Carlstadt).

Expansions and Widening

The Turnpike has grown considerably since its original 118-mile opening configuration. It has grown over time from 118 miles to 148 with the addition of the Newark Bay-Hudson County Extension (1956), the Pearl Harbor Memorial Turnpike Extension (1956), the Western Spur (1970) and the I-95 Extension (1992).

Originally four lanes for its full length, the road is now as wide as 14 lanes in some areas. There are 378 toll lanes at the 30 interchanges, including 148 entry lanes and 230 exit lanes.

Expansion on the four lanes of the Turnpike was not expected until 1975, but due to a high volume of traffic an 83-mile widening construction project began in 1955. In more recent decades, continued growth in traffic demanded further investment. The split turnpike configuration was extended southward from Exit 8A to Exit 6 during a $2.3 billion construction project between 2009 and 2014, funded by toll hikes between October 2008 and 2012. An opening ceremony for the new Turnpike lanes was held on October 24, 2014, at the Molly Pitcher service area. The new northbound lanes opened two days later, followed by the expanded southbound lanes on November 3, 2014.

The Interstate Highway System took some of its design guidelines from those of the Turnpike. The road's influence on American highway design reflects its status as a prototype for the modern high-speed limited-access road.

Toll Collection and Traffic Operations

Since 1952, the Turnpike has operated a ticket system in which motorists are given a magnetically encoded ticket upon entering the Turnpike. This ticket is handed over at one of the toll plazas, where the collector calculates the toll. Over the decades, this system has been steadily modernized. According to the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, about 90% of vehicles on the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway use E-ZPass for toll payment.

To further traffic efficiency, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority developed an automatic surveillance and control system that provides information to the Turnpike Traffic Operations Center in New Brunswick. The system receives information from 965 embedded road sensors and from closed-circuit cameras. The system controls the changeable message signs located on the Turnpike, which the Operations Center uses to change speed limits and alert motorists to congestion, accidents, or other hazardous road conditions.

The New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway utilize "Variable Speed Limit Signs" to adjust speed limits based on road, traffic, and weather conditions, improving safety and traffic flow.

In 2001, the Turnpike carried approximately 205 million vehicles and generated more than $350 million in toll revenues. Last year, 747 million vehicles traveled a total of 12.8 billion miles on the Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway combined.

Governance

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA) is a state agency responsible for maintaining the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway, and is headquartered in Woodbridge Township. The NJTA is governed by an eight-person Board of Commissioners, whose members, along with the chairman, are appointed by the Governor of New Jersey.

In July 2003, the New Jersey Legislature approved and Governor James McGreevey signed into law a bill consolidating the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and the New Jersey Highway Authority. In 2003, the authority assumed control of the Garden State Parkway, which had previously been maintained by the New Jersey Highway Authority. The Turnpike Authority is accountable for the inspection and structural integrity of more than 1,000 bridge structures on the Turnpike and Parkway, to comply with the federally mandated National Bridge Inspection Standards.

Under its capital improvement programs, NJTA has expanded capacity, repaired or replaced deteriorating bridges, reconfigured entrance and exit ramps, improved maintenance yards and toll plazas, and expanded the use of technology for collecting and communicating information about roadway conditions.

Cultural Significance

Few American highways have accumulated as deep a cultural footprint as the New Jersey Turnpike. From the songs of Bruce Springsteen to the opening credits of The Sopranos, the thoroughfare has gained cultural currency as a roadway that is much-traveled, if not always beloved.

The Turnpike's criminal bona fides were cemented in 1999 by The Sopranos. The show opens with New Jersey capo Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) driving out of the Lincoln Tunnel, getting on the Turnpike, paying his toll, and heading back to his fractious family. The iconic intro, set to "Woke Up This Morning" by Alabama 3, features visuals of the New Jersey Turnpike and the Pulaski Skyway, making it one of the most immediately recognizable opening sequences in television history.

Chuck Berry, The Mamas & the Papas, Paul Simon, and Bruce Springsteen have all written songs mentioning the Turnpike. The New Jersey Turnpike was immortalized in Simon & Garfunkel's "America," with its famous line about "counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike."

The Turnpike also holds meaning beyond pop culture. Somerdale-based Flying Fish Brewing currently makes the "Exit Series" of beers, which are named in honor of various New Jersey Turnpike exits, with each beer intended to be reflective of the communities in or near where the relevant exit is located. For generations of New Jersey residents, the question "What exit?" — meaning which Turnpike exit one lives near — has become shorthand for the state's geography and a point of local pride.

References

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