Garden State Parkway - Route Description

Route Description

The Garden State Parkway begins in Lower Township at a traffic light with Route 109. For the first three and a half miles, the Parkway crosses over streams. At 3.48 miles (5.60 km), the Parkway crosses over Taylor Creek and enters Middle Township. Exit 4A is for Route 47 North to Rio Grande, and exit 4B is for Route 47 South to Wildwood and Wildwood Crest. At 6.54 miles (10.53 km), Parkway exit 6, which is for Route 147 and North Wildwood, leaves to the right. The first traffic light exit, exit 9, is for Shellbay Avenue. The second traffic light intersection, exit 10, is for County Route 657, also known as Stone Harbor Blvd, at Cape Regional Medical Center, the county's only hospital. Exit 11 is for U.S. Route 9 at the Cape May County Park & Zoo. In May 2009, guardrails were installed in between the northbound and southbound lanes between mile markers 7 and 11.5. This was due to the numerous fatal accidents that occurred in the past year where a driver who lost control of the car (or in more extreme circumstances, a drunk driver) inadvertently ended up facing head on traffic. Exit 13 is for Avalon Boulevard. At 14.85 miles (23.90 km), the Parkway enters Dennis Township after crossing Uncle Aaron's Creek. At 17.5 miles (28.2 km), exit 17 leaves to the right for County Route 625. At milepost 19.38, the Parkway enters its first toll, the Cape May Toll Plaza. A little more than 20 miles (32 km) in, exit 20 leaves for Route 50. In Upper Township, exit 25 leaves for County Route 623. At 27.77 miles (44.69 km), the Parkway enters Atlantic County.

Just before exit 29 (northbound only) for U.S. Route 9, the Parkway enters the Great Egg Toll Plaza. Exit 30 (southbound only) leaves to the right at milepost 30 for Laurel Road in Somers Point which leads to Ocean City via the Route 52 causeway. Now in Egg Harbor Township, exit 36 opens onto County Route 563 southbound and County Route 651 northbound. Exit 37 is the Parkway's interchange with the Black Horse Pike (US 40/322). Exit 38 interchanges with the Atlantic City Expressway. Eastbound travelers on the expressway take the last few miles to Atlantic City. Westbound travelers head for Camden and Philadelphia. Now entering Galloway Township, U.S. Route 30 interchanges with the Parkway at exit 40. exit 44 is next, leading to County Route 561 Alternate. Just after exit 48 for U.S. Route 9 near the Mullica River and Bass River State Forest, the Parkway enters Burlington County. Exit 50 is for Route 9 as well, while exit 52 is for Burlington County Route 654.

Now in Ocean County, exit 58 is for County Route 539, exit 63 is for Route 72, and exit 67 is for County Route 554. Exit 69 leaves to the right in both directions at milepost 70.45. Exit 74 leaves to the right, which heads to Forked River. Exit 77 is for Bayville. Exits 80 and 81 are for county roads and U.S. Route 9. Route 9 then merges in for a few miles.

Between exits 80 and 83, the Parkway has a concurrency with U.S. Route 9 just south of the Toms River Toll Plaza. It was from here that the Driscoll Expressway was to start (south of exit 83) and run to the New Jersey Turnpike.

Route 37 interchanges with the Parkway at exits 82 and 82A in Toms River. At exit 83, U.S. Route 9 leaves the Parkway and heads north. Exit 88 comes at 89.4 miles (143.9 km) for Route 70. In Brick Township, exit 90 (northbound) and exit 91 (southbound), leave for County Route 549. At this point the road is in Monmouth County. Exit 98 leads to Interstate 195, Route 34 and Route 138. Exit 100 leaves southbound for Route 33. Route 66 also exits northbound. Exit 102, a southbound only exit leaves for Neptune Township.

Exit 105 for Route 18 and Route 36 leading to Long Branch is the point at which all trucks are forced to leave the Parkway. At Exit 105, the Parkway divides into a local and express lanes configuration. The express lanes have no direct access to any exits, except for exit 105 in Tinton Falls (southbound only) and exit 117 in Hazlet. Exits 109 and 114 are for Middletown and Holmdel. The next exit, exit 116, is for the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel. Exit 117 is for Routes 35 and 36. Exit 117A (southbound only) is for Lloyd Road in Aberdeen. Exit 120 is for Laurence Harbor Road and Cheesequake State Park.

At this point, the road enters Middlesex County in Old Bridge Township. Southbound exits 123 and 124 leave to the right, but only on the local lanes. The express and local lanes merge and become one highway again shortly after. Northbound exit 125 makes a sudden exit for Route 35. Afterwards, you cross the Driscoll Bridge over the Raritan River. After the bridge, exit 127 leaves for Routes 9, 440 and Interstate 287. At milepost 129.5, the New Jersey Turnpike leaves to the right at exit 129. Southbound exits 127 and 129 are merged into one exit, which is marked as exit 129. A southbound only exit, exit 130 is for U.S. Route 1. The next three exits are marked 131, 131A and 131B. The lettered ones are for Metropark, while exit 131 is for Route 27.

Exit 135 is for Clark Township in Union County. Exits 136 and 137 are for Cranford Township and Route 28. Exit 138 is in Kenilworth for County Route 509. Exits 139A and 139B are northbound exits only for a local road (Chestnut Street) and U.S. Route 22. Exits 140 and 140A are for U.S. Route 22 and NJ Route 82. Exit 141 is for Vauxhall Road and exit 142 is for Interstate 78. The 143s are for Lyons Avenue, exit 144 is for Irvington and 145 is for Interstate 280. Exit 147 is for Renshaw Avenue in East Orange, and exit 148 is for Bloomfield Avenue in Bloomfield. Exits 149, 150, and 151 are for Essex County roads. Exits 153A and 153B are for Route 3 and U.S. Route 46 in Passaic County.