New Jersey Turnpike - History

History

Route 100 and Route 300 were two state highways proposed in the 1930s by the New Jersey Department of Transportation as precursors to the New Jersey Turnpike.

The road that is now the New Jersey Turnpike was first planned by the New Jersey Department of Transportation (then known as the State Highway Department) as two untolled freeways in 1938. Route 100 was the route from New Brunswick to the George Washington Bridge, plus a spur to the Holland Tunnel (now the Newark Bay Extension of the Turnpike). Route 300 was the southern part of Turnpike from the Delaware Memorial Bridge to New Brunswick. However, NJDOT did not have the funds to complete the two freeways, and very little of the road was built under its auspices. Instead, in 1948, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority was created to build the road, and the two freeways were built as a single toll road.

Route S100 was a proposed spur of Route 100 in Elizabeth. It was never built, although Route 81 follows a similar alignment.

According to a letter to the editor written by the daughter of Paul L. Troast, the first chairman of the NJ Turnpike Authority, Kathleen Troast Pitney:

A brochure "Interesting Facts about the New Jersey Turnpike," dating from soon after the road's opening, states that when the Turnpike's bonds are paid off, "The law provides that the Turnpike be turned over to the State for inclusion in the public highway system." Due to new construction, and the expectation that the Turnpike pay for policing and maintenance, this has never come to pass.

The task of building the Turnpike was not an easy one. One major problem was the construction in the city of Elizabeth, where either 450 homes or 32 businesses would be destroyed, depending on the chosen route. The engineers decided to go through the residential area, since they considered it the grittiest and the closest route to both Newark Airport and the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal seaport.

When construction finally got to Newark, there was a new challenge: deciding to build either over or under the Pulaski Skyway. If construction went above the Skyway, the costs would be much higher. If they went under, the costs would be lower, but the roadway would be very close to the Passaic River, making it harder for ships to pass through. The Turnpike was ultimately built to pass under.

While continuing up to the New Jersey Meadowlands, the crossings were harder because of the fertile marsh land of silt and mud. Near the shallow mud, the mud was filled with crushed stone, and the roadway was built above the water table. In the deeper mud, caissons were sunk down to a firm stratum and filled with sand, then both the caissons and the surrounding areas were covered with blankets of sand. Gradually, the water was brought up, and drained into adjacent meadows. Then, the construction of the two major bridges over the Passaic River and Hackensack River were completed. The bridges were built to give motorists a clear view of the New York City skyline, but with high retaining walls to create the illusion of not being on a river crossing. The 6,955 ft (2,120 m) Passaic River (Chaplain Washington) Bridge cost $13.7 million to construct and the 5,623 ft (1,714 m) Hackensack River Bridge cost $9.5 million.

After the Turnpike was built in 1952, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and the New York State Thruway Authority proposed a 13-mile (21 km) extension of the New Jersey Turnpike that would go from its end (at U.S. 46 in Ridgefield Park at the time) up to West Nyack, New York at Interstate 87 (I-87), the New York State Thruway. The portion through New Jersey was to be constructed and maintained by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, while the portion in New York was to be built and maintained by the New York Thruway Authority.

The purpose of this extension was to give motorists a "more direct bypass of the New York City area" to New England, by using the Tappan Zee Bridge. The extension was to parallel NY Route 303 and the present-day CSX River Line, and have limited interchanges. It was to have an interchange with the Palisades Interstate Parkway and at I-87/New York State Thruway in West Nyack. This project did not survive; by 1970, it became too expensive to buy right-of-way access, and community opposition was fierce. Therefore the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and the New York State Thruway Authority cancelled the project.

With the Turnpike completed, traffic began to increase, which prompted the Turnpike Authority's first widening project. In 1955, the Authority proposed two widening projects:

• From four lanes to six lanes (three in each direction) between Exit 4 in Mt. Laurel Township and Exit 10 in Woodbridge Township
• From four lanes to an eight lane ‘dual-dual’ setup (2-2-2-2, two express carriageways and two local carriageways in each direction) between Exit 10 and Exit 14 in Newark

In 1966, the Turnpike was widened between Exit 10 and Exit 14 under a new expansion plan. This abolished the ‘express-local’ roadway plan and created the car and truck-buses lane configuration (3-3-3-3). This project also included closing the old Exit 10 at Woodbridge and replacing it with a new Exit 10 in Edison Township; Exit 11 was also rebuilt to provide complete access to the Garden State Parkway. This dual-dual setup was widened south to Exit 9 in East Brunswick Township in 1973, and extended again further south in 1990 to Exit 8A in Monroe Township. The widening between Exit 8A-9 created some problems in the East Brunswick area in the late 1980s during the proposed widening from six to twelve lanes. Analysis of noise (Shadely, 1973) and air quality impacts were made in a lawsuit decided in New Jersey Superior Court. This case in the early 1970s was one of the early U.S. examples of environmental scientists playing a role in the design of a major highway. The computer models allowed the court to understand the effects of roadway geometry (width in this case), vehicle speeds, proposed noise barriers, residential setback and pavement types. The outcome was a compromise that involved substantial mitigation of noise pollution and air pollution impacts.

The New Jersey Turnpike smog accident was a series of roadway accidents that occurred on the New Jersey Turnpike in the town of Kearny, on October 23 and 24, 1973. The first collision occurred at 11:20 PM EDT on the 23rd, and further accidents continued to occur until 2:45 AM the next day as cars plowed into the unseen accident ahead of them. Sixty-six vehicles were involved and nine people died as a result. Thirty-nine suffered non-fatal injuries.

The primary cause of the accident was related to a fire consisting of burning garbage, aggravated by foggy conditions. This produced an area of extremely poor visibility.

In 1971, the Turnpike Authority proposed to build the Alfred E. Driscoll Expressway. It was to start at the Garden State Parkway south of exit 80 in Dover Township (now Toms River) and end at the Turnpike approximately 3 miles north of exit 8A in South Brunswick. As a proposed part of the Turnpike system, its seven interchanges would have included toll plazas except at the northern end at the Turnpike. By 1972, the proposed road met fierce opposition from Ocean, Monmouth and Middlesex counties with quality of life being the main concern. The Turnpike Authority proceeded anyway by selling bonds. But by December 1973, the proposal was hit hard when governor-elect Brendan Byrne decided to stop the project altogether. Despite this, the Authority continued with its plan. It wasn't until February 1977, that the Authority ended its plan to build the road. The rights-of-way were sold in 1979, indefinitely shelving the project.

In January 2004, the Authority opened up the refurbished 18W toll gate in Carlstadt. The refurbishment includes two E-ZPass Express Lanes in both directions. In July 2004, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority opened the new Exit 1 toll gate in Carney's Point Township. The new 23-lane toll gate is near milepost 2.4, featuring a glass-enclosed overhead walkway for toll collectors, including "a concrete lighthouse to serve as a 'gateway' to the state as well as to the Turnpike". The toll gate features 5 lanes heading north, 14 lanes heading south, and two "E-ZPass Express" Lanes in both directions.

In 2005, the Authority opened Exit 15X to allow access to the newly-built Secaucus Junction train station.

In February 2006, the Authority updated Exit 8A in Monroe Township. The former exit ramp that allowed traffic onto Route 32 westbound, has been closed off. Instead, a new ramp leads to a traffic light at the intersection of the ramp and County Route 535 in South Brunswick Township. Route 535 was expanded between the new ramp intersection and Route 32.

The Authority planned to build Route 92, an west–east spur from U.S. Route 1 (U.S. 1) & Ridge Road in the township of South Brunswick to the mainline of the Turnpike at Exit 8A in Monroe Township. This proposition was cancelled on December 1, 2006.

The Turnpike Authority reconfigured Exit 12 in the Borough of Carteret to reduce truck traffic. A new grade separated interchange-ramp was constructed from Roosevelt Ave east and connects to the toll gate. In addition, the 7-lane toll gate was demolished and replaced with a new 17-lane one. This project was completed in April 2010, five to six months behind schedule.

The Authority lowered the Eastern Spur (between 107.3 to 107.5 in Newark). The lowered spur now consists of a minimum 15-foot (4.6 m) vertical clearance and a 12-foot (3.7 m) horizontal clearance on the shoulders underneath the Pulaski Skyway (U.S. Routes 1/9).

The Authority rebuilt Exit 16W in the Borough of East Rutherford. Various new ramps were built and various old ones were destroyed. One major modification was destroying the old ramp from the tollgate to Route 3 west, and having a new ramp swing around in the opposite direction and merge with Route 3 west, thereby completing the "double trumpet-like" interchange. This project was completed by March 2010.

Throughout the 2000s, the Turnpike made repairs to several bridge decks, including the bridge crossing the Rancocas Creek, which was resurfaced in 2007.

A Cessna 152 monitoring traffic made an emergency landing on the Turnpike in Cherry Hill, New Jersey on February 1, 2010.

On March 5, 2011, the Turnpike Authority began accepting E-Z Pass on all toll lanes at all of the Turnpike interchanges.

On April 28, 2011, attempts to privatize toll collection on the New Jersey Turnpike were thwarted as a deal was made between the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and two unions to instead reduce toll collector salaries.

The Authority reconstructed the Route 495 westbound overpass across the Turnpike at Exit 16E in Secaucus. This was finished in Summer 2011.

Safety improvements were made at Exit 2 in Woolwich Township. The Authority installed a traffic signal at the entrance to the Turnpike with U.S. Route 322. In addition, the intersection was widened with turn lanes on all approaches. Construction was complete in late 2012.