New Jersey Turnpike

From TheBestLinks.com

The New Jersey Turnpike is a toll road in New Jersey and is one of the most heavily traveled highways in the United States. Part of it forms part of the interstate highway system. Construction of the Turnpike from conceptualization to opening took an astonishing 23 months. Construction started in 1950 and the Turnpike was fully opened by 1952. The Turnpike boasts 12-foot-wide lanes, 10-foot-wide shoulders, 13 rest areas, and unusual exit signage that was considered the pinnacle of highway building in the 1950s, and the interstate highway system took some of its design guidelines by copying the Turnpike's design guidelines.

The main trunk of the Turnpike runs from Deepwater, New Jersey in the south to Ridgefield, New Jersey in the north. It is designated as unsigned New Jersey State Highway 700 from exits 1 through 6 and Interstate 95 from exits 6 through 18. The number of lanes ranges from 12 to 14 on Interstate 95 to 6 lanes on the section south of Trenton, the state capital, and 4 lanes south of exit 4, the interchange with New Jersey State Highway 73.

Between exits 14 and 18, the Turnpike splits into two spurs, an eastern spur and a western spur. Both spurs are posted as I-95, although technically the eastern spur is I-95 as that was built first. The New Jersey Department of Transportation calls the western spur I-95W.

The Turnpike also has two extensions. The first, the Newark Bay Extension, is part of Interstate 78; it opened in 1956. It connects Newark, New Jersey with Jersey City, New Jersey and intersects the main trunk near Newark Liberty International Airport.

The second extension connects the main trunk of the New Jersey Turnpike with the Pennsylvania Turnpike at exit 6. It is a 6-mile extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike into New Jersey, and it is part of Interstate 95.

The New Jersey Turnpike is a toll road, using a system of long-distance tickets, obtained once by a motorist upon entering and surrendered upon exiting at toll gates. The toll gates exist at all exits and entrances and also at the highway extensions towards the Hudson River. The toll fee depends on the distance traveled between entrance and exit, and longer distances result in higher tolls, with $3.50 the maximum fee.

The New Jersey Turnpike has even made it into popular culture. In the Chuck Berry song "You Can't Catch Me", the singer outruns the cops in his Cadillac on the New Jersey Turnpike. In Simon and Garfunkel's song "America", they sing "Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike/They've all gone to look for America". Bif Naked's song "Sophia" begins with the lyric "I picked you up on a grey day, the New Jersey Turnpike". The book "Looking For America On The New Jersey Turnpike" (Gillespie and Rockland) chronicles the history of "America's Main Road". Part of the movie Being John Malkovich was set next to the Turnpike.

On July 9, 2003 New Jersey Governor James E. McGreevey's plan to merge the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and the Garden State Parkway into one agency was completed.

New Jersey Turnpike/New Jersey State Route Exit Numbers and Interchanges

Delaware Memorial Bridge (exit 1, mile 1.2)
Swedesboro/Chester/U.S. 322 (exit 2, mile 12.9)
Woodbury/South Camden/S.R. 168 (exit 3, mile 26.1)
Camden/Philadelphia/S.R. 73 (exit 4, mile 34.5)
Burlington/Mt. Holly (exit 5, mile 44)

New Jersey Turnpike/Interstate 95 Exit Numbers and Interchanges

Pennsylvania Turnpike Extension (exit 6, mile 51)
Pennsylvania Turnpike Extension/Florence/Burlington/Bordentwon/U.S. 130 (exit 6A, mile 51)
Bordentown/Trenton/U.S. 206 (exit 7, mile 53.3)
Trenton/Hamilton/I-195 (exit 7A, mile 60)
Hightstown/Freehold/S.R. 33 (exit 8, mile 67.6)
Cranbury/Jamesburg (exit 8A, mile 73.7)
New Brunswick/S.R.18 (exit 9, mile 83.3)
Metuchen/Perth Amboy/I-287 (exit 10, mile 88.1)
Garden State Parkway (exit 11, mile 90.6)
Carteret/Rahway (exit 12, mile 95.9)
Elizabeth/Staten Island/I-278 (exit 13, mile 99.9)
Newark Liberty International Airport/Elizabeth Seaport (exit 13A , mile 101.6)
Newark Liberty International Airport/Newark Bay Extension/I-78/U.S. 1/U.S. 9 (exit 14, mile 104.7)
Hudson County Extension/Bayonne (exit 14A, mile 3.5N)
Jersey City/Liberty State Park (exit 14B, mile 5.5N)
Holland Tunnel (exit 14C, mile 5.9N)
Newark/Jersey City/U.S. 1/U.S. 9 (exit 15E, mile 106.9E)
Newark/Harrison/I-280 (exit 15W, mile 108.8W)
Lincoln Tunnel/Secaucus/S.R. 3 (exit 16E, mile 112.3E)
Sportsplex/East Rutherford/S.R. 3 (exit 16W, mile 112.7W)
Lincoln Tunnel/Secaucus/S.R. 3 (exit 17, mile 112.7E)
George Washington Bridge/Ridgefield Park/U.S. 46/I-80 (exit 18E, mile 112.3E)
George Washington Bridge/Ridgefield Park/U.S. 46/I-80 (exit 18W, mile 113.8W)