Garden State Parkway
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The Garden State Parkway is a 172-mile-long limited-access toll parkway that stretches the length of New Jersey from the New York Thruway at Montvale, NJ to Cape May at the southern tip of the state. Its name refers to the state nickname, the "Garden State". Along with the New Jersey Turnpike, it is one of two limited access highways closely associated with the suburban highway-centered culture of New Jersey. Within New Jersey, the official (unsigned) designation is New Jersey State Highway 444. All but two miles of the road are within the state of New Jersey. The short segment that is in New York, and connects to the New York State Thruway, is officially designated as New York State Reference Route 982L.
Two short spurs are given numbers by the New Jersey Department of Transportation. New Jersey State Highway 444R is the connector at exit 117 to Route 35 at the north end of Route 36 near Keyport. New Jersey State Highway 444S is the connector at exit 105 to the south end of New Jersey State Highway 36 at Hope Road (CR 51) near Eatontown.
History
The Parkway was constructed between 1946 and 1957, its initial impetus being to connect suburban northern New Jersey with resort areas along the Atlantic coast, and to alleviate traffic on traditional north-south routes running through each town center, such as US 1, US 9, and NJ 35. Unofficially, it has two sections: the "metropolitan section", north of the Raritan River; and the "shore section", between the Raritan and Cape May. Only 18 miles had been built by 1950, but taking a cue from the successful Thruway, on April 14, 1952, the State Legislature created the New Jersey Highway Authority, empowered to construct, operate and maintain a self-sufficient toll parkway from Paramus to Cape May.
The landscape architect and engineer in charge of the newly-named "Garden State Parkway" was Gilmore Clarke, who had worked with Robert Moses on the parkway systems around New York City. Clarke's design prototypes for the parkway combined the example of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, a model of efficiency with parallels in the German Autobahn routes of the 1930s, with the Merritt Parkway model that stressed a planted "green belt" for beauty. Both design models featured wide planted medians to prevent head-on collisions and mask the glare of on-coming headlights.
Most of the metropolitan section is like any expressway built in the 1950s through heavily populated areas. The shore section parallels United States Highway 9 and runs through unspoiled wilderness in the Pine Barrens. In Cape May County, the Parkway has three traffic lights (at exits 8, 10, and 11 respectively), but these may be eliminated in the future.
On July 9, 2003, New Jersey Governor James E. McGreevey's plan to merge the Garden State Parkway and the New Jersey Turnpike into one agency was completed.
Usage
The speed limit on the Parkway is 65 mph from mileposts 27 to 123 and 163 to the New York border, and it is 55 mph on the rest of the roadway.[1] (http://www.nycroads.com/roads/garden-state/)
Commercial trucks with a registered weight of over 7,000 pounds are not allowed to use the northern parts of the Parkway. From the Asbury Park exit to the southen end of the Parkway at Cape May, trucks are allowed and pay additional tolls.
Whereas the New Jersey Turnpike uses a system of long-distance tickets, obtained once by a motorist upon entering and surrendered upon exiting at toll gates, the Garden State Parkway uses no tickets but collects tolls at toll barriers at semi-regular intervals along its length, as well as at certain exits. The standard car toll is 35 cents on the main road and either 35 cents, 25 cents, or free at exits. Both the Turnpike and the Parkway now allow for payment with the E-ZPass system.
To reduce congestion, some toll plazas on the roadway were converted into one-way plazas in 2004 and 2005. A 70 cent toll is collected in one direction and the other direction is toll-free. As of March 6, 2005, the Asbury Park, Raritan, and Union plazas have been converted to one-way tolling. The Raritan and Asbury Park plazas will include high-speed express E-ZPass lanes which opened shortly before Memorial Day 2005. Officials are also considering converting the Essex, Bergen, and Barnegat plazas, but as of 2005, those projects have not started.[2] (http://www.state.nj.us/turnpike/oneway.htm)[3] (http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-8/1110003301304980.xml)
External links
- New Jersey Turnpike Authority & Garden State Parkway Official Website (http://www.state.nj.us/turnpike/)
- History of the Garden State Parkway (http://www.nycroads.com/roads/garden-state/)
- NJ Route 444 (http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/sldiag/00000444__-.pdf) Straight Line Diagram
- NJ Route 444R (http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/sldiag/00000444r_-.pdf) Straight Line Diagram
- NJ Route 444S (http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/sldiag/00000444s_-.pdf) Straight Line Diagram