How old is the nj turnpike

There are 51 issues of the Pike Interchange from to There is also one issue from March that discusses the painting of a large yellow ribbon on the Turnpike Administration Building in support of U. The collection also contains one issue of The Turnpike from September Both these papers are published by and for employees of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.

The papers contain information on the accomplishments of Turnpike employees as well as information on construction projects, arrests made on the highway, and other related news events. People includes information about new employees, personal news such as the birth of a baby, and other employee-related news items. The collection also contains papers and photographs pertaining to specific New Jersey Turnpike Authority employees.

There are photographs of James D. Wolfe on duty at his tollbooth. There is also a supervisor safety program certificate belonging to Ralph Mercurio.

There are three service award programs honoring those employees who have worked for the Turnpike Authority for 10, 20, or 30 years. Manuscript Group , Newark Turnpike Company.

The materials in this collection were donated by William J. Wolfe in , by Samuel Kostic, Jr. Governor Alfred Driscoll started the wheels in motion with the proposal for the creation of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority in The idea was to create a self-funded roadway system, in which toll revenues amortize construction costs and pay for operation and maintenance.

The initial construction of the massive project was funded by the sale of privately backed revenue bonds. The prospect of constructing a new highway across an already densely populated and busy state was ambitious.

Huge tracts of the Meadowlands were filled in to stabilize the road bed. On Nov. Driscoll led a mile-long motorcade from the War Memorial in Trenton to the Hightstown interchange.

There he cut a ribbon to declare the great road open. Motorists can now see the beauty of the real New Jersey. Hundreds of cars had lined up for the chance to be the first one on the road. The man who won, after waiting four hours, was Omero Catan of Queens, N.

Within a few months, the Turnpike was accommodating more cars than it had projected -- more, in fact, in than it had expected by Excited motorists poured onto its cloverleaf interchanges by the millions and zoomed past the 60 mph speed limit. In the North, the Turnpike became "dual-dual," splitting into separate lanes for cars and trucks in both the southbound and northbound lanes.

Another unique feature: all the rest areas were reached by making right turns. Bye Bye New Jersey, I've become airborne. Accelerate 43 years forward. Now it's , and the Turnpike is bigger than ever, wider than ever, busier than ever.

More than , vehicles roar along it day. At one point, between Exits 11 and 14, the Turnpike swells to an incredible 14 lanes. Remember the Pikettes? They're gone now.

Instead, drivers get surly toll collectors. And where Driscoll expected "the beauty of the real New Jersey," the Turnpike's most vivid scenery is in Elizabeth, where the hellish fires of oil refineries light up enormous, white, spooky storage tanks. Much, much worse. Crossing the Garden State was a true commuter quagmire in the days before the Turnpike was built.

The new roadway offered drivers an express route from the Delaware Memorial Bridge up toward the Lincoln Tunnel and has since been extended north. And that was before the invention of E-Z Pass. Through various extensions built since its opening, the length of the turnpike is now miles. 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 task was completed in only 23 months : a feat that becomes more impressive when you consider the logistical elements involved. As LIFE wrote in