New Jersey Turnpike

[roadman65]

I like the redundant Interstate I-287 in the second article. 

[Zeffy]

Has anyone eaten at any of the service areas on the Turnpike? I'm thinking of going down into Baltimore to see a friend and on the way back maybe hit a service area for dinner. I figure their food can't be much worse than the fast food I snarf down on a weekly basis, so it's not like that matters.

[Pete from Boston]

Has anyone eaten at any of the service areas on the Turnpike? I'm thinking of going down into Baltimore to see a friend and on the way back maybe hit a service area for dinner. I figure their food can't be much worse than the fast food I snarf down on a weekly basis, so it's not like that matters.

If the fast food doesn't offend you, the prices should.  Grossly inflated to exploit a captive audience. 

[Zeffy]

If the fast food doesn't offend you, the prices should.  Grossly inflated to exploit a captive audience.

Err, how expensive are we talking here? "Grossly inflated" makes me think I'm going to pay $15 for a burger and fries from McDonalds...

[Pete from Boston]

If the fast food doesn't offend you, the prices should.  Grossly inflated to exploit a captive audience.

Err, how expensive are we talking here? "Grossly inflated" makes me think I'm going to pay $15 for a burger and fries from McDonalds...

What, you want me to back up my wild accusation with hard info?  I thought this was the internet. 

If I had to ballpark it I'd say the toll road prices are ~40% higher than street price.  Sometimes more, sometimes less.

[MASTERNC]

Has anyone eaten at any of the service areas on the Turnpike? I'm thinking of going down into Baltimore to see a friend and on the way back maybe hit a service area for dinner. I figure their food can't be much worse than the fast food I snarf down on a weekly basis, so it's not like that matters.

Stick to Maryland or Delaware if you want to eat at a service plaza.  Their plazas were recently updated in the past few years.  Maryland's are brand new and have a ton of food choices.

[The Nature Boy]

If the fast food doesn't offend you, the prices should.  Grossly inflated to exploit a captive audience.

Err, how expensive are we talking here? "Grossly inflated" makes me think I'm going to pay $15 for a burger and fries from McDonalds...

What, you want me to back up my wild accusation with hard info?  I thought this was the internet. 

If I had to ballpark it I'd say the toll road prices are ~40% higher than street price.  Sometimes more, sometimes less.

I'll back this up. The New York Thruway and NJ Turnpike are serial offenders of ripping you off with high food prices. The Ohio Turnpike also has prices that are slightly above average.

[Pete from Boston]

Connecticut just redid theirs and in at least one (Milford North) added healthier options with at least some variety in portion so you could spend a bit less.

Odd aside: the convenience store there sold cartons of eggs when they opened, but no more.

[storm2k]

Has anyone eaten at any of the service areas on the Turnpike? I'm thinking of going down into Baltimore to see a friend and on the way back maybe hit a service area for dinner. I figure their food can't be much worse than the fast food I snarf down on a weekly basis, so it's not like that matters.

Stick with the Deleware House service area. It's quite new, very modern, has six or seven food choices and the prices aren't obscene. The service plazas on the Turnpike aren't bad, only about 12-14 years old, but the prices are higher and most places only have 1 or 2 food choices.

[Roadrunner75]

How many have noticed that at least some of the NJ Turnpike service areas have two convenience stores - the 'official' store next to the fast food, rest rooms, etc. as well as a second Sunoco store which is your typical gas station quickie-mart.  I pass through the Grover Cleveland/Thomas Edison rest areas often, and didn't even notice the gas station store, until a coworker I was riding with one time told me to skip the main store and walk 20 feet through the door and down the steps to the Sunoco mart.  The Thomas Edison Sunoco store isn't obvious from the main parking lot as it faces the pumps with no adjacent parking, and the internal hallway connection isn't well marked.  I can only assume HMS Host doesn't want people to know about the competition down the hall (not sure how this arrangement to have two in the same location happened, unless they're responsible for running Sunoco's mart there too...)  The Sunoco mart is better stocked with food and drinks, and is a lot less crowded (not sure of the price differential, if any...)

As for dinner at the plazas, you can find something better and cheaper just off the Turnpike(s) at pretty much any exit...

[Zeffy]

Well, guess I'll stick to conventional methods and hunting for food off the Turnpike (or before I re-enter New Jersey) because a lot of reviews are saying the prices are higher than I would want...

Unrelated, does anyone know what the hell is going on here?



Molly Pitcher Service Area on the Turnpike. I'm assuming the stuff in the middle is related to the widening of the Turnpike, but what's up with the ramp shown by Google Maps?

[NJRoadfan]

The ramp is access for the NJ State Police barracks on the lower left hand corner.

[The Nature Boy]

I've never left the Turnpike and gotten back on so this may seem like a dumb question but:

Do you lose money if you get off and get back on? I hope the question makes sense, but is the distribution of charges equitable throughout the state? I could imagine a situation where I get on at the start, get off a few miles later, get back on and the price to the terminus from that exit isn't a direct continuation so there may be an additional dollar or two added because someone at the NJ Turnpike Authority can't do math or wanted to penalize people for getting off to avoid the service plazas.

Hope that makes sense.

[Pete from Boston]

There's usually a small penalty for getring off, but it seems to range from 0-50¢ based on several tests with the toll calculator on the exit 1-9 stretch, so I would call it pretty fair.   

[roadman65]

Does Exit 13A still charge the same for Exit 14 going NB and Exit 13 going SB?

When I lived in New Jersey it was done that way as some sort of thing the NJTA did when Exit 13A was opened.  The brass above did not want to lose toll revenue so they thought they would charge extra as many who use Exit 13A were the one's previously using either of those two exits.  So naturally they would figure that no one was really being cheated as they're only paying the same as before the interchange was opened and they still get the same for less road being used.

[Mergingtraffic]

Gas is about 11cents higher on the Tpke in my experience. 

[The Nature Boy]

Gas is about 11cents higher on the Tpke in my experience.

But whatever that price is is usually far cheaper than what you'd pay in NY, CT or MA. When I drive to the Northeast, I usually fill up in NJ to avoid the gas prices farther north. 11 cents per gallon works out to about $2 more or so per fill up, not worth the trouble of getting off the Turnpike and dealing with surface road traffic. 

[vdeane]

Indeed.  Food/fuel may cost more at the travel plazas, but I find that the convenience is generally worth it.  Food I don't bother with researching places off the toll roads unless I was getting off at an exit anyways.  Pretty much ditto for fuel, but it's less common that I'll need to refuel on the toll road, at least when the Thruway is involved (especially since I almost never need to refuel along the Thruway corridor period; most of my trips are from home in Albany to visiting family in Rochester, so I just refuel at either end).  I will refuel at Turnpike travel plazas before returning to NY.  The cost of getting a slice of pizza and a breadstick at Sparro on the Thruway is no higher than the cost of a small sub at Mazzafferro's in Rome, chicken over rice at Karam's in Utica, a sub at Dibella's, etc. so I really don't see why people say food prices are obscene (in fact the Thruway food is cheaper than the last two places I listed!); can anyone say penny pinchers?

[roadman65]

You might want to fuel just enough to get you through New Jersey than gas up at NJ 140 in Deepwater or NJ 49 in Pennsville for the rest.

Considering you do not need a full tank to get through New Jersey (and FYI Steve I am not making a crack about NJ being small either) as most cars of today can go 400 plus miles on a full tank, getting through 120 or so miles of the NJ Turnpike could be done on one third of a tank easily.

[Pete from Boston]

The food prices are high for what it is.  Can anyone say little respect for body or wallet?  You have to have a certain inherent resignation to eat Popeye's, for example, at all.  You have to bargain further against common sense to pay nine dollars for it. 

I'm far from cheap – I'm just too smart to not only accept crap but pay extra at a place where if anything the margins are so high on the volume that said crap should be cheaper than elsewhere.

It's 2014.  I have the technology in my pocket to find quality food at appropriate prices using countless specific parameters just about anyplace without great disruption to my travel.

When you are on the road a lot, and you end up using that as an excuse to regularly eat badly and expensively, no one is to blame but you. 

[roadman65]

Just so you know IHOP is not that cheap.  Compared to Dennys it is night and day.  So I imagine that a meal on the Turnpike is just as costly than if you ate at an off the road IHOP. 

However, for the trouble you go through to get off the road and get back on, the few extra cents is worth it I would think.  In fact in PA I have eaten at the Penn Turnpike Plazas just because they were there went I needed to use the rest rooms.

[vdeane]

The food prices are high for what it is.  Can anyone say little respect for body or wallet?  You have to have a certain inherent resignation to eat Popeye's, for example, at all.  You have to bargain further against common sense to pay nine dollars for it. 

I'm far from cheap – I'm just too smart to not only accept crap but pay extra at a place where if anything the margins are so high on the volume that said crap should be cheaper than elsewhere.

It's 2014.  I have the technology in my pocket to find quality food at appropriate prices using countless specific parameters just about anyplace without great disruption to my travel.

When you are on the road a lot, and you end up using that as an excuse to regularly eat badly and expensively, no one is to blame but you. 

Eating out is expensive no matter where you do it.  Plus I travel alone, so that eliminates pretty much anything that isn't fast food anyways... and trips long enough where I'd have to eat our are relatively rare.  Pretty much just roadmeets, though I'll stop at Sbarro on the Thruway for some trips to/from Rochester just for something different.  Btw, the price for a slice of cheese and a breadstick or two on the Thruway is around $6.

[The Nature Boy]

I never have the luxury of avoiding gassing up on the Thruway. I'm always driving across to either the MA or VT line so I'm stuck the entire way.

The NY Thurway is a terribly boring drive.

[hotdogPi]

I never have the luxury of avoiding gassing up on the Thruway. I'm always driving across to either the MA or VT line so I'm stuck the entire way.

The NY Thurway is a terribly boring drive.

NY 5? US 20?

[D-Dey65]

How many have noticed that at least some of the NJ Turnpike service areas have two convenience stores - the 'official' store next to the fast food, rest rooms, etc. as well as a second Sunoco store which is your typical gas station quickie-mart.

Not only have I noticed them, I've also noticed the separate restaurants at some of them. I think a lot of them are former Howard Johnsons or something. I stopped at the Walt Whitman Service Area a few years ago, and I took my personal phone book with me unknowingly leaving it behind at the Sunoco convenience store there. I had to make a U-Turn at Exit 3, and another one at Exit 4 and then go back to the service area to pick the thing up. The woman working there, who had to be in her late-50's or 60's knew it was left behind by somebody and that it must've been important. As I was discussing this with her, out comes this cutie working there, and I was disappointed because I realized I could never go out with her because I had to travel such a long distance.