Old NJ Turnpike Photos

[djsinco]

Those were cutting edge in their day. Last summer, I saw the (new to me) LCD-looking variable message signs on I-4 in Orlando. They seemed like a good idea, but I think full color was a bit much. Wouldn't they be cheaper and less busy looking in a gray-scale implementation?

[Alps]

Those were cutting edge in their day. Last summer, I saw the (new to me) LCD-looking variable message signs on I-4 in Orlando. They seemed like a good idea, but I think full color was a bit much. Wouldn't they be cheaper and less busy looking in a gray-scale implementation?

NJ Turnpike Authority now uses full color as well. The idea is that they can exactly replicate the colors of a traffic sign (albeit brighter). They wanted that capability and were willing to pay.

[Flyer78]

Official De-Lurking Post.

The new NJTP VMS/CMS signs are not LCD-like. They are LED. Yes, this seems like a minor technical difference, but this is a forum that debates various highway gothic typefaces on a regular basis.

The in-the-process-of-being-replaced Neon signs were very cool, and decades ahead of their time. The new signs can offer so much more, but I find it funny when a non MUTCD alert is posted -- such as (what seems oddly common) Silver Alerts in NJ -- the fonts seem very default, and certainly not from the Highway Gothic or Clearview typefaces... which seems odd.

Based on this thread, the 1982 build-out brought us the old signs, which lasted 30-years or more... (in some form, anyway...) wonder what we will be talking about in 2043...

[djsinco]

I love the turnpike, but hate the tolls and traffic. I drive to Bergen County, NJ and back to King of Prussia, PA a few times a year, and generally use 287/202. With the new bypass around Chalfont; it is only about a 10 minute difference most of the time, believe it or not.

[jeffandnicole]

Official De-Lurking Post.

The new NJTP VMS/CMS signs are not LCD-like. They are LED. Yes, this seems like a minor technical difference, but this is a forum that debates various highway gothic typefaces on a regular basis.

The in-the-process-of-being-replaced Neon signs were very cool, and decades ahead of their time. The new signs can offer so much more, but I find it funny when a non MUTCD alert is posted -- such as (what seems oddly common) Silver Alerts in NJ -- the fonts seem very default, and certainly not from the Highway Gothic or Clearview typefaces... which seems odd.

Based on this thread, the 1982 build-out brought us the old signs, which lasted 30-years or more... (in some form, anyway...) wonder what we will be talking about in 2043...

Welcome Flyer78! 

The NJ Turnpike has also been posting occasional 'Travel Time to Route 00, Exit 0, 41 miles, 38 minutes' messages on the screens in similiar very generic formats.

I haven't seen a US or Interstate shield on the LED signs yet, but they've posted very real looking black and white signs (ie: State Law: Keep Right Except to Pass) and blue signs (for EZ Pass or service area info).  For construction alerts, the background is orange.  For traffic congestion/accident issues, a yellow (warning) background is used.

[M3019C LPS20]

Great photographs of the turnpike!

Times sure have changed. 

[D-Dey65]

Has anybody tried to contact the New Jersey Turnpike commission and see if they're willing  to sell off the Neon VMS signs? The only things keeping me from trying to buy any of them is the money for them and a place to store them.

[_Simon]

Completely off topic but when I first saw this picture, I felt like I had to write a song about this scene;  so I just finished recording one about being able to take a magical ramp that leads to the road network of the 50s and 60s based on this photo and thinking about how nice those backlit signs must have looked at night time.   Demo MP3

[Steve D]

The southbound car/truck lane merge near exit 8a is being moved to the temporary location (two miles north) this weekend.

[roadman65]

Completely off topic but when I first saw this picture, I felt like I had to write a song about this scene;  so I just finished recording one about being able to take a magical ramp that leads to the road network of the 50s and 60s based on this photo and thinking about how nice those backlit signs must have looked at night time.   Demo MP3

I was noticing that US 9 is omitted from the Newark Airport ramp, but US 22 is not.  I sort of forgot that even with the modern signs on the dual carriageway configuration it was left out in favor of US 22 for many years as well.  It was sometime in the last twenty years when US 9 was added to the mix.  Considering most people consider US 1 & 9 as one route in talk, and even to the point with the combined shields, that back then they did not list it considering there was plenty of room on the assembly.

Good find though!

[NJRoadfan]

Old 1955 NJTP Booklet scans. Shows the short dual-dual section in Elizabeth and is a source of the "tolls will be removed when its paid off" myth.

http://s820.photobucket.com/user/njroadfan/library/NJTP%20Booklet

Hit download to get the readable full size images.

[djsinco]

NJRoadfan

Thanks for posting the link to the brochure!

[1995hoo]

I notice the map in that brochure showed the proposed northern extension to the Thruway. Great find! Thanks for sharing it.

[D-Dey65]

I notice the map in that brochure showed the proposed northern extension to the Thruway. Great find! Thanks for sharing it.

I could barely see that. I thought it was just Palisades Interstate Parkway at first.

[1995hoo]

I notice the map in that brochure showed the proposed northern extension to the Thruway. Great find! Thanks for sharing it.

I could barely see that. I thought it was just Palisades Interstate Parkway at first.

I did too until I looked at the inset, where it was clearer. I'm viewing it on an iPad, which made zooming in very easy (although some of the other test is very grainy when viewed on here and I will look at it again on a PC later this morning).


Edited to add: I just viewed it on the PC and it's interesting to see the future I-80 listed as "East-West Tpk." I wasn't aware of that–was it originally planned as another toll road under the Turnpike Authority aegis? I suppose that might have made sense prior to the advent of the Interstate system.

[agentsteel53]

looks like a white background logo with blue text.  was dark-on-light ever used for the route shields?

[Alps]

Edited to add: I just viewed it on the PC and it's interesting to see the future I-80 listed as "East-West Tpk." I wasn't aware of that–was it originally planned as another toll road under the Turnpike Authority aegis? I suppose that might have made sense prior to the advent of the Interstate system.

That's an I-80/I-78 hybrid. The Turnpike spur I was familiar with went from Trenton north toward Newton, but that was only through textual description. This may have been what was actually referenced.

Edited to add: What hell? PA 611 already in 1950s?

[lepidopteran]

You had me at "Unusual tri-level construction in the Woodbridge area."  This of course is the famous stack with the GSP and another local road that just happens to run through it.  (Curiously, the only other interchange with another toll road, Exit 6 (PA Turnpike), also has a local road in the middle of it all.

Notice how both bridges in the picture have the same fence-like parapet.  When I used to go through there in the early 70's, the lower overpass had a more traditional single-rail (as I small child, I assumed higher drop = higher fence).   Since this was usually on the way to Brooklyn, I noticed that the other, similar, 3-tiered structure on the route was the never-opened and finally-demolished-last-year interchange built for the Richmond Parkway on the Staten Island Expressway -- it, too, had the taller fence on both bridges.

[NE2]

Edited to add: I just viewed it on the PC and it's interesting to see the future I-80 listed as "East-West Tpk." I wasn't aware of that–was it originally planned as another toll road under the Turnpike Authority aegis? I suppose that might have made sense prior to the advent of the Interstate system.

That's an I-80/I-78 hybrid.

More of a 80-280 hybrid - it crosses the mainline between 15 and 16.

[SignBridge]

Hmm.......I never heard of I-80 being proposed as East-West Tpke. The original name I remember from when it was being built in the 1960's was Bergen-Passaic Expwy.

[Mergingtraffic]

What book are these photos from? It looks to old/worn to be from the Images of America book?

[mariethefoxy]

were Exit 10 and 12 originally partial interchanges? that guidebook from the 1950s said that those interchanges were either not accessible from the north or the south.

[Alps]

were Exit 10 and 12 originally partial interchanges? that guidebook from the 1950s said that those interchanges were either not accessible from the north or the south.

Interchange 10 was partial - TPK N to GSP N, GSP S to TPK S. What is now Interchange 11 originally connected with US 9 only. Historic Aerials confirms the same for Interchange 12.

[roadman65]

What is up with no mention of US 9?

It seems that old classic wrought iron gantry on US 1 & 9 in Elizabeth at the express/local split that was removed some time ago in the classic photo from NJ archives, showed the road as US 1 solely too I believe.  Also the modern signs just recently added US 9, or at least sometime in the 1990's, as for years Exit 14 was signed I-78- US 1- US 22 in shields which most likely was copied over from this.

I know that New Jersey people call it one and nine and have for years, so I am wondering if it was just called "Route 1" in the day.

[Mergingtraffic]

NJTPA maintains a large archive of Turnpike memorabilia. A ton of photos landed up in the Arcadia Press book "Images of America: The New Jersey Turnpike" if anyone is looking for more. The NJ State Museum also had an exhibit entitled "What Exit?: New Jersey and it's Turnpike" that made its rounds at various locations in the state back in 2002. One of these days I'll post some photos of the exhibit that I took.

Has anyone found more old pics?