New Jersey

[Mr. Matté]

New Jersey Monthly's January issue has "Why NJ Roads Suck" as their cover article, including a Top 20 of worst "traffic nightmares" in the state, and a discussion of the trust fund, our friend the jughandle, etc.  For the "Top" list, the GSP between the Union and Essex tolls was #1.

Here's a link to said article: http://njmonthly.com/articles/lifestyle/why-jersey-roads-suck.html

(Though I fail to see how US 17 and I-495's problems back up into our state...[/endPicky])

[Roadrunner75]

New Jersey Monthly's January issue has "Why NJ Roads Suck" as their cover article, including a Top 20 of worst "traffic nightmares" in the state, and a discussion of the trust fund, our friend the jughandle, etc.  For the "Top" list, the GSP between the Union and Essex tolls was #1.

Here's a link to said article: http://njmonthly.com/articles/lifestyle/why-jersey-roads-suck.html

(Though I fail to see how US 17 and I-495's problems back up into our state...[/endPicky])

Wait a minute!  I don't need to pay for this magazine for its two articles and 50 pages of "Top Doctors"???

[storm2k]

Grabbed a couple of pics heading SB on 287 near Exit 14 of the changes in signage related to this exit. They really did just update the 1994 signs with new tabs and changed around the button copy to change the control city from New York to Newark (which is what it always should have been, since that's where 22 ends). The sign at the exit itself is... ugh. A pretty shoddy job, if you ask me. At least the long standing quirk (right aligned exit tab for a left exit) is gone. And we still don't know where they found these button copy "a" letters from. Also you can see how badly they spaced out Newark on the 1 mile approach. Everything is smushed as compared to the Perth Amboy copy on the other side of the sign.

[Alps]

And we still don't know where they found these button copy "a" letters from.

Northbound, one sign has been replaced, and the other two still say New York. The sign that says Newark is reflective - and the "a" is also reflective, but much shinier. NJDOT never used demountable copy, so I have no clue how the letters moved around.

[storm2k]

And we still don't know where they found these button copy "a" letters from.

Northbound, one sign has been replaced, and the other two still say New York. The sign that says Newark is reflective - and the "a" is also reflective, but much shinier. NJDOT never used demountable copy, so I have no clue how the letters moved around.

The NB signs were installed in 1998 and are all reflective with no button copy (everything from 13 south to the Turnpike was installed in 1998). It was changed, but it looks like the peeled off the old letters and installed new ones. I imagine that they will eventually do the same for the other two signs. Likely when they add the new Left Exit tabs to the 1/2 mile sign and the exit point sign.

[Zeffy]

What's interesting is that the 1 mile advance sign looked to use Series E instead of EM at first for Newark, but upon closer inspection, the stroke thickness looks like the one used by EM.

[ixnay]

Here's a link to said article: http://njmonthly.com/articles/lifestyle/why-jersey-roads-suck.html

(Though I fail to see how US 17 and I-495's problems back up into our state...[/endPicky])

From http://njmonthly.com/articles/lifestyle/bumper-to-bumper-20-traffic-hot-spots.html...

4. In Camden County, the hairpin turn where I-295 connects with I-76 and NJ Route 42 has been so notorious for so long that it still carries the name of the long-defunct nightclub that once overlooked it: Al-Jo's Curve.

Can any South Jerseyans tell us where Al-Jo's was, so that it can be pinpointed on Google satellite?

ixnay

[NE2]

Can any South Jerseyans tell us where Al-Jo's was, so that it can be pinpointed on Google satellite?

Apparently the Goog is a South Jerseyan: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq-blinq/Al-Jos-The-club-that-gave-the-curve-its-name.html

Club Al-Jo, the sign for which was visible from what's long been called the Al-Jo curve, closed some 20 years ago. Its West Kings Highway site has been occupied by the John D. West Senior Center, a 74-unit housing complex, since 2004.

[Alps]

And we still don't know where they found these button copy "a" letters from.

Northbound, one sign has been replaced, and the other two still say New York. The sign that says Newark is reflective - and the "a" is also reflective, but much shinier. NJDOT never used demountable copy, so I have no clue how the letters moved around.

The NB signs were installed in 1998 and are all reflective with no button copy (everything from 13 south to the Turnpike was installed in 1998). It was changed, but it looks like they peeled off the old letters and installed new ones.[/u] I imagine that they will eventually do the same for the other two signs. Likely when they add the new Left Exit tabs to the 1/2 mile sign and the exit point sign.

That's my question - HOW did they peel off the letters when they're not demountable. It's not greenout.

[jeffandnicole]

Here's a link to said article: http://njmonthly.com/articles/lifestyle/why-jersey-roads-suck.html

(Though I fail to see how US 17 and I-495's problems back up into our state...[/endPicky])

From http://njmonthly.com/articles/lifestyle/bumper-to-bumper-20-traffic-hot-spots.html...

4. In Camden County, the hairpin turn where I-295 connects with I-76 and NJ Route 42 has been so notorious for so long that it still carries the name of the long-defunct nightclub that once overlooked it: Al-Jo's Curve.

Can any South Jerseyans tell us where Al-Jo's was, so that it can be pinpointed on Google satellite?

ixnay

It's the grey roof building in the center of this: http://goo.gl/maps/gEc66  The location is now a senior/assisted living center.  It's barely visible thru the summertime brush: http://goo.gl/maps/7ejkc , although it's a lot easier to see from the roadway now in the wintertime!

You'll notice the road it sits on - Kings Highway - sits mere feet from 295, although the road is never visible from the highway.

[jeffandnicole]

And we still don't know where they found these button copy "a" letters from.

Northbound, one sign has been replaced, and the other two still say New York. The sign that says Newark is reflective - and the "a" is also reflective, but much shinier. NJDOT never used demountable copy, so I have no clue how the letters moved around.

The NB signs were installed in 1998 and are all reflective with no button copy (everything from 13 south to the Turnpike was installed in 1998). It was changed, but it looks like they peeled off the old letters and installed new ones.[/u] I imagine that they will eventually do the same for the other two signs. Likely when they add the new Left Exit tabs to the 1/2 mile sign and the exit point sign.

That's my question - HOW did they peel off the letters when they're not demountable. It's not greenout.

When they redid the BGSs on 295, there was a sign error down my way, which I took a picture of and it made it's way into the paper.  At the time, NJDOT said that they don't need to replace the entire sign - they can just switch or replace the two letters, which they did fairly quickly.  If I recall, it was this sign, spelled "Gibbtsown".

[storm2k]

And we still don't know where they found these button copy "a" letters from.

Northbound, one sign has been replaced, and the other two still say New York. The sign that says Newark is reflective - and the "a" is also reflective, but much shinier. NJDOT never used demountable copy, so I have no clue how the letters moved around.

The NB signs were installed in 1998 and are all reflective with no button copy (everything from 13 south to the Turnpike was installed in 1998). It was changed, but it looks like they peeled off the old letters and installed new ones.[/u] I imagine that they will eventually do the same for the other two signs. Likely when they add the new Left Exit tabs to the 1/2 mile sign and the exit point sign.

That's my question - HOW did they peel off the letters when they're not demountable. It's not greenout.

No idea, but I rode up there again today and the NB signs are all changed. Again, they took down the old letters and put up new reflective ones. I'll try to grab a couple of pics soon.

[ekt8750]

And we still don't know where they found these button copy "a" letters from.

Northbound, one sign has been replaced, and the other two still say New York. The sign that says Newark is reflective - and the "a" is also reflective, but much shinier. NJDOT never used demountable copy, so I have no clue how the letters moved around.

The NB signs were installed in 1998 and are all reflective with no button copy (everything from 13 south to the Turnpike was installed in 1998). It was changed, but it looks like they peeled off the old letters and installed new ones.[/u] I imagine that they will eventually do the same for the other two signs. Likely when they add the new Left Exit tabs to the 1/2 mile sign and the exit point sign.

That's my question - HOW did they peel off the letters when they're not demountable. It's not greenout.

Actually a lot of the signs that I see in South Jersey have removable lettering and I'm not just talking about copy either. Only the real new ones from what I've seen are flat screened.

[Mr. Matté]

2014 Straight Line Diagrams are out!
http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/sldiag/_Booklet.pdf

Much to my surprise, there are a lot of updates (a lot less "Date Last Inventoried: December 1999) but some picky changes have not been corrected, ie. Route 18 last inventoried in July 2014 but the freeway portion north of the Raritan is shown as a 45 MPH speed limit, I remember that changing during the summer of my sophomore-junior year of college.

[NJRoadfan]

*facepalm*

The county 6XX routes are still an incorrect disaster. They did fix Hudson County finally though.

[jeffandnicole]

I had looked on the NJDOT website this morning, and they still had the 2010 SLs up at that time.

I did notice I-295 has at least one error:  At the southern-most mile or so, it lists both 295 North & South has having 3 lanes.  Both directions have 4 lanes between the Delaware Memorial Bridge & the NJ Turnpike.  Has for decades, so not sure how this could've been overlooked.

[Alps]

2014 Straight Line Diagrams are out!
http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/sldiag/_Booklet.pdf

Much to my surprise, there are a lot of updates (a lot less "Date Last Inventoried: December 1999) but some picky changes have not been corrected, ie. Route 18 last inventoried in July 2014 but the freeway portion north of the Raritan is shown as a 45 MPH speed limit, I remember that changing during the summer of my sophomore-junior year of college.

I spot-checked a few things. 509 Spur still exists south of NJ 124 despite Union County signing it as 577. Hudson Co. looks a little better - but CR 63? A month late and an eagle short. (1 eagle = $10)

[Zeffy]

Question. If the US 206 Bypass is under NJDOT jurisdiction, would I be better off emailing them or Hillsborough Twp's (or Somerset County's) DOTs? I'm seriously lost why there hasn't been any construction as of late. It's been about 5 months now since I saw any activity, on both ends of the bypass. I looked online and can't find any project website or anything that would say they ran into problems, but the grass is beginning to grow back on the land they cleared to make way for the road, so I'm just wondering... what the hell?

[Alps]

Question. If the US 206 Bypass is under NJDOT jurisdiction, would I be better off emailing them or Hillsborough Twp's (or Somerset County's) DOTs? I'm seriously lost why there hasn't been any construction as of late. It's been about 5 months now since I saw any activity, on both ends of the bypass. I looked online and can't find any project website or anything that would say they ran into problems, but the grass is beginning to grow back on the land they cleared to make way for the road, so I'm just wondering... what the hell?

Chill. It's winter.

[NJRoadfan]

I spot-checked a few things. 509 Spur still exists south of NJ 124 despite Union County signing it as 577. Hudson Co. looks a little better - but CR 63? A month late and an eagle short. (1 eagle = $10)

CR-63 = NJ-63 the very short time its in Hudson County, it says so in Hudson County's own records.

Its quite obvious not much work went into this new addition as assumed. For example, the splitting of CR-501 into a one way couplet thru Englewood via Dean St/Grand Ave north of NJ-93 isn't in there, something that happened years ago.

NJDOT also continues to ignore that Passaic County DPW extended NJ-7 to NJ-3 despite posting it on NJ-3 itself. Its in Passaic County DPW's route log and they posted NJ-7 shields in Clifton when they signed all their 600/700 routes. Both Middlesex and Union County's SLDs are still very very wrong though.

[Zeffy]

Chill. It's winter.

I know that. I didn't think they would stop working at the end of September though, which is the about the last time I saw work on it.

[storm2k]

Chill. It's winter.

I know that. I didn't think they would stop working at the end of September though, which is the about the last time I saw work on it.

Probably when they got to a stage in the work where it made more sense to stop before it got cold. I'm sure things will pick back up in the spring.

[J Route Z]

Question. If the US 206 Bypass is under NJDOT jurisdiction, would I be better off emailing them or Hillsborough Twp's (or Somerset County's) DOTs? I'm seriously lost why there hasn't been any construction as of late. It's been about 5 months now since I saw any activity, on both ends of the bypass. I looked online and can't find any project website or anything that would say they ran into problems, but the grass is beginning to grow back on the land they cleared to make way for the road, so I'm just wondering... what the hell?

The Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_206#Bannered_routes says that it was partially completed in 2013?

[jeffandnicole]

On Facebook, look up "Yummygal's South Jersey Adventures" ( https://www.facebook.com/TheYummygal ).  This poster has a lot of great info on South Jersey, and a number of posts involves roads, especially from the mid 20th century.  One such recent post was Saturday about 8pm, which is an old home video of someone travelling along the Black Horse Pike, Rt. 30, Admiral Wilson Blvd, and the Ben Franklin Bridge.  Great stuff.

[KEVIN_224]

So nice to see the Ben Franklin Bridge way back when! So strange to not see I-676 in the back right like you would now!