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Old NJ Turnpike Photos

Started by Steve D, January 30, 2013, 08:47:56 PM

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Steve D

I have a bunch of great photos from the Turnpike from the 1950s through the early 1970s that I will post in waves roughly beginning at the northern end.

We'll start at the original northern terminus of the NJ Turnpike.  Long before interstate 80, the Turnpike simply ended at a trumpet interchange with US 46.  This configuration lasted until 1969 (the bridge over US 46 still exists just east of the mainline Turnpike with only the exit ramp active); the toll booth was removed in 1964 when it was combined with the toll booth at exit 16 (today 16E).



Once the tollbooths for Exit 18 were moved south and combined with Exit 16 in 1964, the END OF TURNPIKE signs were erected (and lasted only five years until 1969 when I-95 was completed to I-80).  You can still see the horizontal lines across the pavement from the old toll plaza.


Looking northbound at the original exit 16 - a split plaza before being combined with exit 18 in 1964.  It is important to note that at this time (prior to 1964) exit 17 existed just north as a FULL INTERCHANGE!! Today exit 16E accounts for that access with a ramp leading to NJ3 west in roughly the same location (in this picture, exit 16 only headed towards the Lincoln Tunnel).  Like several early Turnpike exits (exit 12, the original exit 10 - Garden State Parkway) this exit was (and is) only accessible to and from one direction.


This is located northbound just prior to where interchange 15X is today.  Until 1974 several major Turnpike bridges did not have shoulders and this system was used to indicate lane closures when a vehicle broke down or due to constriction.  The  LANE CLOSED AHEAD sign could be moved physically to indicate a lane closure long before the standard VMS.



To be continued.....


SignBridge

#1
Steve, those are great old photos of the Turnpike that I remember as a kid. Please continue to post whatever you have. I remember what a treat it was to ride the NJT in that era when the parkways and expressways in the New York area still had 40-45 mile speed limits. But the big New Jersey Turnpike had a 60 mph speed limit! which went well with my dad's '57 Chevy.

I especially liked the original toll plazas with their widely spaced booths (common all over the NYC area in that era) where you could sometimes use the right lane and pay the toll on the right-hand side. Though not very efficient for large traffic volume, they were aesthetically pleasing. The slanted roof added to that effect as well.

NJRoadfan

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.

roadman65

Great finds!  Love pictures of the old toll booth at Ridgefield Park.  If memory serves me correctly both I-95 to I-80 and the Western Spur both opened at the same time. 

I also remember seeing on an old Esso map, that I-80 was completed long before the section of free I-95 from US 46 to I-80 was finished.  That meant for a while, I-95 was a temporary I-80 (just like I-287 was supposed to be from the NJ Turnpike to Durham Avenue in Edison) and may explain why some people think that I-95 is Route 80 north of the trans continental interstate terminus as of today.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

StogieGuy7

Now that you mention it, I do recall that (when headed north) we had to get off of the Turnpike on a less than freeway-spec roadway (US 46).  The END OF TURNPIKE signs look very familiar!  And, I am reminded of my father touting the "new" way to the G. Washington Bridge. 

I was just a little kid then, but already a roadgeek who could read signs.   :spin:

KEVIN_224

Fascinating pictures! I wasn't on the New Jersey Turnpike myself until August of 1989. That was when me and my brother did an escorted weekend trip to Washington DC (we were coming from central Connecticut). I'm fairly certain that the Turnpike was being widened down to the recent car/truck lane split we had at mile marker 73 near Exit 8A. Despite being 18, this was my first foray into New York City proper, NJ, DE, MD, VA and Washington DC. We stayed on the Turnpike and went over the Delaware Memorial Bridge (I wouldn't add PA until March of 1991). :)

roadman

#6
Thanks for sharing these with us.  Excellent photos that brought back a lot of fond childhood memories for me!   My first trips on the New Jersey Turnpike were in 1967 when my oldest brother was a freshman at the Naval Academy in Annapolis.  Even at the age of six, I was the only other person in the car that my father would trust to guard the road maps and the toll ticket.  In later years, I was also given the responsibility of keeping track of the mileage we had driven as well.

We would stop at one of the service plazas on the Turnpike to have lunch, which my mother made and packed for us (usually baloney or ham with cheese sandwiches and orange soda).  And we would always get gas at an Esso station on US 46 just after leaving the Turnpike.
"And ninety-five is the route you were on.  It was not the speed limit sign."  - Jim Croce (from Speedball Tucker)

"My life has been a tapestry
Of years of roads and highway signs" (with apologies to Carole King and Tom Rush)

jeffandnicole

I've seen many older pics of the NJ Turnpike, but these have escaped my attention so far.  Great pics from many moons ago...and I look forward to seeing the many more you have (especially as you come further south down the 'Pike)!

KEVIN_224

Yes! Any pre-widening shots north of Exit 8A/MM 73 would be fun to see! Otherwise, what about Exit 4 (NJ Route 73) in Mount Laurel?

1995hoo

Great pictures, thanks for posting. When I was a kid I seldom saw the Turnpike north of Exit 13 because our relatives lived in Brooklyn and so we'd exit at either Exit 10 or Exit 13 to head across Staten Island. So I will be quite interested in seeing your pictures from further south simply because that's the part of the road I know best.

That picture of Exit 16 is really interesting because the center "guardrail" looks more like a wooden fence you might see in any rural area! The cop car in the same picture is also interesting, and I notice there are some people standing in the far right lane.
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

D-Dey65

Quote from: NJRoadfan on January 30, 2013, 10:08:13 PM
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.
That's going on my Amazon.com wish list today. I hope there's a Kindle version, because I have a lot of books cluttering up my place, and I'm seriously considering getting a Kindle Fire before the Spring of 2013.


Quote from: NJRoadfan on January 30, 2013, 10:08:13 PM
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.
You do that.


seicer

Quote from: Steve D on January 30, 2013, 08:47:56 PM
I have a bunch of great photos from the Turnpike from the 1950s through the early 1970s that I will post in waves roughly beginning at the northern end.

We'll start at the original northern terminus of the NJ Turnpike.  Long before interstate 80, the Turnpike simply ended at a trumpet interchange with US 46.  This configuration lasted until 1969 (the bridge over US 46 still exists just east of the mainline Turnpike with only the exit ramp active); the toll booth was removed in 1964 when it was combined with the toll booth at exit 16 (today 16E).



Ah, so now I know what this maintenance yard is for: http://goo.gl/maps/suR0X. It's the former toll plaza.

KEVIN_224

I've been on that last leg of US 46 a few times as an alternate to the George Washington Bridge. Imagine if that road, along with the combined US Routes 1 and 9, had become I-95? There's no way that could've worked! It's bad enough that the section of I-95 north of this photo curves around Leonia, NJ. Probably NIMBYs who caused that one!

1995hoo

Quote from: KEVIN_224 on January 31, 2013, 02:48:46 PM
I've been on that last leg of US 46 a few times as an alternate to the George Washington Bridge. Imagine if that road, along with the combined US Routes 1 and 9, had become I-95? There's no way that could've worked! It's bad enough that the section of I-95 north of this photo curves around Leonia, NJ. Probably NIMBYs who caused that one!

I believe I read somewhere that Leonia's local government filed suit to change the original routing, which would have been a straight line cutting through their central business district. I don't know whether they won the case or whether the final alignment was the result of a settlement.
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

SignBridge

Interesting that so many of us older guys have such great memories of the Turnpike's early era.

Roadman65 was right in his earlier post about the opening of I-80/95. It did open from the GWB to maybe the G.S. Parkway or Paterson circa 1964-65. I still remember seeing the huge interchange being built at the west end of the GWB complex in Fort Lee. Let me tell ya, when that 10-lane express/local highway (the first of many in NJ) opened, it was like science fiction came true for this 14 year-old. It cut the travel time from the Bridge to the Parkway from a half-hour on Rt.46 down to 10 minutes. 

The so called missing mile (as the Turnpike Troopers called it for years afterwards) connecting the Turnpike to I-80/95 didn't open 'til maybe 1969 with the western leg of the NJT, as stated above.

1995Shoo, good observation about the temporary median fence in the Exit-16 photo. I believe that was a construction area fence. In the photo it looks like construction was just starting on the expanded Exit-16 with the wide toll plaza. That fence in the photo was no way the standard median. In the 1960's they already had steel-guide rails in the median. 

KEVIN_224

That "LANE CLOSED AHEAD" sign in Secaucus made me think: When did the electronic signs first appear on the gantries? I mean the ones with the sign panels which rotated when given travel lanes were closed due to weather, etc.

lepidopteran

Wow, I wanna thank you for posting these pictures!

As a child of about the age of 4, I remember being in awe at how the mighty NJ Turnpike began with two roads converging together from opposite directions, when we drove home one night from the northern terminus.  Yet after that. every time we went towards that end, by day, I could never seem to find those diverging roads, as I was hoping to take the other leg of the wye.  (Yes, I was a roadgeek as far back as age 3.)  Now I know wye, er, why!  New construction did away with them.  Except that this journey took place in 1970 at the earliest, and 1971 at the latest, so maybe I didn't see the construction since it was at night.

I do remember seeing those trapezoidal, half-intimidating, "End Of Turnpike" signs at least once.  I thought I remembered them reading "End of NJ Turnpike."  Or that could be from a later trip, in which I did see a sign that I think read EoNT, but it was a simple rectangular black-on-white informational sign on a pole on the median.   Hmm, it seems that the reason things weren't as I remembered them, was because by the time we returned, things were in fact different!

Steve D


The "End of Turnpike" signs in the photo I posted existed until 1969/1970, when the Turnpike was connected with I-95/80.   After this new connection  opened, new rectangular signs saying "End of NJ Turnpike" were posted right at US 46 before the "missing mile" started (MM 118).  So you are not imagining things! These signs lasted until the early 1990s when the NJTP Authority took over maintenance of I-95, making it technically part of the Turnpike.

I plan on posting some more photos tonight..

Alps

Quote from: 1995hoo on January 31, 2013, 04:09:17 PM
Quote from: KEVIN_224 on January 31, 2013, 02:48:46 PM
I've been on that last leg of US 46 a few times as an alternate to the George Washington Bridge. Imagine if that road, along with the combined US Routes 1 and 9, had become I-95? There's no way that could've worked! It's bad enough that the section of I-95 north of this photo curves around Leonia, NJ. Probably NIMBYs who caused that one!

I believe I read somewhere that Leonia's local government filed suit to change the original routing, which would have been a straight line cutting through their central business district. I don't know whether they won the case or whether the final alignment was the result of a settlement.
I think the alignment also had to do with getting around Overpeck Park thanks to the increeping environmental regulations at the time. To what degree it's one vs. the other, *shrug*

SignBridge

Kevin, those variable-message signs with the rotating panels were built with the western leg/dual roadways from about 1969 on. Before that the only variable-message signs were those neon signs that warn of dangerous conditions ahead. At least, that's how I remember it.

Interstatefan78

Love them so much and can someone post a picture of Exit 14-14 A,B,c from the years 1956-1977, and in 1977 I-78 exits 48-58 was opened, but I've seen some pictures of exit 9 RT-18 when it was a trumpet interchange with out the Cars only ramps, and cars, trucks, buses ramps

Steve D

Part 2...

Just north of Exit 15(E) in the 1950s.  Note the lack of shoulders and almost no median -- very unusual for the NJTP today, but common on the large bridge structures such as this until 1974 (I think a very small median was installed in the 1960's but was replaced with the 1974 modernization).


The signs for the northbound Western Spur split are unveiled for the Western Spur opening in January 1970.  These signs were quickly replaced by drum-style VMS signs around 1973 and then again around 2005.


Another set of signs for the northbound split for the Western Spur, a mile south of the previous.  Again, no drum-style VMS in 1970.  The top sign said TURNPIKE DIVIDES 1 MILE AHEAD (black on yellow).


The original exit 14 in the shortest-lived interchange configuration in Turnpike history - five years (1951-56).  This picture pre-dates the Newark Bay - Hudson County Extension (exits 14A-B-C) and the 1969 dual/dual widening.  Look how small Newark Airport is in the top right.


The funky 1956 art deco style sign, northbound at exit 14 before the 1969 widening.  I think two similar signs still exist on the extension (at the entry points at 14A and 14B); the famous one near exit 6 southbound was taken down last year in the current widening.


To be continued...




SignBridge

#22
Absolutely priceless!  And I stand corrected on those variable-message signs. I remember first seeing them maybe 1976, and wrongly assumed they were part of the 1969 project. Dig the button-copy on those BGS's! Always liked those German Autobahn style long arrows on the inside of the sign face too, which are not the usual American configuration.

1995hoo

"TURNPIKE DIVIDES 1 MILE AHEAD"

I find that part interesting because I always saw that language being used to advise of the split between "Cars Only" and "Cars-Trucks-Buses" whereas I recall the advance flip signs for the two spurs saying "ROAD DIVIDES" for many years.
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

jeffandnicole

I *think* the Art Deco Style sign still exists on the PA Turnpike Extension EB just before the North/South mainline, which can be seen from I-295.  On my way home today I'll try to take a glance to see if it's still there.



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