NJ Turnpike and Garden State Parkway go MUTCD!

[Alps]

It's finally been published, so I can break the news I've only been able to hint at - 95% of Parkway and Turnpike signage will be fully MUTCD compliant! The remaining 5% of signs will look like the "SL" standard drawings at http://www.state.nj.us/turnpike/standard-drawings.html - also check out the "DE" standard drawings for mile markers and delineators. Then read Section 6 of the Design Manual at http://www.state.nj.us/turnpike/design-manual.html to get an idea of how things will be going forward. *bow*

[SteveG1988]

So...what is the time til this little project is completed? decade or so?

[NJRoadfan]

Some sleuthing of the standard drawings reveals the control cities for the GSP from south to north:
Atlantic City
Toms River
Woodbridge
Newark
Paterson
Albany

Personally I think Clifton or Paramus should be in there given the major highway junctions they contain. NJTA leaves open the possibility of a future southbound control city if they decide to post pull throughs on the southern part of the GSP (likely Cape May).

Turnpike control cities from north to south:
New York
Newark
Trenton
Camden
Wilmington

Too bad they couldn't fit New Brunswick in there and I still think Baltimore deserves a spot.

Hmm... I wonder who had a hand in the revisions.... http://www.state.nj.us/turnpike/documents/DCA2013-DM-02.pdf

[SteveG1988]

I agree that baltimore has a slight need to be on the road as reassurance markers, at least when the turnpike meets up with an east/west interstate, For example I-78, NJTP South could be signed as Philadelphia/Wilmington/Baltimore, Exit 6 could be Wilmington/Baltimore

[cpzilliacus]

*bow*

Nicely done!

[Ned Weasel]

This makes me sad.  The funky guide signs with the huge exit numbers and irregularly shaped arrows were part of what made the New Jersey Turnpike special.  Standardized does not equal better.

[roadman65]

This makes me sad.  The funky guide signs with the huge exit numbers and irregularly shaped arrows were part of what made the New Jersey Turnpike special.  Standardized does not equal better.

Ditto on this one.

[Alps]

This makes me sad.  The funky guide signs with the huge exit numbers and irregularly shaped arrows were part of what made the New Jersey Turnpike special.  Standardized does not equal better.

How about the original exit signs with the rounded humps? How about non-reflective button copy and neon-tubed VMS? Nostalgia does not equal better, either.

[lepidopteran]

Thanks for those links!  But I can only wonder:  is the next step in standardization to switch to mile-based exit numbers on the turnpike?  Hey, it happened on several other turnpikes; Ohio and Pennsylvania come to mind.   Though that might lead to confusion with the exit numbers on the eastern/western spur, not to mention the Newark Bay extension.

[on_wisconsin]

Nostalgia does not equal better, either.

*bows twice*

[cpzilliacus]

How about the original exit signs with the rounded humps?

Those are actually kinda neat!  I think the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel Thruway (I-895 today) may have had  similar exit "tabs" in its earliest days, but I don't have any images to provide verification.

How about non-reflective button copy and neon-tubed VMS? Nostalgia does not equal better, either.

Non-reflective button copy sounds interesting, but probably not an especially good idea any longer.

The neon-tube VMS units are very cool, but probably very (very) expensive to maintain, and it makes all the sense in the world that the Turnpike Authority would want to replace them.  One of those units would be great for a Turnpike Authority museum, but it doesn't have one. Does it?

[motorway]

This makes me sad.  The funky guide signs with the huge exit numbers and irregularly shaped arrows were part of what made the New Jersey Turnpike special.  Standardized does not equal better.

Ditto again.  I feel like we're losing a major source of pride and identity for us as New Jersey roadgeeks .

[1995hoo]

This makes me sad.  The funky guide signs with the huge exit numbers and irregularly shaped arrows were part of what made the New Jersey Turnpike special.  Standardized does not equal better.

Agreed, although Steve's other comment is valid too.

I was thinking about this thread while driving this morning and I thought of something that would make many of you hurl but made me smile: new Turnpike guide signs using the same layout they've had for at least the past 30 years, but in Clearview.

(The neon VMSs and the barely-functional speed limit signs needed replacing regardless.)

cpzilliacus, I recall someone dying that, at a minimum, the famous Exit 6 southbound signs and art-deco sign bridge would be preserved somewhere.

[jeffandnicole]

Well, thank goodness there'll still be a little originality, such as in SL-17 for the Parkway signage.

[cpzilliacus]

(The neon VMSs and the barely-functional speed limit signs needed replacing regardless.)

Do you remember the old variable speed limit signs on the Turnpike that showed white digits when the "normal" limit was displayed, but showed glowing red digits when the limit was lowered?

cpzilliacus, I recall someone dying that, at a minimum, the famous Exit 6 southbound signs and art-deco sign bridge would be preserved somewhere.

The sign panels there should have been replaced long ago, but I assert that they are historic, and reflect a much earlier (minimalist) style of highway signage that was once common around the United States on  early freeways and some arterial highways.

[jeffandnicole]

Hmm... I wonder who had a hand in the revisions.... http://www.state.nj.us/turnpike/documents/DCA2013-DM-02.pdf

I work with a Patel...wonder if they're related.

Why did that other guy get top billing?

[1995hoo]

(The neon VMSs and the barely-functional speed limit signs needed replacing regardless.)

Do you remember the old variable speed limit signs on the Turnpike that showed white digits when the "normal" limit was displayed, but showed glowing red digits when the limit was lowered?

I do not. When were those posted?

[motorway]

Well, thank goodness there'll still be a little originality, such as in SL-17 for the Parkway signage.

Agreed...and I wish they could have left the TURNPIKE ENTRANCE signs (with their fabulously retro curvy arrows) alone as well, as one last reminder of its unique history.  Would it really have been a bridge too far?

[Steve D]

(The neon VMSs and the barely-functional speed limit signs needed replacing regardless.)

Do you remember the old variable speed limit signs on the Turnpike that showed white digits when the "normal" limit was displayed, but showed glowing red digits when the limit was lowered?

I do not. When were those posted?

Hmmm... I have never seen or heard of this before.  I know that the speed limit signs next to/near the 3rd generation VMS ("REDUCE SPEED") from 1983 until recently (some have been replaced by the digital VMS, some remain) had an LCD display that is not lit at normal speed but is illuminated by an overhead light when below speed.  Before that, from the 1960s until 1983 the speed limit signs were in neon and I think they flashed red neon if speeds were reduced.

[agentsteel53]

I work with a Patel...wonder if they're related.

Patel is an extraordinarily common last name in Gujarat, India.  it's like Smith in the English speaking world. 

[cpzilliacus]

(The neon VMSs and the barely-functional speed limit signs needed replacing regardless.)

Do you remember the old variable speed limit signs on the Turnpike that showed white digits when the "normal" limit was displayed, but showed glowing red digits when the limit was lowered?

I do not. When were those posted?

They were around into the 1970's.  The two digits in the speed limit reminded me of a scoreboard.

Here's a later version:



The digits have been replaced when this image was snapped, but this is what they looked like.

[1995hoo]

If they came down sometime in the 1970s, that's probably why I don't remember them (you can see my age under my avatar and do the math). I do remember some things about the Turnpike in those years, as by the time was five or six years old I would bug my dad about whether he was going to use "Cars Only" or "Cars-Trucks-Buses." (In retrospect, it was completely irrelevant: Back then he invariably took Exit 10 for the Outerbridge Crossing, so we were only on the quad segment from Exit 9 to Exit 10 anyway.) But I was probably too young to notice or care about the speed limit signs.

The one in your picture looks pretty similar overall to the current ones except for the yellow border....oh, and also you can actually read the numbers because it's not malfunctioning!

[bzakharin]

Albany is a good first step. Now they can reroute 87 along the GSP. Seriously, though, GSP needs to be an interstate and X87 would be perfect.

[Ian]

While I am looking forward to seeing the new signs on the Turnpike, I'll sure miss the old style guide signs that currently inhabit the road.

[cpzilliacus]

Albany is a good first step. Now they can reroute 87 along the GSP. Seriously, though, GSP needs to be an interstate and X87 would be perfect.

While there are a few sections of the Interstate system that ban trucks, I'm not sure that FHWA would want to grant an 3DI number to the Parkway, even if the Turnpike were to ask for it.  And I don't believe that New Jersey (and the communities adjacent to the Parkway) want to allow trucks on the section of the Parkway where they are now banned (at a minimum, there are issues of lane width and the geometric configuration of some (many?) of the on- and off-ramps are not appropriate for trucks).