New Jersey Turnpike

[SteveG1988]

Seen on VMS in Edison: "MAJOR DELAYS SOUTH OF TOLL 9."

Toll 9? 

Also, the interchanges on the new dual-dual section feel so much... beefier than the older ones.  Though I know it wasn't dual-dual before, the new Interchange 6 makes the old one seem bucolic by comparison. 

Is the new lighting LED?

Standards have probably been changed since 1956 when the original 6 opened. The new ones may also be overbuilt to allow them to last 50+ Years as well, just like the original.

[jeffandnicole]

Personally, I'm a bit disappointed with some of the features found on the new outer roadway, especially when it comes to the acceleration lanes.  While the Turnpike has traditionally used the taper type accel lane, where the motorist is supposed to speed up and enter the travel lanes at one point, I was hoping they were going to switch to a parallel accel lane, where a lane of upwards of about 1,000 feet or so in length is provided to merge in.  In fact, I even brought this up at one of the public meetings.

The Turnpike went with the taper design instead.  I feel especially on the outer roadway, which will be heavily used by truck traffic, the design won't provide trucks (and cars) with the flexibility necessary to properly merge onto the highway.

Also, the distance from the accel lane for traffic entering from the Service Area just south of Int. 7A, to the decel lane for 7A, is only a 1/2 mile.  They would've been better off utilizing a 4th lane here to give motorist more maneuverability.

It's also interesting to note that approaching this service plaza near 7A, the list of restaurants over the inner roadway is different from the list over the outer roadway.  I'm guessing they figured since both signs could be seen from both roadways it would allow additional 'conveniences' to be shown, although some could be confused thinking there is two different service areas and what they want to visit is on the opposite roadway's service area.  (Yes, I know, motorists *should* know that both ramps lead to the same service area.  Then again, motorists *should* know a lot of stuff they screw up all the time.)

And finally - entering the outer roadway southbound from Interchange 7 results in a tight right turn, then an immediate sharp incline...which may pose a problem for some trucks.  I haven't driven the Interchange 7 to Northbound Outer Roadway ramp yet to see if the same conditions exit, but I do know there has been at least one truck that overturned on that ramp already.

[SignBridge]

J & N, I completely agree with you about the tapered acceleration lanes. I don't like them and I've never understood why NJTA uses them instead of (in my opinion) the safer and more "driver-friendly" parallel accel. lane. It's interesting that they always use parallel deceleration lanes which again I think is better than tapered. I hold the NJTA in pretty high regard for their engineering smarts, and I really wonder what their reasoning is.

[Alps]

J & N, I completely agree with you about the tapered acceleration lanes. I don't like them and I've never understood why NJTA uses them instead of (in my opinion) the safer and more "driver-friendly" parallel accel. lane. It's interesting that they always use parallel deceleration lanes which again I think is better than tapered. I hold the NJTA in pretty high regard for their engineering smarts, and I really wonder what their reasoning is.

For the record, both types are shown in the MUTCD and both types are presented in the Highway Capacity Manual and AASHTO "Green Book", with no preference ever given between them. Given the amount of traffic research over the last 40 years, if there were any true advantage to one type over the other, we'd know by now.

[roadman]

My personal observations have been that drivers tend to accellerate and merge into traffic sooner with a tapered accelleration lane than with a parallel one.  Then again, you also have drivers who continue past the end of the accelleration lane and into the shoulder before merging.

[J Route Z]

They still need to implement merge signs

[jeffandnicole]

Sunglare was being a pain the morning I took this pic of the hybrid lane control sign. I don't really care for Turnpike to be in small letters, especially next to North in small caps. And the spacing between letters in NJ Turnpike is different than in North. Whatever happened to the turnpike's nearly perfect signage??

[Revive 755]

My personal observations have been that drivers tend to accellerate and merge into traffic sooner with a tapered accelleration lane than with a parallel one.  Then again, you also have drivers who continue past the end of the accelleration lane and into the shoulder before merging.

My experiences with the tapered acceleration lanes are that the painted, debris-filled gore almost always goes on too long, the actual area to merge is way too short, there's almost always some slowpoke who can't merge in front and much faster traffic in the rightmost through lane on the highway, and many drivers will just go ahead and ignore the large painted gore and merge early.  Maybe it's just the many examples I frequent, but I'd prefer the tapered design to be banned for new construction/major reconstruction. 

[jeffandnicole]

...Given the amount of traffic research over the last 40 years, if there were any true advantage to one type over the other, we'd know by now.

When I stated my opinion about the taper vs. parallel accel lanes, I actually used this report from Nebraska that looked at both types: http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/45000/45000/45083/Final_Acceleration_Lane_Report_3-23-11.pdf

At the beginning of Chapter 5 (Report page 31, PDF page 38) the findings state that the tapered design is better under free flow, 65 mph and above design speeds.  The parallel method is better for moderate-heavy traffic, with design speeds of 60 mph and less. 

The NJ Turnpike is a mixture of the two: Over a 65 mph design speed, but moderate to heavy traffic. 

My personal observations have been that drivers tend to accellerate and merge into traffic sooner with a tapered accelleration lane than with a parallel one.  Then again, you also have drivers who continue past the end of the accelleration lane and into the shoulder before merging.

This was mentioned also.  While the perferred parallel acceleration length should be about 1300 feet (1/4 mile), rarely is that length ever used. The report states this for the tapered design though: "...consideration should be given to paving a full-depth, 12 ft wide surfaced shoulder at least 300 ft beyond the end of the taper on both tapered or parallel installations to allow drivers of cars or trucks to exceed the painted end of the acceleration lane if needed to accomplish a merge into through traffic."

[ixnay]

I imagine if the NJ Tpk. were under planning/construction in 2014, the NIMBYS in Elizabeth would see to it that it would end at exit 13 and resume at exit 13A, no?

ixnay

[1995hoo]

I imagine if the NJ Tpk. were under planning/construction in 2014, the NIMBYS in Elizabeth would see to it that it would end at exit 13 and resume at exit 13A, no?

ixnay

I'd guess there would be plenty of other issues that would make the Turnpike as we know it impossible to build. I'm certain federal wetlands regulations would make it extremely difficult, perhaps impossible, to build the highway across the Meadowlands; such regulations might also come into play in the area around where NJ-42 crosses the Turnpike (I believe, but am not certain, wetlands issues have occasionally been cited as one barrier to an interchange there). Stronger community opposition, coupled with the "modern" view as to the undesirability of ramming a highway through an urban area, would be an issue in Elizabeth and probably some of the surrounding areas (one area that comes to mind is the area between Exits 11 and 12).

[machias]

I drove from Exit 6 north to Exit 11 yesterday and was happy to see the progress that has been made on the dual-roadway construction. It's been a couple of years since I've driven through there.

One thing I did notice is that the matching signs on the inner and outer roadways can vary in construction, some of the signs have rounded corners while the matching sign on the other roadway has a squared-corner with rounded borders.  I don't know why the discrepancy, but the Turnpike usually has just rounded corner sign panels.

[akotchi]

I drove from Exit 6 north to Exit 11 yesterday and was happy to see the progress that has been made on the dual-roadway construction. It's been a couple of years since I've driven through there.

One thing I did notice is that the matching signs on the inner and outer roadways can vary in construction, some of the signs have rounded corners while the matching sign on the other roadway has a squared-corner with rounded borders.  I don't know why the discrepancy, but the Turnpike usually has just rounded corner sign panels.

The combination of different contracts, different designers, and different sign fabricators would result in this happening.  I did hear of design contracts in this program that were split by roadway, rather than by length of all roadways.

[Alps]

I drove from Exit 6 north to Exit 11 yesterday and was happy to see the progress that has been made on the dual-roadway construction. It's been a couple of years since I've driven through there.

One thing I did notice is that the matching signs on the inner and outer roadways can vary in construction, some of the signs have rounded corners while the matching sign on the other roadway has a squared-corner with rounded borders.  I don't know why the discrepancy, but the Turnpike usually has just rounded corner sign panels.

The combination of different contracts, different designers, and different sign fabricators would result in this happening.  I did hear of design contracts in this program that were split by roadway, rather than by length of all roadways.

I didn't hear of such a thing. I was actually looking through the signing/striping plans today, and they're of course broken down by section. That doesn't mean the contracts weren't let for signing with multiple sections, Inner and Outer separately. The only rationale I can picture is that they wanted to get all the signs installed on the Outer while it was under construction, and now will get all the signs installed on the Inner, and they decided to do it with separate contracts that could be opened and closed quickly, rather than have a few contracts open for a few years. Of course, they could just have had the signs and supports fabricated under the contract, and given it to the various constructors for erection.

[NJRoadfan]

Strange Turnpike sighting of the month:
When heading south to NC a week ago, a goat was wandering on the southbound shoulder just north of Exit 5 at around 6am. Didn't know Alanland was in Burlington County!

[roadman]

Strange Turnpike sighting of the month:
When heading south to NC a week ago, a goat was wandering on the southbound shoulder just north of Exit 5 at around 6am. Didn't know Alanland was in Burlington County!

Perhaps the goat was hitchhiking to Alanland.

[ctrabs74]

While I was messing around on Google Maps Street View, I came across this NJTP sign placed over top an I-276 shield (presumably) west of the I-76/I-276 interchange.  I don't remember this being there before, but it doesn't make sense since it should say either "I-276" or "To NJTP" or both.  Anyone validate that it's still there? 

http://goo.gl/V5B8WL

That sign did exist into the early 2000s (as best as I can recall); it has since been replaced by an I-276 sign (not sure when that took place).

[PHLBOS]

That sign did exist into the early 2000s (as best as I can recall); it has since been replaced by an I-276 sign (not sure when that took place).

The replacement (shield only, not the BGS itself) took place within the past year or so.  The NJTP shield erroneously was placed over the I-276 shield sometime during the mid-90s; yes, it's been that long since it was finally corrected.

[Roadsguy]

It clearly originally said I-276, but apparently at some point they put that NJTP shield on it. I guess someone thought that was a good way to say "To NJTP."

It's back to I-276 now, and there's now a sign saying something like "To NJTP use I-276" further back on the Turnpike.

[vdeane]

The MUTCD signs are spreading...

[Ian]

^ Even though I'm going to miss the Turnpike's former standard of signs, I do think the new ones are decent looking.

[Zeffy]

^ Even though I'm going to miss the Turnpike's former standard of signs, I do think the new ones are decent looking.

Agreed. It's sad to see those start to go, but at the same time, if the replacements aren't fugly, then no harm done I guess. Although, what's up with the extra light numerals in the NJ 3 and NJ 495 shields?

[KEVIN_224]

What I can't understand is this: Are the gantries intentionally done with that rusted look? Also, I thought the NJ state route shields had the black square behind them?

[jeffandnicole]

What I can't understand is this: Are the gantries intentionally done with that rusted look? Also, I thought the NJ state route shields had the black square behind them?

Yes and yes.  Actually, look closely - this gantry is one of the new VMS gantries - you can see the back of the VMS is on the SB side.  The Turnpike & Parkway, even when they were separate entities, heavily used rusted steel (by design...not to be confused with rusting steel). 

The Turnpike also has had a history of not using the black background, but not in all cases.  NJ 140 at Exit 1 has the black square behind the white circle, for example.

[PHLBOS]

Although, what's up with the extra light numerals in the NJ 3 and NJ 495 shields?

My comments regarding the numerals is that why is Series C used for NJ 3 and why the elongated Series D for that 9 on the NJ 495 shield?

The 3 should be Series D and the 495 should be Series C.