New Jersey

[jeffandnicole]

We are talking Gloucester County here.  Someone looking for Red Bank, North Jersey (which, admittedly, should be few people down here) shouldn't be confused, unless they are simply looking randomly for Red Bank and suddenly come upon their destination 90 minutes before or after they thought they should in a completely separate area of the state.

(See also: Washington Twp, NJ, in which 5 exist. And that's down from 6!)

It's not terribly unusual for a BGS to show an unincorporated community, street name, etc.  West Deptford is accessed directly from 5 interchanges on 295: 19, 20, 21, 22 & 23.  So to prevent confusion, smaller locations within the town are used.  Thorofare, another unincorporated area within W.D. is also used at Exit 20.

For me, who drives in this area on a daily basis, never gave Red Bank a second thought.  I was more focused on the before/after signage, putting 295 & 44 over the proper turning lanes.

[KEVIN_224]

If it weren't for the New Jersey Turnpike, I wouldn't have even known about Robbinsville, a.k.a. the now-former Washington, NJ. I think it's in Mercer County.

[roadman65]

New Jersey is funny when it comes to names of communities.  Like you said there are total of 5 Washington's with 2 of them next to each other in Warren County with a third in Morris County less than 10 miles away.  It may be confusing, though not alarming though.  However, some took action like Madison in Middlesex becoming Old Bridge which was the name of a section of former Madison and also Dover in Ocean becoming Toms River which it was always called by the US Post Office and in everyday use.  Both have places elsewhere in the state with the same name and one was never used except in paperwork being Dover in Ocean.

However, you have North Carolina that has another circumstance, though not the exact same, it has counties and cities with the same name, but nowhere even near each other!  Rockingham is a city in Richmond County on the SC Border and then Rockingham County is on the northern side of the state near Greensboro.  Henderson is another instance where the county is near Asheville in the Blue Ridge Mountain region of Western NC while Henderson the city is located along the I-85 corridor hundreds of miles to the east from the county with its name.

Each state has its own quirks when it comes to naming places.   Even PA has two communities named Morrisville on different ends of that state.

[Zeffy]

If it weren't for the New Jersey Turnpike, I wouldn't have even known about Robbinsville, a.k.a. the now-former Washington, NJ. I think it's in Mercer County.

Yes, I believe it's a suburb of Trenton, just like Hamilton and Ewing townships.

(See also: Washington Twp, NJ, in which 5 exist. And that's down from 6!)

There's also I think 4 Franklin Townships: One's in Somerset County, one is in Hunterdon, another in Gloucester, and the last one I believe is in Warren. And to add to that, I think there used to be one in Essex County that was renamed!

[Pete from Boston]

Every few years an enterprising reporter probes the mail mixups between Wood-Ridge and Woodbridge.  Compelling stuff.

[bzakharin]

The existence of a second Cherry Hill in Northern New Jersey (as opposed to the one in South Jersey where I live) caused problems when trying to register for the SAT back in the day. They had me take a 2.5 hour ride to be at a test center up there at 7 AM. And we had to pay a fine for change of location even though it was their fault.

NJ also has two Egg Harbors (City and Township) in the same county (Atlantic) but a fair distance from each other. One has a convenient train station. The other is where I work. To be fair, they are both named after the same geographic feature they are both on, so it's sort of ok.

However, you have North Carolina that has another circumstance, though not the exact same, it has counties and cities with the same name, but nowhere even near each other!  Rockingham is a city in Richmond County on the SC Border and then Rockingham County is on the northern side of the state near Greensboro.  Henderson is another instance where the county is near Asheville in the Blue Ridge Mountain region of Western NC while Henderson the city is located along the I-85 corridor hundreds of miles to the east from the county with its name.

NJ has Gloucester Township in Camden County (not Gloucester) and Union City in Hudson County (not to be confused with Union Township in Union County, site of Union Station which confuses people boarding trains for DC at Newark).

Each state has its own quirks when it comes to naming places.   Even PA has two communities named Morrisville on different ends of that state.

PA also has 2 Palmyras bordering each other in Wayne and Pike counties

[jeffandnicole]

NJ has Gloucester Township in Camden County (not Gloucester)...

Heck, Camden County has both Gloucester Township and Gloucester City.  They both border Gloucester County but are many miles apart from each other.  Many will think either or both are part of Gloucester County, especially when the (former) G.C. Times newspaper would normally report on news events in those towns.  There's a new shopping center in Gloucester Township that many think of as being in Turnersville, which is part of Washington Twp, Gloucester County, which many visit because of the good, higher class restaurants and stores located within the shopping center.  OK, maybe Texas Roadhouse and BWW aren't "high class", but they don't have locations elsewhere within GloCo.

Technically, unless you have to do county government business, it really doesn't matter which county people think it's in, since NJ doesn't permit counties to set sales taxes or anything of that nature.  Even if you were to receive a traffic ticket, you just need to know the town, not the county.

Another oddity, thanks to the USPS: Two Sewells, Two Towns, One Zip Code.  The "original" Sewell (which I grew up in) is in Mantua Twp.  When the USPS started using ZIP codes, they added a section of neighboring Washington Twp, mostly farmland at the time, to the Sewell ZIP code (08080), so that became known as Sewell as well.  Farmers in that Sewell started selling their land and the population swelled.  Other than still using the same post office today, the two neighboring Sewells have absolutely nothing to do with each other; government, schools, or otherwise.

[Pete from Boston]

In keeping with so much of New Jersey's logic, North Bergen is in Hudson County, just south of the southern border of Bergen County. It sits on the Bergen Peninsula, almost none of which is in Bergen County.

Of course, Bergen County takes its name from those areas, which it once encompassed before they seceded and became Hudson County. But they don't give you that history lesson on the road signs, so plenty of confusion.

[Alps]

Back to Red Bank in Gloucester: It's actually a historical site, I think Revolutionary War. I've been there - interesting old stuff and a great view of Philly. It's worthy of being signed.

[Zeffy]

Passed some new BGSes on I-295 south today. Anyone know if there was a contract awarded semi-recently? I didn't get pictures, but this is one of the new gantries I passed (drawn from memory):



Interesting things to note here:

* The pullthrough control legend is the Delaware Memorial Bridge... however, at the next pullthrough it is blank, and at either Exit 62/61 the pullthrough says Camden. Contractor error?

* E State St has been added as a legend to this BGS. Previous BGSes had Mercerville and Trenton IIRC.

There are also some new ones on I-95 NB Exit 8 for Princeton Pike - I didn't draw these because they have deformed county route shields, resulting in a more square design instead of a pentagon. It's ugly.

[J Route Z]

Passed some new BGSes on I-295 south today. Anyone know if there was a contract awarded semi-recently? I didn't get pictures, but this is one of the new gantries I passed (drawn from memory):



Interesting things to note here:

* The pullthrough control legend is the Delaware Memorial Bridge... however, at the next pullthrough it is blank, and at either Exit 62/61 the pullthrough says Camden. Contractor error?

* E State St has been added as a legend to this BGS. Previous BGSes had Mercerville and Trenton IIRC.

There are also some new ones on I-95 NB Exit 8 for Princeton Pike - I didn't draw these because they have deformed county route shields, resulting in a more square design instead of a pentagon. It's ugly.

How do you make those signs??

[Zeffy]

How do you make those signs??

PowerPoint 2010. If you're interested in trying to make your own, here's some things to help you out:

You can see how long it took me to get good at this by viewing my sign thread below:

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=8637.0

Same with the Redesign This! thread:

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=9539.0

Lastly, here's a bunch of resources to help you actually make the signs:

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=9994.0

[jeffandnicole]

Passed some new BGSes on I-295 south today. Anyone know if there was a contract awarded semi-recently?

It appears it may be part of this contract: http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/business/procurement/ConstrServ/documents/BidTabs13139.pdf  It doesn't offer any specifics, but it does give you an idea of everything that goes into a contract bid.

* The pullthrough control legend is the Delaware Memorial Bridge... however, at the next pullthrough it is blank, and at either Exit 62/61 the pullthrough says Camden. Contractor error?

Most likely not.  Probably a difference of opinion at NJDOT of what the Control City/Location should be, or Camden was an old control city that still manages to pop up on some of the signage.

[Zeffy]

While I was writing my Trenton article, I noticed something odd. US 206 north of the Battle Monument in Trenton continues as two according to both Google Maps and GIS - the "mainline" 206 continues as Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, while the other 206 continues as Brunswick Avenue. Upon further examination, the SOUTH 206 designation is signed at this point in the Brunswick Circle in Lawrence:



It points to Princeton Avenue, which becomes MLK Jr. Boulevard in Trenton. So what gives with this other designation of US 206?

Here's a map to show it in Trenton:



The mainline 206 is a two-way road, 1 lane on each side with city street parking near the curbs.

[roadman65]

US 206 NB is Brunswick Avenue and US 206 SB is Princeton Avenue despite that both are two way streets.  What is more interesting is when US 1 Alternate was commissioned in Trenton both alignments of NB and SB were on Princeton giving a half concurrency to speak of.  Princeton Avenue had a duplex going SB, but only US 1 Alternate going NB.  Why did NJ put US 206 NB on Brunswick is just as mysterious why NJDOT will not sign the US 206 and CR 583 intersection in Lawrence Township with a shield directing motorists onto SB Princeton Avenue across from CR 583.  Technically SB US 206 does not enter the Brunswick Circle like its NB counterpart, but following signs will make you think it does there.

[Zeffy]

After looking at some old views of the Battle Monument (via HistoricAerials), I noticed that US 1 ALTERNATE (not Business) traveled on the left side of the Battle Monument heading south, and US 206 traveled on the right side heading north, eventually up to Brunswick Avenue. It looks like US 1 Alt was the original routing of today's 206 routing through Trenton.

[roadman65]

http://www.state.nj.us/turnpike/documents/GSP-83-to-100-public-hearing-presentation.pdf
I have here a link that shows the summary as well as maps and diagrams of the Garden State Parkway 83-100 shoulder widening and interchange improvements in Brick Township. 

[Pete from Boston]

Anyone know the current situation with the Route 17 widening proposal between Hackensack and Paramus?

In the timeline on the web site mentions a lack of funding to proceed beyond environmental review, but the most recent timepoint seems to be mid-2013, with milestones still projected into 2014.

http://www.rt17bottleneckproject.org/status.php

[SteveG1988]

http://www.app.com/article/20140430/NJNEWS10/304300012/NJ-Turnpike-puts-off-toll-privatization-decision-until-fall 

Nokia Lumia 810

[Alps]

Anyone know the current situation with the Route 17 widening proposal between Hackensack and Paramus?

In the timeline on the web site mentions a lack of funding to proceed beyond environmental review, but the most recent timepoint seems to be mid-2013, with milestones still projected into 2014.

http://www.rt17bottleneckproject.org/status.php

The website will be updated when there's new information to put there. The project is currently in a static stage, but it's not by any means dead.

[roadman65]

I was noticing that the Garden State Parkway engineers do not like to use the term collector-distributor as in all their plans for the type of roadway is referred to as a Service Road. 

I thought that an at grade facility was going to be installed between exits 88 and 89 that was running alongside the Parkway itself when they included Service Roads in their plans, but from the diagrams they have its just their way of describing a C/D roadway which in the diagrams makes it out to be more of a local lane setup than anything.

I also noticed that at the Exit 91 reconfiguration, that they are doing more things that does not need to be done.  Now I am not sure of the state of the Burnt Store Road Bridge over the Parkway, so I cannot say for sure if its replacement is warranted, but the Parkway underneath is not really needed to extend the c/d roads and even create one on the NB side.  One ramp from Burnsville Road & N Lanes Mille Road is enough as the two that are both planned is redundant! Just have the one north of Burnt Store on Lanes Mill, and eliminate the WB Burnt Store cloverleaf ramp altogether and just use the one on Lanes Mille Road South for the entrance to the Parkway South.   

They can use the extra money saved on this for a SB Exit 83 which is needed that is not planned.  A diamond ramp to CR 571 could be the SB Exit 83 using CR 571 and US 9 access to NJ 166.   Also to include a NB GSP ramp to NJ 70 EB as that is lacking for one ramp for both as the interchange should be a full cloverleaf and not a partial one.

[jeffandnicole]

I thought that an at grade facility was going to be installed between exits 88 and 89 that was running alongside the Parkway itself when they included Service Roads in their plans, but from the diagrams they have its just their way of describing a C/D roadway which in the diagrams makes it out to be more of a local lane setup than anything.

I also noticed that at the Exit 91 reconfiguration, that they are doing more things that does not need to be done.  Now I am not sure of the state of the Burnt Store Road Bridge over the Parkway, so I cannot say for sure if its replacement is warranted, but the Parkway underneath is not really needed to extend the c/d roads and even create one on the NB side.  One ramp from Burnsville Road & N Lanes Mille Road is enough as the two that are both planned is redundant! Just have the one north of Burnt Store on Lanes Mill, and eliminate the WB Burnt Store cloverleaf ramp altogether and just use the one on Lanes Mille Road South for the entrance to the Parkway South.

Also to include a NB GSP ramp to NJ 70 EB as that is lacking for one ramp for both as the interchange should be a full cloverleaf and not a partial one.

There's really one main project here that has several additional components to it.  The main project is the shoulder widening from Exits 83 - 100.  Due to that, several overpasses/underpasses need to be widened or replaced.  And as a result, they looked at the entire area to see what else was warranted.

Per the NJ Turnpike website, the Interchange 91 project is an Ocean County led project, and it appears to incorporate an area much further than a traditional interchange reconstruction project.

Also, the interchange with NJ 70 will be rebuilt as a full interchange as part of the shoulder widening project.  It'll be a modified cloverleaf: the GSP NB to Rt. 70 movement is the 'modified' part of the interchange.  Due to a shopping center, motorists will have two chances to get from Rt. 70 East to GSP North.

[Alps]

The reason for no direct ramp from GSP NB to 70 EB is the short weave to Shorrock Ave. Old aerials show that the land was clearly reserved for such a ramp.

[roadman65]

I wonder if they're going to sign NJ 70 EB for Point Pleasant instead of Exit 90 like is being done?  With total access to NJ 70, it does not need to be signed for Exit 90 any more.

Also its going to be interesting to see Exits 88, 89, 90, and 91 all going to be signed for Brick and Lakewood when completed.  Considering that NJ does like to sign control cities over street names they most likely will not concede to this along with NJ 70 not having a local road name as well to make it at least do what many states would. 

[Alps]

I wonder if they're going to sign NJ 70 EB for Point Pleasant instead of Exit 90 like is being done?  With total access to NJ 70, it does not need to be signed for Exit 90 any more.

Also its going to be interesting to see Exits 88, 89, 90, and 91 all going to be signed for Brick and Lakewood when completed.  Considering that NJ does like to sign control cities over street names they most likely will not concede to this along with NJ 70 not having a local road name as well to make it at least do what many states would. 

I believe you have Brick, Lakewood at Exit 88 and Lakehurst at Exit 89. Depends whether you're heading north or south. 90 and 91 signs are outside the contract limits, so don't know what will happen to those (separate contract is adding shoulders to the Parkway, not sure if it's replacing signs at those interchanges though).