New Jersey Turnpike

[ixnay]

Drove along the NJ Tpke and the only old sign left was this:


and NB only the Lombardi Service Plaza "exit now" sign on the eastern spur and the "FOOD FUEL KEEP RIGHT" sign as the roadways merge together. 

WOW

The Lombardi Plaza seems to be the only NJTPK service area mentioned in WCBS traffic reports (as the "Lombardi Rest Area").  Never the Edison or Cleveland Plazas (across from each other), or the Pitcher or Kilmer (although I recall the Alexander Hamilton Plaza mentioned in one report)...

ixnay

[storm2k]

Sign on the left has been replaced. Same destinations, but with a down arrow for the left lane. Sign on the right hasn't been replaced, but I imagine it will at some point.

Will be interested if NJDOT fixes the error on the next sign (I think the rest of the signs for the circle ramp are theirs) which shows 440 East when it should be 440 North. Turnpike is now fixing those errors with the signage replacements. It should have been fixed when those signs were replaced 8 or 9 years ago.

[roadman65]

Heck its been well over 28 years since NJ 440 was changed to N-S in Middlesex County.

[ixnay]

Sign on the left has been replaced. Same destinations, but with a down arrow for the left lane. Sign on the right hasn't been replaced, but I imagine it will at some point.

Will be interested if NJDOT fixes the error on the next sign (I think the rest of the signs for the circle ramp are theirs) which shows 440 East when it should be 440 North. Turnpike is now fixing those errors with the signage replacements. It should have been fixed when those signs were replaced 8 or 9 years ago.

I always wondered why the button copy "g" always has a tapering tail where as the non-button MUTCD "g" has a non tapering tail...

ixnay

[PHLBOS]

I saw this picture in a Facebook group recently:

At a quick glance, the 95 part of the 1951 year listing literally jumps out.  I took me a couple seconds to see the 1s before and after the 95.

[noelbotevera]

I saw this picture in a Facebook group recently:

At a quick glance, the 95 part of the 1951 year listing literally jumps out.  I took me a couple seconds to see the 1s before and after the 95.

It looks like the absolute value of 95.

|95|

[ARMOURERERIC]

Love that non redundant structural design!

[Big John]

I saw this picture in a Facebook group recently:

At a quick glance, the 95 part of the 1951 year listing literally jumps out.  I took me a couple seconds to see the 1s before and after the 95.

It looks like the absolute value of 95.

|95|

One of those fonts where the 0,1 and 2 are smaller than the other digits. (6 and 8 are longer on top and the remaining digits longer on the bottom.)

[Alex]

Sharing here for those who are not on Facebook. Click for a larger version:



We found this 1974 NJ Official at the flea market in Pinellas Park, Florida over the weekend. It is the first map that I have ever seen showing the Alfred E. Driscoll Expressway.

[Pete from Boston]

I get the feeling that, to the extent this is possible, the 50s and 60s were heady days for mapmakers.  There was something new to add every year.  I'm sure that for a while enough of those "proposed" roads made it to reality to justify jumping the gun on marking them.

[jeffandnicole]

I get the feeling that, to the extent this is possible, the 50s and 60s were heady days for mapmakers.  There was something new to add every year.  I'm sure that for a while enough of those "proposed" roads made it to reality to justify jumping the gun on marking them.

I would think the states were the ones flooding the mapmakers with this info, as they were proud to be building all these highways. It wasn't until the 90s when proposed routes became the exception, not the rule, in these maps as road construction slowed and anti-highway organizations became more vocal.

[storm2k]

Sharing here for those who are not on Facebook. Click for a larger version:



We found this 1974 NJ Official at the flea market in Pinellas Park, Florida over the weekend. It is the first map that I have ever seen showing the Alfred E. Driscoll Expressway.

Interesting how there are Exits 97 and 96 on the Parkway. I am guessing they all got combined into 98 once 195 was built through to the (former) 38 freeway stub (now 138).

[storm2k]

Heck its been well over 28 years since NJ 440 was changed to N-S in Middlesex County.

The Turnpike Authority's signs are vintage from when 287 was built and the "new" Exit 10 built back in the late 60s/early 70s. The DOT signage also dated from that period before it was replaced (some of it with the experimental directional signage in the 80s, the rest in the mid 00's) so that Eastbound designation held on for a very long time.

[roadman65]

I am impressed by the old NJ Map.  NJ 92 was on it, as well as I-195 even at the time was partially built.  In fact NJ 18 east of US 9 was under construction, so the interstate was actually opened first.

[dgolub]

Sharing here for those who are not on Facebook. Click for a larger version:



We found this 1974 NJ Official at the flea market in Pinellas Park, Florida over the weekend. It is the first map that I have ever seen showing the Alfred E. Driscoll Expressway.

Nice map!  And it shows up in higher resolution here than on Facebook.  Just wondering, do you have the rest of the map or just that section?

[roadman65]

Sharing here for those who are not on Facebook. Click for a larger version:



We found this 1974 NJ Official at the flea market in Pinellas Park, Florida over the weekend. It is the first map that I have ever seen showing the Alfred E. Driscoll Expressway.

Nice map!  And it shows up in higher resolution here than on Facebook.  Just wondering, do you have the rest of the map or just that section?

I bet it has the planned and never built bypass of Glassboro for US 322 as well as the never built NJ 31 freeway in Mercer County on this.

[ixnay]

I guess County 526 was pretty busy on summer weekends (with Belmar traffic) before I-195 was completed...

And getting back towards the topic...  notice the ski area near NJTPK exit 8A!

ixnay

[Alex]

Nice map!  And it shows up in higher resolution here than on Facebook.  Just wondering, do you have the rest of the map or just that section?

Thanks! Yes, I just chose that section to scan because of the Driscoll Expressway alignment. I would need to scan other sections separately and piece them together in a graphics program to provide the larger picture.

The rest of the map has a number of other significant alignments, such as NJ 90, I-895, etc.

[Mr. Matté]

And getting back towards the topic...  notice the ski area near NJTPK exit 8A!

Thompson Park -- I doubt it was a ski area but it does have a big slope down (relatively big, +/-70 ft) to the lake there likely used for sledding and definitely used for cyclocross races (and because of the latter, I had to miss going to the Jon Stewart rally in DC with some of my college friends).

[roadman65]

NJ 18 is shown along River Road in Piscataway and the freeway segment in New Brunswick is nowhere near built at the time.

Also I-95 would have interchanged with I-287 at Durham Avenue in S. Plainfield.   If you look close River Road was shown as Exit 5 when NJDOT did not sign exit numbers to the freeway decades later.  I remember my dad's old map as a kid showing all of NJ Interstates having exit numbers even though some did not.  I-78 received all of its exit numbers west of Watchung in 1982.  The Union and Essex County segment east of NJ 24 are the only interchanges to actually have them from the start as it was constructed later on in the game.

I believe after 1970, all new freeways in NJ began having them installed from construction, except for NJ 18 which as many of you know received them in 1992 circa as CR 537 and NJ 34 both used little green signs even though that was constructed the same time as the NJ 79 cloverleaf and the CR 520 and Tennent Road interchange.  However, NJDOT did not consider exit numbering for non interstates a priority until the late 70's & early 80's.

[The Ghostbuster]

Will the New Jersey Turnpike ever get mileage-based exit numbers? Somehow I doubt it.

[odditude]

Will the New Jersey Turnpike ever get mileage-based exit numbers? Somehow I doubt it.

The existing exit numbers on the NJ Turnpike are as iconic as the interchange names on the PA Turnpike. It would take a LOT to make the change worth it.

[AMLNet49]

Will the New Jersey Turnpike ever get mileage-based exit numbers? Somehow I doubt it.

The existing exit numbers on the NJ Turnpike are as iconic as the interchange names on the PA Turnpike. It would take a LOT to make the change worth it.

And yet so was the unique signage. It wasn't long ago that those were considered untouchable too.

[ixnay]

Will the New Jersey Turnpike ever get mileage-based exit numbers? Somehow I doubt it.

The existing exit numbers on the NJ Turnpike are as iconic as the interchange names on the PA Turnpike. It would take a LOT to make the change worth it.

And yet so was the unique signage. It wasn't long ago that those were considered untouchable too.

So were some PATPK interchange names...

"Philadelphia" (U.S. 1) - now "Bensalem"
"Perry Highway (U.S. 19) - now "Cranberry" and reconfigured to directly feed I-79
"Scranton" (U.S. 6 and 11 and I-81) - now "Clarks Summit"

ixnay

[hubcity]

We found this 1974 NJ Official at the flea market in Pinellas Park, Florida over the weekend. It is the first map that I have ever seen showing the Alfred E. Driscoll Expressway.

Well! It appears that my current home near Georgia (locality within Freehold Twp) is located roughly where the Driscoll Expressway's median would have been. The highway would have then paralleled Jackson Mills Rd. between Georgia and Five Points (the intersection of Jackson Mills, Ely-Harmony, Farmingdale and Chandler roads) on its way to its intersection with 195.

Nice find!