Jughandle entrance to a highway classified as freeway

[cpzilliacus]

At the recent meet in Brick, N.J., I saw something unique - a jughandle entrance to the Garden State Parkway.

Traffic driving west on Cedar Bridge Avenue (county route 528) wanting to enter the northbound Parkway must turn right onto a jughandle, and queue at  a signal.  Then traffic crosses Cedar Bridge onto the Parkway's entrance ramp, pays  the toll (this ramp is tolled), and then merges onto the northbound GSP. 

I know jughandles are popular in New Jersey, and I don't have any problem with them per se.  But I have never seen anything like this entrance before.

GSV here

[jeffandnicole]

Ignoring the toll booth/highway issue, I can think of several instances like this where it would seemingly make sense to just install a left turn lane.

[cpzilliacus]

Ignoring the toll booth/highway issue, I can think of several instances like this where it would seemingly make sense to just install a left turn lane.

I  wonder if there was a design reason to use a jughandle to provide space for traffic that might otherwise queue up Cedar Bridge Avenue and block it? 

Not ever having seen how this operates in the morning peak period (when demand is presumably high), I don't know the answer, but given how wide the ramp is, the Turnpike Authority must know that a lot of traffic enters the Parkway here.

It always astounds me to see how many vehicles on the Garden State Parkway (with New Jersey registration plates) don't use E-ZPass.

[TEG24601]

Are you discussing how the jughandle has the same color as the ramp in Google Maps?  If so, that is simply because it is listed as a ramp.  All ramps have the same color indicator, regardless of the roads being connected.

[cpzilliacus]

Are you discussing how the jughandle has the same color as the ramp in Google Maps?  If so, that is simply because it is listed as a ramp.  All ramps have the same color indicator, regardless of the roads being connected.

No, not the color - just the existence of a jughandle on the right to access the entrance to the Garden State Parkway on the left.  Never seen that before.

Only reason mention it in this forum is because I happened by it (and it instantly caught my attention and the person that was riding with me) on while I was visiting the Ocean County, N.J. area as part of the Brick meet.

[Truvelo]

Looking at the aerial image there appears to be south facing ramps being built and some additional ramps being added to the route 70 interchange along with what appears to be C/D roads between them to contain the weaving.

And this jughangle is being replaced by a loop which means passing through the lights twice to turn left.

[Duke87]

Unique? Hardly.

Here's another one from the town in CT I grew up in.

Here's an odd one in Yonkers, NY.

[roadman65]

There are two reverse jughandles at the two CR 549 interchanges north of CR 528.  It must be something regional with Ocean County.

Also several miles to the north, in Piscataway, there is a jughandle on NB Washington Avenue to I-287 NB.  That was added in 1985, as that interchange was only partial with  a Northbound entrance ramp to I-287 from SB Washington Avenue only with two other movements exclusively.  Of course NB to NB was not one of them. https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Piscataway+Township,+NJ&hl=en&ll=40.55708,-74.445387&spn=0.003008,0.007639&sll=27.698638,-83.804601&sspn=7.174457,15.644531&oq=piscata&hnear=Piscataway+Township,+Middlesex,+New+Jersey&t=m&z=17

West Orange, NJ has two on SB Pleasant Valley Way with at one of the two ramps to I-280 using adjacent streets as the jughandle.  In some places in NJ, there are places that use existing side streets as the jughandle. https://maps.google.com/maps?q=West+Orange,+NJ&hl=en&ll=40.798786,-74.262235&spn=0.005994,0.015278&sll=27.698638,-83.804601&sspn=7.174457,15.644531&oq=west+orange,+n&hnear=West+Orange,+Essex,+New+Jersey&t=m&z=16

[Alps]

Ignoring the toll booth/highway issue, I can think of several instances like this where it would seemingly make sense to just install a left turn lane.

In this case, it might make sense to keep the road width at 4 lanes for the upcoming overpass vs. having a double left-turn. Pure speculation. There are other places, even on the Parkway, where there are jughandle entrances:
First and foremost, the one where we got out and walked - future NJ 70 EB to Shorrock St. NB jughandle will be the entrance to the Parkway NB.
Next interchange to the north
Sorta?
This count?
How about a double jug?
Bending the definition
Another "bend", and just south of your example

[NE2]

How about a double jug?

Just a single - turn right at Burrsville, then loop around and straight onto the ramp. Jughandularity at its clusterfuckiest.

[Alps]

How about a double jug?

Just a single - turn right at Burrsville, then loop around and straight onto the ramp. Jughandularity at its clusterfuckiest.

Is it a jughandle, or is it a double right turn? Agreed.

[cpzilliacus]

Ignoring the toll booth/highway issue, I can think of several instances like this where it would seemingly make sense to just install a left turn lane.

In this case, it might make sense to keep the road width at 4 lanes for the upcoming overpass vs. having a double left-turn. Pure speculation. There are other places, even on the Parkway, where there are jughandle entrances:
First and foremost, the one where we got out and walked - future NJ 70 EB to Shorrock St. NB jughandle will be the entrance to the Parkway NB.
Next interchange to the north
Sorta?
This count?
How about a double jug?
Bending the definition
Another "bend", and just south of your example

Thanks.  I remember the one you showed us that was under construction.

The rationale that you described for using jughandles makes plenty of sense - especially the reduced number of signal cycles.  I can think of more than a few places in Maryland and Virginia with high volumes of left turning traffic that might benefit from them, though jughandle treatments are nearly non-existent in either state.  I can think of a few in the District of Columbia that are not "real" jughandles, but where the layout of the  streets allows a similar treatment.

In Northwest D.C., traffic on southbound Wisconsin Avenue uses Garfield Street for left turns to eastbound Massachusetts Avenue (here).

Also in Northwest D.C., traffic on eastbound Florida Avenue uses S Street to make the turn onto Connecticut Avenue. (here).

Before the Brick township meet, I had only once or twice exited from the GSP anywhere except at the Turnpike, the N.Y. state border and (once) at the Atlantic City Expressway, so this was all relatively new to me.

[cpzilliacus]

A Maryland jughandle hidden in plain view, associated with a freeway, though  not part of one.

U.S. 29 (Columbia Pike, functional class expressway) southbound to Fairland Road, begins in the midst of the Md. 200 interchange is a jughandle (here).

[PHLBOS]

It always astounds me to see how many vehicles on the Garden State Parkway (with New Jersey registration plates) don't use E-ZPass.

Unlike the NJTP, there's no discounted toll rate on the GSP for anybody and the annual fee for a NJ-issued EZ-Pass tag/transponder is $12 (paid in $1/month increments).

If there was a discounted EZ-Pass toll rate; over time, the discounts would eventually pay off the renewal fee.

[SteveG1988]

NJ Turnpike at exit 5 has a jughandle.

http://goo.gl/maps/Dkf1f

[jeffandnicole]

It always astounds me to see how many vehicles on the Garden State Parkway (with New Jersey registration plates) don't use E-ZPass.

Unlike the NJTP, there's no discounted toll rate on the GSP for anybody and the annual fee for a NJ-issued EZ-Pass tag/transponder is $12 (paid in $1/month increments).

If there was a discounted EZ-Pass toll rate; over time, the discounts would eventually pay off the renewal fee.

Even when there was a discount, people still paid cash.

Most of it is a distrust of the government...the same government who could tap people's cell phones and see where they are at any moment in time, not just what toll plazas they used.

[dgolub]

Unique? Hardly.

Here's another one from the town in CT I grew up in.

Here's an odd one in Yonkers, NY.

Interesting.  The fact that they used a jughandle for a highway entrance in New Jersey didn't entirely surprise me, although I'd never seen it before.  These two do, though.  The first surprises me because I didn't know that there were any jughandles in Connecticut.  Even grade-separated interchanges that don't involve highways are pretty rare in the state. The second one surprises me because the jughandle is on a road that isn't even a county route, much less a state route.