Garden State Parkway Totally Explained

Everything about The Garden State Parkway totally explained

The Garden State Parkway is a 172.4-mile (277-km) limited-access toll parkway that stretches the length of New Jersey from the New York state line at Montvale, New Jersey, to Cape May at the southern tip of the state. Its name refers to the state nickname, the "Garden State". Most New Jersey residents refer to it as simply "The Parkway". The Parkway's official (unsigned) designation is Route 444. The highway connects to a short segment of the New York State Thruway known as the "Parkway Extension" and which is officially designated (but unsigned) as New York State Reference Route 982L. That 2.4 mile segment connects to the Thruway mainline. According to the IBTTA, the Parkway is the most heavily traveled highway in the country.

Route description

The Garden State Parkway begins in Lower Township at a traffic light with Route 109. Much of the original section, between exits 129 and 140, was long administered by the New Jersey Department of Transportation, and has always been untolled. The segment can be distinguished by the stone facing on the overpasses.
The Parkway was constructed between 1946 and 1957 to connect suburban northern New Jersey with resort areas along the Atlantic coast and to alleviate traffic on traditional north-south routes running through each town center, such as U.S. 1, U.S. 9, and Route 35. Unofficially, it has two sections: the "metropolitan section" north of the Raritan River and the "shore section" between the Raritan River and Cape May. Only 18 miles had been constructed by 1950, but taking a cue from the successful New York State Thruway, on April 14, 1952, the New Jersey Legislature created the New Jersey Highway Authority, empowered to construct, operate, and maintain a self-sufficient toll parkway from Paramus to Cape May.
The landscape architect and engineer in charge of the newly-named "Garden State Parkway" was Gilmore David Clarke, of the architectural firm of Parsons, Brinkerhof, Hall and MacDonald, In Waretown, a $16.4 million project was completed for new bridges at exit 69. The construction was completed in March of 2007. Along with the new interchange came two new toll plazas. The Parkway was widened at the location it goes under County Route 532. In 2003, the Lakewood section received a brand-new northbound exit, Exit 89. In order to expand the Parkway for the interchange, the Cedar Bridge Road bridge had to be torn down and rebuilt. The whole project was completed in November 2003 and cost about $16.23 million. The same company who did the Exits 69 and 89 construction had also done work on Exit 100, 20 years before the Exit 69 construction. That project included demolishing all then-current bridges and building new ones along the newly-rerouted Route 66 and Route 33. The project in Tinton Falls cost $21.67 million to complete.

Usage

The speed limit on the Parkway is 65 mph (100 km/h) with the following exceptions: 55 mph (90 km/h) between Mileposts 123.5 and 163.3, 55 mph between Mileposts 80.0 and 100.0, 50 mph (80 km/h) between Mileposts 8.0 and 11.5, and 45 mph (70 km/h) between Mileposts 27 and Milepost 29, approaching and traversing the Great Egg Harbor Bridge, and between Milepost 126.7 and 127.7, approaching and traversing the Driscoll Bridge.
Commercial trucks with a registered weight of over 7,000 pounds (3.18 tons) are not allowed to use the northern parts of the Parkway. All trucks must exit at Exit 105, just past the Asbury Park Toll Plaza. From Tinton Falls to the southern end of the Parkway at Cape May, trucks are allowed, but must pay additional tolls. Buses are allowed for the entire length of the Parkway. The "truck" ban includes all vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating (the vehicle's maximum fully-loaded weight including fuel, passengers and cargo), which encompasses dozens of large passenger vehicles, such as the Chevy Suburban, which can weigh in at 8,500 pounds, though in practice police don't ticket such vehicles.

Toll collection

Whereas the New Jersey Turnpike uses a system of long-distance tickets, obtained once by a motorist upon entering and surrendered upon exiting at toll gates (a "closed" system), the Garden State Parkway uses no tickets but collects tolls at toll plazas at semi-regular intervals along its length and at certain exits (an "open" system). The standard car toll is 35 cents on the main road at two-way toll plazas and 70 cents at one-way toll plazas. Some individual exits require a toll of either 25 cents, 35 cents, or 70 cents. Both the Turnpike and the Parkway now allow for payment with the E-ZPass system, which, on the Parkway, replaced the tokens which were available. Tokens originally cost $10 for a roll of 40 tokens (the toll, when tokens were introduced, was 25 cents), but when the toll was increased to 35 cents, rolls were 30 tokens for $10. Tokens are still valid at any toll plaza, but they can no longer be purchased. The NJHA has stated that that'll continue to accept the tokens indefinitely, as the coin baskets will recognize them and there are no plans to modify them to reject tokens. As time passes and the supply of tokens in public hands diminishes (tokens taken in are melted down by a contractor) that'll become less common. Tokens were originally brass, but were changed to a bimetallic composition, with an outer silver-colored ring and a brass core. There are also larger bus tokens that exist in each composition, primarily for the use of Atlantic City bound buses. These were sold in rolls of 20 for $20.
   To reduce congestion, some toll plazas on the roadway were converted into one-way plazas between 2004 and 2007, dubbed "one-way tolling". Under this program, a 70-cent toll (or two tokens) is collected in one direction, and the other direction is toll-free. As of March 10, 2007, the Cape May (in Upper Township), Great Egg (in Somers Point), New Gretna (in Bass River Township), Barnegat (in Barnegat Township), Asbury Park (in Tinton Falls), Raritan (in Sayreville), Union (in Hillside Township), Essex (in Bloomfield Township), and Bergen (in Saddle Brook Township) Plazas had been converted to one-way toll plazas.
   Originally in November 2001, E-Z Pass customers were supposed to be charged the approximate token rate, that's 33 cents (peak travel) or 30 cents (off-peak travel) instead of 35 cents. Due to tremendous cost overruns in implementing the E-Z Pass system on New Jersey's toll highways, the discount wasn't implemented. In addition, NJHA E-Z Pass customers were charged a $1 per month account fee, causing many customers to turn in their NJHA E-Z Pass transponder in favor of a transponder from an out-of-state authority which didn't charge a monthly fee.
   Most toll plazas have dedicated lanes of three varieties: E-ZPass only (at some in addition to Express E-ZPass), Exact Change (coins or tokens are deposited in a basket which mechanically counts the deposit), or manned lanes at which change is available. The manned lanes will also accept E-ZPass, the exact change lanes will not. Tolls at entrances or exits may not have all three varieties, depending upon the number of lanes available. The location of similarly-marked lanes isn't identical at each plaza. To assist drivers in seeking the proper lanes, the lanes are numbered both on the booth and on the pavement leading up to them. Some lanes leading up to plazas are dedicated for E-ZPass holders only.
   Signs on many of the toll baskets warn against throwing paper currency into them, which jams them.
   On January 8, 2008, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine proposed increases of fifty percent in tolls on the Parkway and Turnpike effective in 2010, to be followed by similar fifty percent increases every four years through 2022. Each times tolls increased, there would be an additional increase for inflation since the last toll increase (for the first, since 2006). This increase in tolls, which would take place on all three of New Jersey's toll roads, would, according to Corzine, help pay the state's debt. The roads would be maintained by a nonprofit "public benefit corporation" which would pay back bonds to the state. Without considering inflation, the proposal would increase the standard 35 cent toll on the Garden State Parkway to approximately $1.80 by 2022, with tolls for the entire length of the northbound Garden State Parkway rising from $4.55 to $30.10 in 2022. It is possible that commuters will receive discounts from the higher toll rates.

Toll Plazas

Pascack Valley (formerly "Hillsdale", long a misnomer as it's actually located in Washington Township) - Both Directions / Express E-ZPass (2 lanes)

Bergen - Northbound Only

Essex - Southbound Only

Union - Northbound Only

Raritan - Southbound Only / Express E-ZPass (5 lanes)

Asbury Park - Northbound Only / Express E-ZPass (3 lanes)

Toms River - Both Directions / Express E-ZPass (2 lanes)

Barnegat - Southbound Only / (One-Way & Express E-Z Pass with Parkway Widening)

New Gretna - Northbound Only / (One-Way & Express E-Z Pass with Parkway Widening)

Great Egg - Southbound Only

Cape May - Northbound Only / Express E-ZPass (2 lanes) The Cape May, Toms River, Asbury Park, Raritan, and Pascack Valley plazas also feature Express E-ZPass lanes, a form of open road tolling that allow motorists with E-ZPass to maintain highway speeds of up to 65 mph (100 km/h) through the toll plaza. Officials have already converted the Barnegat (in Barnegat Township) Toll Plaza to one-way tolling and will build it with Express E-ZPass for southbound drivers, which began on March 10, 2007.

Future developments

In Cape May County, at Exits 9, 10, and 11, new interchanges are to be constructed, eliminating the traffic lights currently serving the interchanges. The timetable for starting the project puts it at about 2010.

A proposed interchange at the Absecon Service Station near mile marker 41.7 in Galloway Twp would be constructed. An alternative would be to make Exit 44 or Exit 40 into full interchanges. Plans have yet to be created.

In May 2005, then Governor Codey announced a widening of the Parkway between Exit 63 in Stafford Township to Exit 80 in the Boro of South Toms River. The new Parkway setup would have 3 lanes in each direction as opposed to the current 2. However, the Turnpike Authority is now planning to widen the parkway from Exit 80 all the way south to Exit 30 in the City of Somers Point.

There are new bridges that have been proposed to be constructed across the Mullica River from the City of Port Republic to Bass River Township. No dates have been set for construction.

Exit 88 (in Lakewood Twp) will see construction around 2009 or 2010 to bring it to full interchange status.

Exit 91 (in Brick Twp) will also be upgraded to a full interchange starting sometime around 2009 or 2010.

New overpasses and ramps are being built at Exit 145 in the City of East Orange. New EZ-Pass lanes will be built at the interchange toll gate. |- !colspan=6|New Jersey/New York State Line (end of Parkway, start of Parkway Extension) |- |rowspan=3|Rockland |rowspan=3|Village of Chestnut Ridge |172.71
(2.09) | | CR 41, Schoolhouse Road – Chestnut Ridge |Southbound exit, northbound entrance |- |rowspan=2|174.80
(0.00) |rowspan=2| | Thruway / I-87 / I-287 – New York City / Albany |Begin/end Parkway Extension |- | CR 35 – Nanuet |Exit off ramp from Parkway Extension northbound to Thruway south/eastbound; no entrance |} Note: Mileposts in New York increase southbound from the New York State Thruway mainline junction. The New Jersey-New York state line is milepost 172.40 in New Jersey and milepost 2.40 in New York.
Service Areas

Montvale (Mile Post 171)

Brookdale (Northbound & Southbound) (Mile Post 153.3)

Vaux Hall (Northbound only) (Mile Post 142)

Cheesequake (Mile Post 123)

Monmouth (Mile Post 100)

Forked River (Mile Post 76)

Atlantic City (Mile Post 41.4)

Ocean View (Mile Post 18.3) All service areas are located in the center median, unless otherwise noted.

Further Information
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