New Jersey Turnpike

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New Jersey Turnpike logo
Aerial view of the NJ Turnpike near Trenton
NJ Turnpike and Garden State Parkway

The New Jersey Turnpike , also known as The Turnpike , is one of the busiest roads in the United States . The toll highway is 197 km (122 mi) long and is part of the Interstate Highway System (primarily known as Interstate 95 ).

history

The first plans to build a highway existed in the late 1940s, but the outbreak of World War II prevented the project from being implemented quickly. That is why the Turnpike was only built between 1950 and 1952 within just 23 months. Some of the standards used, such as the 12 foot (3.7 m) wide lanes, were adopted in the construction of the Interstate Highways .

Fatal traffic accidents

  • The 86-year-old mathematician and Nobel laureate in economics, John Nash, died with his wife in a traffic accident on the New Jersey Turnpike in May 2015. He had returned to the United States from Norway, where he had been awarded the Abel Prize , and was on his way home in a taxi.

course

The New Jersey Turnpike begins in the northeast at the George Washington Bridge , which crosses the Hudson River and thus connects New York with Jersey City , and then runs through Jersey City - partially divided into two independent highways. Shortly before Jersey City, he crossed the marshland of the New Jersey Meadowlands over a long bridge. Between Exits 14 and 15, near Newark Airport , it has up to 18 (with turn lanes up to 22) lanes. From Jersey City (exit 15) the turnpike consists of 4 separate lanes, each with 2–4 lanes, which are separated into truck and car lanes. At the southern end of the New Jersey metropolitan area (exit 11) it crosses the Garden State Parkway , also a toll highway, and from exit 8 is built like a normal highway again, ie it has 2 lanes with 3 lanes each.

He goes through Trenton , where the leading westward Pennsylvania Turnpike ( Interstate 276 / 76 ) starts. From here there is also Interstate 295 , which runs largely parallel as a toll-free alternative. At the same time, the award as Interstate 95 ends . It continues past Philadelphia and reunites with the parallel Interstate 295. Shortly thereafter, the turnpike ends on the Delaware Memorial Bridge on the southwest border of New Jersey with Delaware . This is where the Delaware Turnpike begins, which leads further south (towards Washington, DC ) .

Toll system

The New Jersey Turnpike has a closed toll system, which means there is a toll booth at every junction where the driver pulls a toll card when entering and pays the user fee in cash when exiting. The officer recognizes the route driven by the punched holes in the toll card. Credit cards are not accepted.

Since 2002 the toll can also be paid with an electronic system called the E-ZPass. The users attach a battery-operated RFID tag to the windshield , which is read at the pay stations when driving slowly. The user must make a prepayment to an account from which the toll will be debited. The E-ZPass account can also be paid for by credit card.

In popular culture

  • In the 1999 film Being John Malkovich , some characters manage to penetrate John Malkovich's brain for 15 minutes. Then the people at the New Jersey Turnpike are "spat out" again.
  • At the end of the film The Wanderers , the protagonists ride the New Jersey Turnpike.
  • The New Jersey Turnpike can be seen in the opening credits of the successful American series The Sopranos .
  • Bruce Springsteen's song State Trooper describes the ride on the New Jersey Turnpike.
  • Simon and Garfunkel's song America mentions the New Jersey Turnpike.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jami Bernard: Batty, Brilliant 'John Malkovich' Kafka Meets Nj Turnpike In The Ultimate Head Trip . In: The New York Times . October 29, 1999. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
  2. ↑ Falasten M. Abdeljabbar: Jersey loves 'The Sopranos' best . In: The Jersey Journal . NJ.com. August 16, 2001. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
  3. ^ State Trooper by Bruce Springsteen . brucespringsteen.net. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
  4. ↑ Mike Frassinelli: Making unexpected stops along the NJ Turnpike . NJ.com . October 2, 2011. Retrieved November 19, 2011.

Web links

Commons : New Jersey Turnpike  - Collection of pictures, videos, and audio files