Turnpike’s evolution has had big impact
By: Dick Brinster
nbsp; The New Jersey Turnpike has been in a state of evolution almost from the day designers placed it on the drawing board after World War II.
"One-hundred eighteen miles safely and comfortably without a stop!" was the claim contained in a 1949 map of the future super highway, renewed in a document now displayed on the roadway’s Web site. "That’s what this modern ‘magic carpet’ being built by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority will provide vehicle owners when it is completed late in 1951," it said.
"Long sight distances, wide travel lanes and shoulders, easy curves and no crossroads assure safety and comfort. With 15 traffic interchanges where vehicles may enter or leave, the turnpike will connect leading highways to famous seashore resorts east and to other points west."
Gov. Alfred Driscoll signed the legislation that created the Turnpike Authority on Oct. 27, 1948, and the road lived up to its promise as a magnet for the state’s expanding post-war population and business community. It was particularly advantageous to businesses in small communities such as Hightstown.
"It created an economic stimulus for the rug company and the Native Lace Co.," said Hightstown Mayor Bob Patten, a boy of 9 when the roadway put the town in easy contact with the major manufacturing centers of the Northeast. "We had two major businesses in town and they were able to bring in and ship out."
Both businesses are now gone, much in the same fashion as the magic carpet ride, which wasn’t always so smooth as the state grew and the roadway underwent frequent widening and expansion. But the 1949 claim, that north-south travelers would save considerable time by choosing it over state highways, has never been disputed.
Having an unlimited-access highway which enabled movement of vehicles between what had been almost exclusively farmland in Mercer County and New York in about 75 minutes changed more than the business dynamic. It brought new residents to the area in droves.
"It was a direct route from New York, and people were able to commute," Mr. Patten said. "Back in the ’60s it gave us Twin Rivers."
Today, Hightstown has slightly more than 5,000 people in 1.2 square miles. But East Windsor, which surrounds it, is home to more than 25,000 in 15.6 square miles. More than 10,000 people live in Twins Rivers, which in 1969 spearheaded the township’s transformation from a farming community to a large suburban town easily accessible to and from Manhattan and Philadelphia by car, rail and bus.
The $2 billion turnpike expansion, to be started late next year, is being welcomed by Mr. Patten and East Windsor Mayor Janice Mironov, whose municipalities are directly served by Interchange 8. Mayor Mironov said the turnpike has been a great contributor to the growth of the township.
"Certainly, the location of the turnpike exit and the easy access became important factors in the development of this area," she said.
The expansion does not figure to have the kind of impact of the original construction, but is badly needed to meet traffic capacity, she said.
Today, the turnpike has expanded to 29 interchanges and covers 148 miles, including the Newark Bay and Pennsylvania Turnpike extensions and the western spur through Essex, Bergen and Passaic counties. By 2013, when a 30-mile widening project is completed, the roadway will be 12 to 14 lanes wide for more than 50 miles between Florence in Burlington County and Newark.
The turnpike, a major north-south corridor through the Middle Atlantic states, is one of the most heavily traveled thoroughfares in the United States. A segment of it is part of the interstate highway system, bearing the designation I-95.
It took 23 months to design and build the original roadway. While that is far less than the approximate five-year estimate for the upcoming expansion, the price tag of the looming project is nearly 10 times what it took to originally construct the road.
The first 44 miles of the tollway opened Nov. 5, 1951, and it became fully operational from the Delaware Memorial Bridge to Secaucus in Bergen County on Jan. 15, 1952.

