Citizen Journalism - The Turnpike

The New Jersey Turnpike is the 5th most-travelled highway in America and plays a major part in transportation throughout New Jersey. One reason the road was built was to take the interstate traffic off New Jersey's existing roads, which is why the highway was never landscaped. According to a letter that discusses Jersey's then-governer's intentions, "85 percent of the traffic at that time was estimated to be from out of state, why spend additional funds on landscaping?" Built between 1950 and 1952, the Turnpike was completed before the Interstate Highway System was even begun in 1956. The IHS was originally pushed by Eisenhower to provide for easier travel and increased national security--every so often, all lanes of a highway are used to help evacuate a city, generally in preparation for a hurricane. The IHS actually used the Turnpike, along with other major highways (such as the Pennsylvania Turnpike) as a model, which is especially interesting because out of the original plans for the IHS, every single road has either been cancelled or complete--except for Interstate 95, which features a discontinuity in New Jersey.

It is therefore not possible to drive the entire length of I-95 without interruption. Originally, I-95 was planned to run down where I-287 is now and parallel the Turnpike. Several factors contributed to the cancellation of this part of the road. Wealthy landowners in the Princeton area would have been displaced and therefore fought the project as a part of the Freeway Revolts (civilians protesting the construction of major roadways through their properties). The New Jersey Turnpike Authority would have lost revenue on the Turnpike is I-95 ran parallel, and therefore opposed this route for I-95 as well. Finally, Amtrak fought the project because they didn't want a new efficient road link between NYC and Philly, and the project was eventually scrapped. The two sections of I-95 currently exist about 10 miles apart from each other, so if you're driving northbound from PA it ends at US 1 in NJ, and turns into I-295 Southbound heading into Delaware. To continue on I-95 northbound, you have to go south on I-295 then east on I-195 and then take the Turnpike, which is also signed as I-95. In fact, disabled vehicle services on the Turnpike are obtained by dialing #95 on a cell phone, the way you dial #GSP (#447) on the Garden State Parkway.

This situation is scheduled to be fixed sometime in the 2010s when a new interchange is to be built, and I-95 is to be re-routed north of Philly to the Pennsylvania Turnpike and then to the main line of the New Jersey Turnpike, according to the Pennsylvania Turnpike/Interstate 95 Interchange Project.