The New Jersey Turnpike is terrific and should be a national model.

[Renew Deal]

The New Jersey Turnpike is great and has been for a long time. There are two things that make it great. It has enough lanes that traffic is rarely a problem if there isn't an accident or construction. The other thing is the rest stops are really good. They are right on the parkway. You don't have to pull off into some neighborhood. They have plenty of food options and plenty of gas pumps.

I've noticed that CT, DE, and MD have begun to copy this model. Hopefully it spreads to more states.

[House of Roberts]

1. Is it toll or free?

I'm in Alabama, so I've never been up there.

[annabanana]

3. here ya go

http://www.state.nj.us/turnpike/toll-rates.html

[greytdemocrat]

4. Are you kididng?

In Jersey? $$$

[Renew Deal]

5. Toll

I'm pretty sure the entire way is toll.

[Recursion]

18. Bwah

It costs about $25 to get from Delaware to NYC on it. And then you have to pay to actually get into the city.

[brush]

56. The OP poster must not have lived in another part of the country where roads are free

I lived in New York for years where you had to pay every time you crossed the bridges and tunnels — it was up to $5.50 each way as I recollect when my wife and I left and moved out west.
All those bridges and tunnels (Tri-Borough, Whitestone, Throgs Neck, George Washington, Mid-Town and Battery were all paid for decades ago but the two states and NY/NJ Bridge Authority keep those tolls booths open to gouge billions every year from motorists. And it keeps going up every three or four years.

Same with the Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway.

It's a huge savings once you get out of those states with the toll booths on the roads. What a relief for the pocket book.

[TheBlackAdder]

2. As a frequent NJTPK user, the road was paid for decades ago. Just keeping their fiefdom alive.

.


The NJTPK should go back to being a free public roadway, since there are no real alternatives to driving freely from the south to the north part of the state. They keep issuing bonds to keep their nepotism and patronage jobs alive, while having exclusive towing services on the roadway, that AAA or others cannot access. If your car breaks down on the turnpike, you have to pay their exclusive contractors over $100 to get towed off the exit, to have another service pick you up.

Of course, if you venture on the North Bay Extension to the Holland Tunnel, you'll replace your struts and bushings after 5 years or so.


.

[msongs]

6. those with the $$ get to ride, everyone else can walk nt

[Renew Deal]

7. If things are so dire that those are your options, you might be better off walking.

Alternatively one can use Route 1 or 202.

[Hoppy]

13. Better, is 295 from Trenton (7a) to the Delaware Bridge. It is free.

[RobertEarl]

14. Yeah. Toll roads are exclusive

Weird anyone would want toll roads nationwide.

[Sunlei]

25. There is actually excellent public transportation in that part of America. you don't even 'need' to

own a car or walk, if you don't want to.

[Renew Deal]

27. True, but Amtrak is not cheap.

Even NJ Transit can be pricey over long distances.

[NutmegYankee]

8. CT has had the service stations since the CT turnpike opened in 1958.

The stations were rebuilt in the last few years, so you may be reacting to the newer look. What screws CT is that the lower portion of the turnpike (I-95) doesn't have any additional land to the sides, so expanding the road is basically impossible.

[Renew Deal]

9. Have they been added to the Merritt recently?

I don't get to drive in CT a lot, but I feel like they are different.

[NutmegYankee]

10. There were two on the merrit as well. I believe they recently overhauled them.

[closeupready]

11. I agree that it's an easy drive; I did not, however, know

(as others have pointed out) that AAA will not tow as per the member agreement if it happens on the turnpike. How is that even legal? (I know, I know - this is New Jersey we're talking about, lol.)

[Renew Deal]

12. I didn't know that either.

Hopefully that never is a problem for me.

[Hoppy]

15. You get your tow and get a receipt. Turn the receipt into AAA and you get a refund.

[closeupready]

33. Aha! Thx. Now I know.

[Recursion]

20. Sort of like how you can't pump your own gas (nt)

[Renew Deal]

28. Not legally at least

But most gas attendants won't say anything if you do at a busy station.

[Tree-Hugger]

58. I believe

AAA has the same policy on the PA Turnpike.

[pnwmom]

16. The NJ Turnpike is why most people think NJ is ugly.

Even though NJ actually has plenty of pretty areas.

The turnpike is an awfully ugly 16 lanes across (or whatever). Blegh!

[Fumesucker]

17. Hopefully we will be able to keep all those nasty poor people in their hoopties off the highways

The highway to the shining city on the hill should not be clogged with riffraff, next thing you know they'll be getting uppity.

[Renew Deal]

30. Ahh yes, all those 1%ers driving working cars.

Everyone knows cars are meant to be looked at, not driven.

[Fumesucker]

32. You do realize I hope that toll roads are *extremely* regressive taxation?

[Recursion]

34. And that the social democracies in Europe we love use them and a VAT heavily?

Regressive taxation has a huge political advantage.

[Fumesucker]

38. The diffference being most of Europe has far superior public transportation

Public transportation requires a certain population density to be really effective though.

I drove all over the UK some years back while I was there for job training with a UK based company I worked for, never saw a toll road, things might have changed in the meantime though.

[Recursion]

39. Yes: paid for by regressive taxation

The VATs in European countries are what make all of that possible. Pass one here and we could have it too.

[Fumesucker]

40. Pass a VAT here and it will be used to bomb brown people on the other side of the planet

And now Europe is taking the load of refugees caused at least partially by astoundingly ignorant US policy..

As Yakov Smirnoff is wont to say, what a country!

[Recursion]

41. So statutorily limit it

"This VAT is dedicated to universal health care", etc.

[Fumesucker]

42. Do you really see that happening in America?

I sure don't.

[Renew Deal]

50. And it would probably be used for other things...

It might start with something good, but not end there

[Renew Deal]

37. I don't like toll roads either

It's a relief to not drive on them. But being in the NY area, they are hard to avoid.

I once drove from Denver to NM, AZ, San Diego, and up to San Francisco. The only toll I paid was at the Bay Bridge. You can never get any distance like that around here without paying.

[brush]

57. From the gospel of Robert Moses, huh?

He built the street bridges crossing the parkways on Long Island low so only cars, not buses from the cities with the riffraff (think minorities in Moses speak) could come out and pollute Moses' precious beaches.

[Recursion]

19. Ah yes, the James Fennimore Cooper Rest Stop

I prefer the Parkway, personally, but the Pike is a well-maintained road.

[thelordofhell]

21. Best place to end up after 15 minutes inside John Malkovich

[Recursion]

35. God I love that movie (nt)

[1939]

22. Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indianna Turnpikes have adequate lanes and convenient rest stops.

As does the Florida Turnpike once you get north of Broward County (Ft Lauderdale).

[Sunlei]

24. Those are good too, they really knew how to build those for 'auto travel' back 50? years ago.

[1939]

52. Pennsylvania Turnpike was built in the 1930s NT

[bullwinkle428]

48. Ohio's rest stops are very good; Indiana's are a shithole!

I drive through both states at least 3 times a year, and plan things so that I don't have to do anything more than use the bathroom (if I absolutely need to) in Indiana.

Perfect illustration of comparing and contrasting state-owned (Ohio) vs. owned by a private (non-American) consortium, as is the case in Indiana.

[Sunlei]

23. The NJ Turnpike is at least 50 years old & well maintained. Thats why the rest stops are good, they

were there well before neighborhoods were so built up close.

Back 30ish years ago used to ride my horses along next to the NJ turnpike near Point Pleasant beach on the way to the ocean. It was pine forests the entire way. Now its all neighborhoods and stores.

[rogerashton]

26. Connecticut seems to have invented all that

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merritt_Parkway

I had thought that PA invented it -- however, Googling, I find that the PA Turnpike was partly following the example of the Merritt Parkway, particularly with the service areas. I think the PA Turnpike was more the model for the one in Joisey, though.

https://www.paturnpike.com/yourTurnpike/ptc_history.aspx

That said, I think New Jersey is unique in that when people say -- "Where ya from?" -- the answer is "Exit Six" or something like that. Been there. And yes, I lived off exit 6.

[GreatGazoo]

29. Not as terrific as the highways around Orlando!

Guys in Hawaiian (?) shirts every 1.25 miles with their hand out for you to pay another $1 or 75-cents or whatever odd amount. All to go around in a big circle, great views of hundreds of kitschy businesses that were built to cash in on Disney. Locals driving miles out of THEIR way to avoid the tolls and the back-ups at the endless toll plazas.

Perfection!

(do we not need the 'sarcasm' tags anymore?)

[Renew Deal]

31. Does Easy-Pass operate in Florida?

[Fumesucker]

45. As you pointed out to me upthread most of America doesn't deal with toll roads

So they don't have the Easy Pass in the first place.

We passed "peak car" and "peak driving" some years back and the trend is only going to accelerate and continue, fewer cars on the road driving fewer miles will need less driving infrastructure.

In fact autonomous cars will reduce the amount of space needed for cars considerably, if all cars were autonomous we wouldn't need red lights or stop signs for one thing.

[FLPanhandle]

46. Yes, Florida has Easy Pass (Sun Pass)

Now with the license plate readers, even toll booths for non Sun Pass users are being removed for automatic tolls.

[B Calm]

36. So you think every road should have toll booths?

[Renew Deal]

47. No. And that was not the point.

But every interstate should be as convenient.

[Shoulders of Giants]

43. Toll roads are terrible period.

They are regressive taxes that unfairly take a larger percent of income from the poor than the wealthy. They are also a huge roadblock against poor people driving. I am so glad there are no toll roads within 4 hours of my house.

[Art_from_Ark]

54. When I took the New Jersey Turnpike,

I had to keep stopping every few miles to throw another quarter into a collection bin.

[alcibiades_mystery]

44. Ohio Turnpike rest stops (recently built) are the best

I say that as a non-partisan.

New York State Thruway from NYC to Albany / Capital District area is also pretty awesome. It gets dodgy after it makes the turn toward Buffalo.

Pennsylvania Turnpike is the worst - a goddamn hazard.

Indiana Toll Road is pretty good, but you just get pounded with lake effect snow east of South Bend all winter. Eastbound, once you clear the Skyway, the road is perfect, if a bit boring, from Gary to Elkhart. The rest stops need to be rebuilt. They're grimy.

[JPZenger]

49. Indiana privatized their Turnpike.

A number of the private toll highways have resulted in bankruptcies, because people refused to pay high tolls in the numbers that the companies expected.

PA. has greatly increased tolls on the Turnpike to pay for bonds to make improvements on non-Turnpike roads. They took that approach instead of privatizing the system. Several top Turnpike officials were recently convicted of corruption, but none went to prison. They were told not to do it again.

N. Carolina has their first toll road, near Durham, south of the Research Triangle.

[GGJohn]

51. Only if it's free and not a toll road like NJ,

otherwise, no.

[hobbit709]

53. TX highways were at one time some of the best in the country

Then the Republicans took over the state. The gas tax used to be earmarked for highways, now it goes into the general revenue and the highway department can beg like all the other state agencies. Then they started building toll roads everywhere and privatized them under Rick Perry. Now some of the lesser state roads are in worse shape than some Third World roads I've driven on. At one point they were willing to scrape off the remaining asphalt and turn one highway into a gravel road because it was cheaper than repaving it after all the heavy fracking trucks ruined it. They've closed most of the rest stops. Now if you have to make a pit stop you have to climb a fence and duck behind a tree in a lot of places out in the boonies.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

55. "New Jersey Turnpike" and "terrific"=Mutually exclusive concepts.

Unless you are using the older, less commonly used definition of "terrific" meaning "causing terror."

Sorry, but like a good chunk of New Jersey (nothing personal against those living there), the Turnpike just screams soul sucking depression. And all I remember about it from the last time I took it was getting towards the end, paying the $20 or so and thinking I was done with it....and then getting socked again for another $10 at the GW Bridge.

[HassleCat]

59. As I recall

I have only driven the NJ turnpike a couple times, but I seem to remember the rest stops being in the middle. This is more efficient than building two rest areas, one for each side, but it means you have to merge into the fast lane.