and NJ Turnpike SB

I'm actually on the Exit 14 roadway that runs from the Southern Mixing Bowl (where the Westerly and Easterly Alignments split, and it definitely resembles a mixing bowl) to I-78. I'm here to show you the Newark skyline (from Delancey St.) and a plane landing at EWR in the late day sun.


This was the last SB BGS for I-278 with button copy, and it's even in the shield! Then I show you the Arthur Kill Vertical Lift Bridge and Goethals Bridge (I-278 into NY).


The first photo is an artifact of camera shutter speed and the new VMS do all work, though Exit 6 is technically I-95 while in NJ. The third photo is over the truck lanes, because the car lanes have new exit BGS's. Although the rest of NJ loves black background shields, the Turnpike never embraced them, as you can see from the rest of the signage on this page.


The SB counterpart to the Grover Cleveland service area. The only service area accessible to both sides is the Vince Lombardi, which is covered on the pages for the Easternly and Westerly Alignments and northern I-95.


Leaving the Thomas Edison Service Area north of Exit 11, left and right sides, courtesy Lou Corsaro. I've seen "ROADWAY CLOSED," which the Turnpike Authority is just as likely to use in response to traffic as when the road is actually closed, but here they opt for a more honest approach.


An old all-text sign on the Turnpike SB, replaced by now (but the new signs don't have Parkway shields either - curious, since the Turnpike Authority has merged with the Highway Authority). Courtesy HNTB.


Because I-95 was supposed to arrive here on what is now I-287, I-287 ends on top of the Turnpike and turns into NJ 440. Signs taken SB, with the last ones in the car and mixed lanes, respectively.


Second photo courtesy HNTB, and the button-copy signage over the car lanes no longer exists. In the last photo, the two-lane truck lanes between Exits 9 and 8A are about finished being widened to three lanes (in each direction, even) as of 2007. This will only help when the 6-to-8A Widening project gets underway and is completed, finally tying six lanes of traffic in each direction into six lanes of highway in each direction.


Starting off the same run courtesy Michael Summa in 1970, when button copy ruled the world, advance exit signage had a hump over the number (the Turnpike basically had to set the standard for highway signs, and this was one standard that failed), and EXIT SPEED (not yet black on yellow) was a novel concept. The Exit 9 tollbooth is a little bigger than that now.


More views of something you'll never see again, the 2-lane outer roadway from Interchange 9 (fully widened in 2014) merging into the 3-lane inner roadway after Interchange 8A.


In November 2014, the inner/outer "Dual-Dual" configuration was open to traffic and the next task was to close the expanse of pavement from the old (temporarily relocated) merge.


The second photo is again courtesy HNTB, and click for a double-size closeup. The NJ 33 BGS (Exit 8) is odd in that it is quite new yet does not have a 33 shield, but the sign disappeared with the Turnpike widening before that was resolved. Exit 8A leads to NJ 32, which is a very short arterial connector to US 130. It was considered for the NJ 92 relief connector to US 1 before the widening was re-prioritized.


The beams holding this bridge up once were straight. I can't believe this overpass is allowed to remain open (along with the highway beneath it), but it will disappear as soon as the Turnpike is widened.


Speaking of widening, the Richard Stockton Service Area is all ready to let traffic decide where to go in 2014, but only work vehicles can use the overpass until the inner lanes reopen.


These are all a bunch of SB BGS's; click on the 1¼-mile Exit 6 advance for the old all-text version, courtesy HNTB. The last picture is the famous 1956 green gantry spanning three lanes of NJ 700 and three lanes of I-95, larger than its counterparts on the Pennsylvania Extension EB (see link below). At night, the sign is bottom-lit, but since it's non-reflective and non-button copy, picture-taking must be absolutely still. This, as I mentioned, is where I-95 now swings westward toward PA. Until I-95 in PA can connect with the PA Turnpike, though, this will still be signed with a TO I-276 (which should have an arrow bent 45 degrees to the right, not straight ahead). It would alleviate traffic greatly if the car/truck setup of the Turnpike were extended down to Exit 6 - having ten or twelve lanes between two sets of ten- or twelve-lane highway, instead of only six, would be a boon on Friday evenings in particular. Final note: button copy increases in frequency as one travels southward on the Turnpike.


Ready? Here's the replacement, and same over the new outer roadway. It stinks, doesn't it? You get a bastardization of the old Turnpike arrow, something you'll never see again in the age of the MUTCD. You get the exit number still inside the sign, also now obsolete. Finally, you get blank spots for South I-95 and Philadelphia, to be added if (not necessarily "when") Pennsylvania finally completes the I-276/I-95 interchange. The best improvement is the addition of destinations, but nothing will ever compensate for removing the original gantry.


You can see there's just more of the same approaching the exit, afflicting both the new outer lanes (where everyone is while the inners are redone) and the old mainline (35 mph for work vehicles only).


Just before the inner lanes are ready to open, the warnings are dire. But with every entrance closed, how would you even get in there? These photos were taken 11/1/14; the NB lanes opened 10/26 and the SB lanes opened 11/3, so it's a unique time to see traffic in two roadways NB but only one SB. (This can still happen during construction, but it's less special.)


In order to close on a good note, have another humped exit sign from 1970, courtesy Michael Summa, and this one even has text beneath. Here's a case where the text hasn't changed in over 50 years.

Over to the NB lanes
Interchange 6-9 Widening

Signs on the exit ramps
South on the Turnpike (NJ 700)
South on I-95 (Turnpike PA Extension)
Back to NJ Turnpike and I-95 together
Back to I-95/NJ Turnpike main page

Exit 13 to I-278
Exit 12 to Middlesex CR 602
Exit 11 to US 9
Exit 11 to the Garden State Parkway
Exit 10 or 11 to I-287
Exit 10 or 11 to NJ 440
Exit 9 to US 1
Exit 9 to NJ 18
Exit 8A to NJ 32
Exit 8 to NJ 33
Exit 7A to I-195
Exit 7 to US 206
Exit 6 to US 130
Exit 6 to I-276 in PA
Back to New Jersey Roads
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