If you have ever wondered why traffic delays are so bad in some areas of New Jersey think about this: when was the last time you saw a new highway designed and built, or additional lanes added to an existing road?  

Interstate 287 and US 1 in Edison
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Aside from the expansion of the New Jersey Turnpike between exits 6 and 8a (which in my opinion is a too little too late substitution for the cancelled I-95/I-695 missing link) you have to go back nearly 20 years to the completion of Interstate 287 and Route 24.

Face it...many highways and secondary New Jersey roads are at or above capacity.  Some were at these levels when they originally opened!  Chalk it up to suburban sprawl and the inability to control and develop an efficient transportation system that would support changing times.

I will talk about some other great transportation plans that were never implemented in a future Bobby Blacktop Traffic Blog (like the Driscoll Expressway that will make weep those who drive Rotue 571 daily from Toms River to Jackson to get to Interstate 195 and know every school bus stop by heart).

What are some of the 20th century roads you encounter  that are well over capacity and is not performing well in this 21st century world?  It can be the Parkway, Turnpike, AC Expressway or an interstate that backs up everyday in a certain spot, a county road that does not have enough lanes, a short merge  or  even a local road in your town that cannot handle the traffic volumes and costs you valuable time everyday. Lets hear about it !

I'll throw out there US Route 206 which I travel on daily for about 50 miles through north and central Jersey. Aside from not having enough lanes in certain towns I am amazed at the lack of travel dividers!  It is a wonder that there are not more fatalities!

What traffic topic or questions about the roads would you like to see answered? Let me know in the comments section.

 

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