New Goethals Bridge sign misspelled

A new sign went up recently directing traffic to the Goethals Bridge. But purists would never find the bridge, since the sign went up with a glaring misspelling. Someone spelled it Geothals, the e and the o transposed, and somehow no one caught it. Either that or no one cared.

I first heard of this through Bob O'Brien, who does a music show here on NJ101.5 on the weekends. We're Facebook friends and he took a pic of it. The sign stands about one quarter-mile before the Richmond Avenue exit. Others on Facebook are calling it out. It's now gotten the attention of SILive.com. When asked for comment, the Department of Transportation says they're "looking into the matter."

If history repeats itself it's going to be a very long wait before the sign is corrected. Did you know a sign for the Verrazzano Bridge stood for decades misspelled with only one z? True story. Due to a mistake in a construction contract the sign went up misspelled and remained that way for over 50 years. It was not until 2018 under New York Governor Andrew Cuomo that it was finally fixed. Thing is, it was known for decades that it was wrong. Yet it took that long to correct it. So what are the odds the Geothals Bridge sign will become the Goethals Bridge sign any time soon? I'm guessing slim.

Just like the Verrazzano Bridge was named for someone, explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano, so is the Goethals Bridge. Major General George Washington Goethals. He was a United States Army General and also a civil engineer. He was the state engineer of New Jersey. He was best known for overseeing the construction of the Panama Canal.

But those kredentials apurently did not mattter to the person in churge of spellling the sine.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski. Any opinions expressed are Jeff Deminski's own.