November 30, 1951: The New Jersey Turnpike Opens

November 30, 1951: The New Jersey Turnpike opens, mostly. For the moment, it runs from Exit 1 in Penns Grove, near the newly-opened Delaware Memorial Bridge, to Exit 11 in Woodbridge, an interchange with U.S. Route 1, U.S. Route 9, State Route 440, and, by 1956, the Garden State Parkway. (On that road, that interchange will be Exit 129.)

Like the later Garden State Parkway, the Turnpike was the brainchild of Governor Alfred E. Driscoll. He set a November 30, 1951 deadline, and there were delays that suggested they wouldn't make it. They did.

The Turnpike was extended to its full 117-mile length the next year, connecting with New York City via the Lincoln Tunnel (Exit 16) and the George Washington Bridge (Exit 18). One notable problem was the Pulaski Skyway, which has carried Routes 1 and 9 from Newark to Jersey City since 1932. If they built the Turnpike under the Skyway, there might not be enough room for trucks to fit. If they built the Turnpike over the Skyway, there would be room, but construction would take a lot more time and money. They decided to build under, and no truck has ever gotten stuck under it. Just in case, a few years ago, a big construction project was undertaken, and it lowered the roadway.

In 1956, the Newark Bay Extension opened at Exit 14, near Newark International Airport. This includes the Newark Bay Bridge, and 3 new exits in Jersey City: Exit 14A for Bayonne, Exit 14B for downtown, and Exit 14C for the Holland Tunnel into New York.

That same year, an extension was built from Exit 6 to the new Delaware River-Turnpike Toll Bridge, connecting the New Jersey Turnpike with the Pennsylvania Turnpike. It is named the Pearl Harbor Memorial Turnpike Extension. From here on north, the New Jersey Turnpike is bannered as part of Interstate 95.

In 1970, the Western Spur was opened, designed to aid travelers going around New York City to New England (taking the Tappan Zee, now Mario Cuomo, Bridge to the New England Thruway). It was also meant to access the planned Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford. The new exits were labeled 15W, 16W and 18W; while the former Exits 15, 16 and 18 were relabeled 15E, 16E and 18E. In 2005, the newest exit opened: Exit 15X, for the Secaucus Junction Rail Station.

The Turnpike has become not just a great method for getting people from one point in New Jersey to another, or from New York to points south and west (or vice versa) without having to go through Philadelphia, but it's become a cultural icon. Chuck Berry, The Mamas & the Papas, Paul Simon and Bruce Springsteen have all written songs mentioning it. And the opening montage of The Sopranos showed James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano, driving out of the Lincoln Tunnel and down the Turnpike.

Of course, for a lot of people not from New Jersey, the Turnpike is all they see of the State: Things like the Meadowlands' stadiums and swamps, the Skyway, the Airport, the big oil refinery in Linden, and vast swaths of not much of anything taking up the space south of Trenton. These people never see the nice parts of New Jersey, and never understand why it's called "The Garden State."

The Turnpike's exit numbers are sequential, not by milepost as the Parkway's will be. As a result, when new exits need to be built, they require letters. Between Exit 7 in Bordentown Township and Exit 8 in East Windsor is Exit 7A in Robbinsville; and between Exit 8 and Exit 9 in East Brunswick is Exit 8A in Monroe.

If the exits were by mileposts, they would be, as follows: 

* Exit 1, Penns Grove, Salem County, connecting with Interstate 295, U.S. Routes 40 and 130, New Jersey Route 49 and the Delaware Memorial Bridge: Exit 0, or Exit 1.

* Exit 2, Woolwich, Gloucester County, U.S. Route 322 and the Commodore Barry Bridge: Exit 13.

* Exit 3, Runnemede, Camden County, N.J. Route 168 and, by extension, the Atlantic City Expressway and the Walt Whitman Bridge to Philadelphia: Exit 26. Oddly, despite the access to the Expressway, this exit, unlike Exits 7A and 11, is not labeled "Shore Points."

* Exit 4, Mount Laurel, Burlington County, N.J. Route 73 and, by extension, the Ben Franklin Bridge to Philadelphia: Exit 34.

* Exit 5, Westampton, Burlington County, County Route 541: Exit 44.

* Exit 6, Mansfield, Burlington County, Interstate 95 and, by extension, Interstate 276 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike: Exit 51.

* Exit 7, Bordentown Township (surrounding Bordentown City), Burlington County, U.S. Route 206: Exit 53.

* Exit 7A, Robbinsville, Mercer County, Interstate 195: Exit 60. This exit can be used for both the State capital of Trenton and the Six Flags Great Adventure theme park. For drivers going north on the Turnpike, this exit is labeled "Shore Points," due to the access to I-195.

* Exit 8, East Windsor, Mercer County, N.J. Routes 33 and 133: Exit 67.

* Exit 8A, Monroe, Middlesex County, N.J. Route 32 for access to U.S. Route 130 and County Route 535: Exit 74. For me, growing up in East Brunswick in the 1970s and '80s, this was the exit we used for southbound points like Philadelphia, Washington and Virginia.

* Exit 9, East Brunswick, Middlesex County, N.J. Route 18 for access to U.S. Route 1: Exit 83. This was the exit we used for North Jersey and New York City. East Brunswick's main bus terminal was here, and, from 1991 to 2020, I lived 1 mile away, for relatively easy access to The City.

* Exit 10, Edison, Middlesex County, Interstate 287 and N.J. Route 440, and, by extension, the Outerbridge Crossing into Staten Island, New York City: Exit 88.

* Exit 11, Woodbridge, Middlesex County, the Garden State Parkway, U.S. Routes 1 and 9: Exit 91. For drivers going south on the Turnpike, this exit is labeled "Shore Points," due to the Parkway access.

* Exit 12, Carteret, Middlesex County, County Route 602: Exit 96.

* Exit 13, Elizabeth, Union County, Interstate 278 and the Goethals Bridge into Staten Island: Exit 99.

* Exit 13A, Elizabeth, Union County, N.J. Route 81 and, by extension, Newark Liberty International Airport and Elizabeth Seaport: Exit 101. It also provides access to the Jersey Gardens Mall and that big IKEA store visible from the road.

* Exit 14, Newark, Essex County, Interstate 78, U.S. Routes 1, 9 and 22, with access to the Airport and the Newark Bay Extension: Exit 104.

* Exit 15E, Newark, Essex County, U.S. Routes 1 and 9, and thus the Pulaski Skyway toward Jersey City: Exit 107.

* Exit 15W, Kearny, Hudson County, Interstate 280: Exit 108. Theoretically, any of Exits 14, 15E or 15W can be used for downtown Newark and the Prudential Center arena. For Red Bull Arena, Exit 15W is the most convenient.

* Exit 15X, Secaucus, Hudson County, the Secaucus Junction Rail Station: Exit 110.

* Exit 16E, Secaucus, Hudson County, N.J. Routes 3 and 495, accessing the Lincoln Tunnel into Manhattan: Exit 112.

* Exit 16W, East Rutherford, Bergen County, N.J. Route 3 and the Meadowlands Sports Complex: Exit 112.

* Exit 18E and Exit 18W, Carlstadt, Bergen County, Interstates 80 and 95, U.S. Routes 1, 9 and 46: Exit 114.

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November 30, 1951 was a Friday. Baseball was out of season. There were 3 college football games played that night:

* The University of Richmond beat George Washington University, 20-19 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.

* The University of Miami beat Nebraska, 19-7 at Burdine Stadium (later renamed the Orange Bowl) in Miami. This would happen a few more times in the decades to come.

* And the University of Houston beat North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas), 20-14 at Eagle Field in Denton, Texas.

There was only 1 game played in the NHL that night, at the Montreal Forum, and the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs played to a 0-0 tie. There were 3 games played in the NBA that night:

* In a rematch and a reverse of the previous season's NBA Finals, the New York Knicks beat the Rochester Royals, 79-74 at the old Madison Square Garden.

* The Philadelphia Warriors beat the Syracuse Nationals, 81-78 at the Philadelphia Arena. When the Warriors moved to San Francisco in 1962, the Nationals replaced them a year later, as the Philadelphia 76ers.

* And the Washington Capitols beat the Boston Celtics, 85-81 at the Boston Garden. Ironically, the Celtics had just hired a former Capitols coach, who quit because he didn't have the team owner's backing to acquire what he thought were the necessary players. With Walter Brown, owner of the Garden, the Celtics and the Bruins, and making more money on the Ice Capades than on the rest of it combined, paid for the players his new coach wanted.

That new coach was a native of Brooklyn, but went to George Washington University, and seemed at first to be a natural to coach the Caps. And, for the rest of his life, despite being involved with the Celtics in one capacity or another, he kept his home in Washington. He was Arnold Jacob "Red" Auerbach.

May 26, 1956: The Garden State Parkway Opens

May 26, 1956: The Great Egg Harbor Bridge opens, over Great Egg Harbor Bay in southern New Jersey, connecting Somers Point in Atlantic County with Upper Township in Cape May County. With this opening, the Garden State Parkway is fully open.

A 2nd bridge, taking northbound traffic, was added in 1972. The original, southbound bridge was replaced in 2016; the northbound one, in 2019.

Like the New Jersey Turnpike, which opened in 1951, the Parkway was the brainchild of Alfred E. Driscoll, Governor of New Jersey from 1947 to 1954. Just as the Turnpike was designed to ease the traffic flow of U.S. Route 1 in North and Central Jersey, and U.S. Route 130 in South Jersey, the Parkway was meant to do the same thing for U.S. Route 9.

Of course, it didn't work out that way. The huge growth of New Jersey's suburbs meant that the traffic on both 1 and 9 -- which merge in Woodbridge, Middlesex County, near the interchange that is Turnpike Exit 11 and Parkway Exit 129, and then go up together to the George Washington Bridge -- filled up anyway. But it's still better to have the 2 big superhighways than not. Similarly, the Atlantic City Expressway opened in 1964, but has never really eased Shorebound traffic on U.S. Route 30.

The Parkway runs the spine of New Jersey, paralleling Route 9, at times running concurrent with 9. It starts in Lower Township, Cape May County, with an interchange labeled "Exit 0," 2 1/2 miles north of the beach in Cape May City. The exits, more or less, match the mileposts. Exits 9, 10 and 11 were at-grade interchanges, complete with traffic lights, until grade-separated interchanges replaced them in 2014. (Bumper stickers for Cape May contain the legend "EXIT 0," much as those for Montauk, at the eastern end of New York's Long Island, read "THE END."

It goes from Cape May County to Atlantic County at the aforementioned Great Egg Harbor Bridge, near Exit 29. Atlantic City can be accessed via Exits 37 (U.S. Routes 40 and 322), 38 (the Atlantic City Expressway, that road's Exit 7) and 40 (U.S. Route 30).

Exits 50 and 52 are the only ones in Burlington County. In Ocean County, Exit 63 accesses New Jersey Route 72 and Long Beach Island; and Exit 82, N.J. Route 37 and Seaside Heights. In Monmouth County, Exit 100 is for N.J. Route 33 and Asbury Park; Exit 105 is for N.J. Route 36, the Monmouth Mall in Eatontown, and the Monmouth Park horse racing track in Oceanport; and Exit 116 is the only access point for the PNC Bank Arts Center (formerly the Garden State Arts Center) in Holmdel. You can't access this concert facility any way except through the Parkway.

At Exit 120, the Parkway enters Middlesex County. After Exit 125, it crosses the Raritan River, via a bridge named for Driscoll. Exit 127 is an interchange with Interstate 287, U.S. Route 9, and N.J. Route 440, with ramps so tangled, it is known as "Spaghetti Junction." At Exit 129, it connects with the New Jersey Turnpike/Interstate 95 and its Exit 11. It intersects with U.S. Route 1 at Exit 130. At Exit 131 in Woodbridge, it passes under Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, formerly the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Heading southbound, approaching Exit 129

Exits 135 to 142 are in Union County, including Exit 142, an interchange with Interstate 78, which connects the Parkway with Newark Liberty International Airport. Exits 143 to 151 are in Essex County, including 145, in my parents' hometown of Newark, an interchange with Interstate 280; and 148, 149, 150 and 151, in my original hometown of Bloomfield.

Passaic County includes Exits 153, 154, 155 and 156. Exit 153 intersects with N.J. Route 3, providing access to the Meadowlands Sports Complex. Exits 157 to 172 are in Bergen County. Exit 159 is an interchange with Interstate 80. Exit 161 provides access to the Garden State Plaza Mall in Paramus. Exit 172 is in Montvale. From here, the Parkway continues north, over the State Line, as the Garden State Parkway Connector to the New York State Thruway.

Unlike the Turnpike, which only has toll booths at the exits, the Parkway has 11 toll barriers, leaving drivers "nickel-and-dimed" from Cape May County to Bergen County.

Also unlike the Turnpike, which is bannered as Interstate 95 from Exit 6 northward, the Parkway has never been part of the Interstate Highway System, created the same year that the Parkway opened. As part of the Interstate System, the federal government did not absorb existing state toll roads, as federal funding is typically meant for toll-free, interconnected national routes.

Rather, it is part of the National Highway System, and while there are absolutely no signs along it mentioning it as such, it is officially New Jersey Route 444. This allows New Jersey to collect tolls on the road, but also to ban trucks from any part of its length, and they are banned from Exit 105 northward. By law, an Interstate Highway must allow commercial traffic. And that's why the Parkway is not bannered as part of Interstate 91, 93, 95, 97 or 99.

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May 26, 1956 was a Saturday. This was the same day that Jacques Cousteau's documentary The Silent World premiered. I have a separate entry for that event.

It was the off-season for the NFL, and the NBA and the NHL didn't yet extend their seasons that far. But there were Major League Baseball games played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Baltimore Orioles, 9-4 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The O's shelled Mickey McDermott for 4 runs in the 1st inning, and Gerry Staley for 4 more in the 2nd. Bill "Moose" Skowron hit a home run, and Mickey Mantle went 1-for-3, but it was far from enough.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the New York Giants, 6-0 at the Polo Grounds. Roger Craig pitched a 3-hit shutout, backed by home runs from Sandy Amoros, Randy Jackson and Carl Furillo. Jackie Robinson went 1-for-2. Willie Mays did not play.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-2 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia.

* The Washington Senators beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-1 at Fenway Park in Boston. The only Red Sox run came in the 7th inning, when Ted Williams pinch-hit for pitcher Dave Sisler (son of George and brother of Dick), and singled home Don Buddin. Future manager Whitey Herzog went 2-for-4 for the Senators.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Athletics, 12-6 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. (It would be renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961.)

* The Milwaukee Braves beat the Cincinnati Redlegs, 2-1 at Milwaukee County Stadium. (The Reds were named the Redlegs from 1954 to 1958. A lot of things about America's handling of the Cold War were just flat-out stupid.) Hank Aaron did not hit a home run, but he did hit a triple in the 11th inning, and scored the winning run when singled home by Frank Torre, Joe's brother.

* There was a rainout at Comiskey Park in Chicago. It was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 31. The Cleveland Indians won the opener, 3-2. The Chicago White Sox won the nightcap, 1-0. Dick Donovan and future White Sox ace Early Wynn both went all 10 innings, and Donovan won it himself with a single off Wynn that drove in Bubba Phillips.

* There was also a rainout at the original Busch Stadium in St. Louis (known from 1909 to 1952 as Sportsman's Park.) It was made up as part of a doubleheader on August 19. The St. Louis Cardinals won the 1st game, 6-0. Murry Dickson pitched a 2-hit shutout, and helped himself by going 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs. Stan Musial hit a home run. The Chicago Cubs won the 2nd game, 3-1. Overall, Musial went 3-for-9 with 2 RBIs. Ernie Banks was injured, and did not play in either game.