Incredible Journey: The New Jersey Turnpike

[Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. Below you is a section of the New Jersey Turnpike. This is the newly widened northern 30 mi of the turnpike. And there is nothing quite like it in the world. [Applause] Engineers call it one of the safest, busiest, most unique, exciting, well-gineered, innovative, convenient highways in the world. [Music] On this highway, a driver feels a sense of freedom and security and safety. There is speed without tension. There is activity without congestion. 12 lanes for 30 m at construction costs of $418 million. But it didn't cost the citizens of New Jersey a penny in extra taxes. The widening of the New Jersey Turnpike was financed through the sale of public bonds. Bonds that were readily sold to a willing public because of the New Jersey Turnpike's reputation for being a well-run business. The widened section of the turnpike handled almost 65 million revenue vehicles traveling almost 2 billion miles the first year it was open. The dual duel, a unitized highway, four three-lane barrels, each a completely independent road with individual exits and access ramps at each interchange and service area. Each barrel separated from the other by a 26 ft median. and guardrail. Extra heavy guardrail doublefaced on 6 ft supports. The New Jersey Turnpike is the only road with steel guardrail running uninterrupted for its entire 130 m length. Six lanes going north and six lanes going south. And when the time comes to exit, you don't need to be a broken field runner. The exits are there and they're easy to get to. And so the trucks and the buses do their thing in their lanes and you roll along relaxed and secure in your lane. Two independent roadways for traffic in the same direction give flexibility that a single directional roadway does not have. [Music] An emergency vehicle, for instance, can reach the scene of an accident on one roadway by traveling over the other roadway without being delayed by vehicles stopped by the accident. So-called Z turns are available for police cars to quickly change barrels in an emergency. and grade separated U-turn structures at convenient locations enable police and maintenance vehicles to change direction safely from all standpoints, engineering, design, traffic control, safety, and economy. The dual dual system of the New Jersey Turnpike is an ideal solution to the traffic burden which it faces. New Jersey is the traditional main corridor in the Boston to Washington megalopouloolis. As early as 1964, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority perceived the need for a widening of the northernmost 30 m of the turnpike. And so thousands of men and thousands of machines go to work. [Music] Ingenious detours are developed and traffic is slowed hardly at all as a monumental construction project proceeds. But always safety is the key consideration. Tough steel guard rail goes up along the present highway to separate it from construction work in the new traffic lanes. When work is completed, the guard rail will become double-faced and will ultimately be the median barrier, which will separate the old from the new barrels. The New Jersey Turnpike Authority is determined to maintain its remarkable record of safety. Only 1.4 fatalities per 100 million revenue vehicle miles, the best of all major toll roads. [Music] The northernmost 30 m of the New Jersey Turnpike pass through heavily populated urban areas and through the marshy emptiness of the New Jersey Meadows. Titanic amounts of material are needed. Bridges. Over 100 bridges must be built. Existing bridges must be moved and lengthened and widened. Over 59,000 tons of weathering steel will be used in the construction of these bridges. Weathering steel, a type of steel that is being used more and more by highway engineers to reduce maintenance costs and add aesthetic value to construction. The northernmost 8 miles will pass through the New Jersey Meadows which are subject to tidal action. Road building in the meadows will require removal of from 5 to 10 ft of organic matter before reaching the clay base on which the highway will rest. About a year is required before the weight of some 15 ft of fill is compacted to the final roadway height. The necessary stability for roadway embankments was first obtained by constructing sand drains or wicks to accelerate the consolidation of underlying waterbearing clay. [Music] The ingenious utilization of native materials and their movement to the job site was accomplished through the use of dredges, scows, and suction pipes. Suction pipes draw sand from a huge sand pile deposited on the bottom of the river by the scows. The dredging and mocking operations in the meadows turn what was once 10 miles of swamp into a roadway that is solid, swift, and secure. [Music] Incredible journey. journey through the New Jersey Meadows [Music] to provide under drain wherever required along the 30 mi of new roadway. Some 41 mi of galvanized corrugated steel pipe were installed under the shoulders at a depth of 4 ft. It was used because of the speed of installation and long life. The highway overpasses and bridges of various kinds represented one of the most substantial parts of the entire construction program. In order to keep the highway open even during bridge widening in some instances new bridges were constructed adjoining the older bridges. [Music] Steel was used in the bridges throughout the turnpike, not only because of its economy and ease of maintenance, but because of the speed with which giant girders could be moved into position and bolted into place. [Music] It took an average of only 5 minutes to place one of these giant girders into position. The flow of traffic was barely interrupted. [Music] The bridges rest on over a thousand concrete peers and abutments. Over 22,000 tons of reinforcing steel bars were used in this application. The concrete in a bridge deck is subjected to a variety of stresses and the constant pounding of millions of vehicles. Without proper design, expensive replacement of bridge decks could be required in just a few years. There were many steel products utilized in these bridges. Steel reinforcing bars in the concrete decks. The shear connectors for component action. Stay inplace steel forms for fast and efficient deck construction and of course the main structural supporting members in the bridge. Weathering steel which forms a warm brown patina as it ages was used extensively in the construction of bridges. It is not only beautiful but practical and economical. The safety factor increases due to the elimination of painting and the reduction of maintenance problems. The 12 lane dual dual highway divides into a westerly and easterly alignment just south of the Bayic River. The easterly alignment takes traffic into the Lincoln Tunnel area and New York City, while the westerly alignment proceeds towards the George Washington Bridge and north to New England. An ingenious system of roadways, splits, and overpasses was designed to permit northbound motorists to select either the easterly or westerly highway alignment with ease and safety. It is in this area that one may observe the structural capabilities and sheer aesthetic value of steel. Its versatility is reflected in the overwhelming profusion and variety of beams. [Music] There are curved beams allowing flexibility in the placement of peers in safe locations. There are cantalievered and tapered beams giving strength at points of greatest stress and eliminating weight where it is not needed. Rich brown patas reflect the everchanging sunlight. [Music] Typical of urban areas, the turnpike had to link up with, go over, or under existing bridges. The motorist is treated to a view of some of the most exciting and structurally magnificent bridges in the world. The Laterman Bridge spanning the Payic River features full 12ft shoulders where disabled motorists may safely await assistance. The Payic River Bridge is over 1 and a half miles long and the Hackinac Bridge almost as long. The Gothals's Bridge is indeed the gateway to exciting Manhattan and its startling skyline. The New Jersey Turnpike also brings the motorist to a link up with the famed Verzano Narrows Bridge. And everywhere, travelers marvel at the structural and artistic miracles created in steel. [Music] The Newark Bay extension of the New Jersey Turnpike affords the traveler what is perhaps the most exciting and unusual view of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. [Applause] [Music] The New Jersey Turnpike is more than a great toll road. It is symbolic of the very spirit of modern transportation. Indeed, New Jersey itself is perhaps representative of this very spirit of modern transportation. In the Newark Port Elizabeth complex, we see the excitement and vitality of a state that knows how to keep things moving. [Music] Nice day, huh? Beautiful tonight. Beautiful. $2. Don't forget the receipt. Bye. [Music] 3 4 5 Thank you. See you. Take care now. To the men whose livelihood and safety are directly related to the roads they must travel, the New Jersey Turnpike is the ultimate. Here at the Woodbridge Interchange, we see and begin to understand the importance of this road in meeting the traffic load that has so dramatically built up in the last decade and will continue to build up. From major state highways and the Garden State Parkway, from roads throughout the New Jersey corridor, the widened portion of the New Jersey Turnpike receives traffic and keeps it moving quickly and safely. It wasn't always that way, and had it not been for the foresight and planning of the men and women of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, there is no telling how snarled the traffic might have become in this busy corridor. [Music] You build a great highway. You give it everything that science and engineering and money and desire can provide. But in the final analysis, you're providing one basic product to the American public, a safe and swift passage. Safety is many things. It is a shoulder where a motorist may pull off a busy bridge. [Music] It is uninterrupted heavyduty guard rail. It is guardrail at the side of the road where needed. It is a straight, wide, well-maintained roadway. It is good lighting and signs. Signs that often taken for granted phenomenon which direct, warn, and protect the motorist. The highly trained state troopers who patrol the New Jersey Turnpike immediately warn Turnpike headquarters at New Brunswick of any unusual occurrence, change in weather or road conditions or unfortunate accidents. Signs are immediately changed by radio control to reroute the traffic from one barrel to another to slow traffic to move the traveler safely to his destination. Safety is many things and it is many people. Safety is 22 different fire companies which can be summoned to the scene in minutes by radio. The turnpike spends approximately $55,000 per year at the rate of $50 per call to extinguish automobile fires at no cost to the motorist. If a motorist car is disabled, a passing trooper will radio turnpike headquarters. Headquarters can dispatch one of 32 contract garages to the scene. [Music] I hear if someone is injured in an accident. 36 ambulance squads are on radio call. 14 service areas provide food and fuel and have ample parking space for tired drivers to rest. [Music] 25 privately operated service trucks are available to aid disabled motorists. Yes, safety is many things and many people, but it is the single most important reason why for the widened portion of the New Jersey Turnpike. Courteous people and gleaming stainless steel toll booths represent the dedication and knowhow of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. When you pass through these gates, even the world's most sophisticated traveler realizes he is about to embark on an incredible journey. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] All right.