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Driscoll Bridge

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Coordinates: 40°30′33″N 74°18′05″W / 40.5093°N 74.3013°W / 40.5093; -74.3013
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Governor Alfred E. Driscoll Bridge[1]
The Driscoll, Vieser, and Edison Bridges in August 2020
Coordinates40°30′33″N 74°18′05″W / 40.5093°N 74.3013°W / 40.5093; -74.3013
Carries15 lanes of G.S. Parkway
CrossesRaritan River
LocaleWoodbridge, New Jersey and Sayreville, New Jersey
Official nameAlfred E. Driscoll Bridge[1]
Other name(s)Driscoll Bridge[2]
Maintained byNew Jersey Turnpike Authority
Characteristics
DesignBox girder bridge
History
ArchitectRobinson & Steinman
Construction start1952
OpenedJuly 30, 1954
May 3, 2006 (southbound span)
Rebuilt1970-1972, 2006-2009
Statistics
Tollsame as mainline parkway
Location
Map

The Governor Alfred E. Driscoll Bridge, (colloquially referred to as the Driscoll Bridge) is a bridge on the Garden State Parkway in the U.S. state of New Jersey, spanning the Raritan River near its mouth in Raritan Bay. The bridge connects the Middlesex County communities of Woodbridge Township on the north with Sayreville on the south. With a total of 15 travel lanes and 6 shoulder lanes, it is one of the world's widest and busiest motor vehicle bridges.[3] Only 30 feet east of the Driscoll Bridge is the Edison Bridge, which carries U.S. Route 9. The bridge offers views of some of the taller buildings in the Lower Manhattan skyline, the New Brunswick skyline, the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, and the Outerbridge Crossing.

History

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The northbound lanes of the bridge were opened to the public without fanfare on July 30, 1954.[4]

In 1955, a new pier was built to allow for potential expansion.[5]

The span was originally built with two lanes in each direction, however this quickly proved to be inadequate, and in an attempt to reduce congestion, the bridge was restriped with six 10' foot lanes in 1957.[5]

In 1970,[5] an expansion project began. The bridge was closed for reconstruction,[5][6][7] to allow for the installation of a third column built on the 1955 piers in addition to a fully divided roadway deck. Work was completed in 1972, at which point the bridge was converted to serving ten lanes of traffic total.[8][7][5]

The bridge was formally renamed in 1974 for former Governor Alfred E. Driscoll, who advocated for and oversaw the construction of the Garden State Parkway and New Jersey Turnpike.[7]

In 1984, the timber medians were replaced with concrete barriers, allowing for the addition of one lane in each direction.[5]

By the 2000s, the bridge were inadequate, as its narrowness and lack of emergency lanes created bottlenecks in each direction. Because of this, the bridge was later restriped to have twelve ten foot lanes, six in each direction. [9]

Construction on a new southbound bridge started on September 25, 2002, and the new bridge opened to traffic on May 3, 2006.[10] The existing span was then closed for rehabilitation, and it reopened on May 20, 2009, with eight lanes and two shoulders. The new configuration has seven southbound lanes on the newly constructed span on Parkway South, and the existing span was reduced from twelve lanes to eight lanes, with the other two converted into shoulders. The northbound span is also divided, with four lanes on each side. There are a total of five lanes of Parkway North traffic and three right lanes at Exit 127 meaning that the west side contains four lanes for through traffic on the Parkway, and the east side contains three right lanes for Exit 127 and one lane for through traffic on the Parkway.[11] For a time, the bridge's 15 travel lanes and 6 shoulder lanes made it "the widest motor-vehicle bridge in the world by number of lanes", according to the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.[12]

A project to repaint the original bridge began in 2012.[13]

The speed limit on the Garden State Parkway was 45 miles per hour (72 km/h) approaching and traversing the Driscoll Bridge.[14] However, in February 2020, the speed limit was raised to 55 miles per hour (89 km/h).

Tolls

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All southbound traffic crossing the Driscoll Bridge pays a toll at either the Raritan Toll Plaza or at exit 125 on the Garden State Parkway, which is just north of the toll plaza. As of January 1, 2023, the toll for passenger cars at the Raritan Toll Plaza is $2.10 with cash and $2.02 with E-ZPass. Southbound exit 125 is for E-ZPass users only and also has a toll of $2.02.[15][16]

Murder on the bridge

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On February 17, 2010, Shamshiddin Abdur-Raheem was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his daughter by throwing her off the bridge.[17][18] The body of an infant matching the girl's description was found on the south bank of the Raritan River on April 24 and was later identified as the missing girl through DNA testing.[19]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Alfred e. Driscoll Bridge plaque.JPG".
  2. ^ "Driscoll Bridge".
  3. ^ "Garden State Parkway opens world's widest bridge - 15 lanes". TOLLROADSnews, Peter Samuel. Archived from the original on 2012-03-23. Retrieved 2011-06-06.
  4. ^ "New Garden State Link. Raritan Bridge Is Opened for Northbound Traffic". The New York Times. Associated Press. July 31, 1954. Retrieved 2009-03-18. The New Jersey Highway Authority today opened a new link in the Garden State Parkway -- the high-level bridge over the Raritan River for northbound traffic.
  5. ^ a b c d e f https://www.nj.gov/transportation/about/publicat/historyedisonbr.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  6. ^ "Driscoll Bridge".
  7. ^ a b c Next phase of Driscoll Bridge plan set to start, The Star-Ledger, March 22, 2007. "The original bridge was built in 1955 with two lanes in each direction, but in 1972, with Shore traffic increasing rapidly, a second span was built that created a bridge with five lanes in each direction. In 1974, former Gov. Thomas W. Driscoll was on hand as a plaque was unveiled officially renaming the bridge for him. Driscoll was governor from 1947 to 1954 and ordered construction of both the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway."
  8. ^ "Driscoll Bridge".
  9. ^ Driscoll Bridge project advances with today's action by Turnpike board, New Jersey Department of Transportation press release dated April 20, 2002. Accessed December 13, 2008.
  10. ^ Bridge to open fully on Wednesday - Project completed ahead of schedule, Asbury Park Press, May 2, 2006
  11. ^ "Governor Corzine announces Driscoll Bridge opening after $225 million rehabilitation project". New Jersey Turnpike Authority. May 20, 2009. Archived February 1, 2012.
  12. ^ "#OnThisDate in 1954". New Jersey Turnpike Authority. July 30, 2020. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  13. ^ "PBT360: Market Analytics and Business Intelligence for the Coatings Industry".
  14. ^ New Jersey Turnpike Authority Regulations Relating to the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway, Effective December 9, 2004 (PDF), accessed July 5, 2006 Archived January 14, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ "2022 Toll Rates Garden State Parkway - Cash" (PDF). New Jersey Turnpike Authority. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
  16. ^ "2022 Toll Rates - Garden State Parkway / E-ZPass" (PDF). New Jersey Turnpike Authority. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
  17. ^ N.J. man gets life in prison for throwing baby daughter off bridge Nov 07, 2012
  18. ^ N.J. man tells police he tossed baby off bridge Feb 17, 2010
  19. ^ DNA tests match baby thrown from Driscoll Bridge Archived October 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine May 3, 2010.
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