How a $2B Turnpike project in South Jersey could dwarf Direct Connection
The Direct Connection, already a decade-long effort to untangle a cluster of highways in Camden County, won’t end for several years.
But when that happens, South Jersey motorists can expect to be facing an even larger road project — expansion of the New Jersey Turnpike between Mount Laurel and the Delaware Memorial Bridge.
New lanes for southern Turnpike
The New Jersey Turnpike Authority will add of a third lane in each direction of the toll road under a “capacity enhancements program.”
Drivers might see it as “The Son of Direct Connection.”
The project, currently in the preliminary design stage, will put road crews on a 36.5-mile stretch of the turnpike from 2025 to 2032, according to the Turnpike Authority’s website.
The expansion effort has an estimated price tag of some $2 billion.
In contrast, the Direct Connection is expected to have cost at least $900 million when it wraps up in 2027. It is creating new links between Route 42 and Interstates 295 and 76 in Camden County.
Turnpike changes will move north
The turnpike expansion — to be funded through toll revenues — will begin with a 12-mile stretch between Carneys Point and Woolwich. It’s to move northward 13 miles to Interchange 3 in Runnemede, and then 11.5 miles to just above Exit 4 in Mount Laurel.
The project calls for improvements at four interchanges and the replacement or rehabilitation of 55 of 66 bridges in the corridor.
“Most overhead bridges will need to be lengthened to accommodate widening,” says the Authority, which offers a video with an artist's rendering of the project.
Among the planned changes, the project will:
Extend two express E-ZPass lanes at Interchange 1 in Carneys Point.
Replace “at-grade U-turns with above-grade structures to improve safety for first responders."
Consider “opportunities for incorporating green infrastructure, such as EV charging facilities, water quality improvements, and automated vehicle planning.”
Study cites safety needs, congestion
The Authority claims the project “typically” should not slow traffic as the toll road expands beyond its current shoulders and into largely wooded buffer zones.
But that assurance is followed by information on how readers can track possible problems during construction.
It asserts a traffic study has identified “safety, mobility, and operational needs along the corridor,” and says reduced congestion will improve air quality.
Officials in Salem County are "very happy" that the changes are expected to east traffic congestion, said county spokesperson Stacy Pennington.
"They've been very inclusive, and they've kept us in the loop," she said Wednesday.
The authority's website notes the toll road has remained at four lanes in South Jersey since the highway opened in 1951, “despite significant growth in population and traffic in the region.”
Other parts of the toll road have increased to a total of six, 12 and 14 lanes, the Authority says.
Jim Walsh is a senior reporter with the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal.
This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Big changes ahead for Turnpike from Mount Laurel to Salem County
