Quirky 3/2 lane format on Atlantic City Expressway to end

They say that the gambling houses of Atlantic City want to make it easy for customers to get there, but they don't give a damn how you get out. Evidence: the Atlantic City Expressway (ACE) into town eastbound has three lanes and you fly, while the expressway westbound out of town has only two lanes, and you crawl.

The ACE's quirky 3/2 lane format is coming to an end with engineering design work approved for third laning of the westbound roadway from the Garden State Parkway west to NJ73 in Winslow township. (GSP into Atlantic City has been 2x3 lanes for some years.)

The segment to be widened is 38km (23.6mi) long - about half the length of the expressway. Traffic is highly seasonal and concentrated at weekend as you would expect with a destination oriented to entertainment and recreation. At the Pleasantville mainline plaza August saw weekday traffic of 76k/day and weekend traffic of 91k/day weekends. AADT is about 70k.

State transportation commissioner Kris Kolluri who is also chairman of the ACE's South Jersey Transportation Authority says traffic forecasts show deteriorating conditions if the widening is deferred any longer.

The Authority will also upgrade the Egg Harbor toll plaza with some highway speed transponder lanes.

BACKGROUND: In 2005, the latest year for which there is an annual report the ACE did 177k tolls/day at its two mainline and seven ramp toll plazas grossing $58m. Cash tolls are $2 for cars at the Egg Harbor plaza and 50c at the Pleasantville plaza and 50c and 25c at the ramp plazas.

CORRECTION: Transponder discounts have been discontinued except for frequent users. We also corrected their website.  http://www2.sjta.com/sjta/

TOLLROADSnews 2007-06-19 CORRECTIONS 2007-06-22