Atlantic City Expressway to complete IC at NJ50 - UPDATED

The Atlantic City Expressway ACE) is rebuilding Interchange 17 in Hamilton Township to improve the connection to NJ50. At present there are only west facing ramps - reflecting the expressway's early orientation to Philadelphia. With development along the shore there's now serious demand in these parts to go the other way - toward Atlantic City and to the Garden State Parkway. The interchange is being rebuilt on the western side with a pair of loops added to the straight on ramps provide the connections east.

  A South Jersey Transportation Authority engineer Malini Swaminathan says: "Traffic patterns have changed, and the road has to change with them."

Local people have been agitating for the extra ramps for about ten years.

The loops will have ramp tolls on them. The west facing ramps are just a short distance from the the Egg Harbor mainline toll plaza so they are untolled.

Final design work is under way and construction is to start in the fall. Cost is estimated at $7.7m.

DESIGN COMMENT: A pity they didn't go with a freeflowing roundabout on each side of the expressway to handle the intersections at the top of the ramps. They plan traffic signals which waste time and fuel, and have a higher serious accident rate. Signals are the conventional answer, but the wrong one.

SJTA PROJECT MANAGER'S REJOINDER: "This entire design has been steered by the large amount of environmental issues in the immediate areas  surrounding the interchange. By putting in the traffic signals and left hand turns we reduced the current foot print along Rt 50, which if expanded especially for roundabouts) would have impacted wetlands and threatened and endangered species. I have attached a map depicting the wetlands in the area.The SJTA would have chosen slip ramps on the opposite sides from the current alternative to complete the diamond interchange, especially since we acquired the right of way when the expressway was built in the 1960s, but the environmental issues were too numerous for that alternative." William Roseboro, Project Manager, South Jersey Transportation Authority, 2007-07-06 

Map showing wetlands supplied by SJTA's William Roseboro below

TOLLROADSnews 2007-07-02 UPDATED WITH REJOINDER 2007-07-06