history

by Cindy Inkrote      On March 25, 1805, Northumberland County progressed when the Pennsylvania Legislature voted to incorporate the Centre Turnpike Company.  Residents identified a need for a better road between Sunbury and Reading. The population was increasing and Sunbury, a hub for business and government, needed a more reliable way to transport mail, freight and passengers.

Governor Ed Rendell in a press statement recognizes the 70th birthday of the Pennsylvania Turnpike tomorrow Oct 1, which makes it ten weeks younger than me - my 70th was July 21. Guess we're both wearing out, but hopefully we've still got a bit of life left in each of us. We both need reconstruction and reform, that's for sure - editor.

Warner Lord, is called the Archivist of Madison Town in Connecticut, a distance east from New Haven along Long Island Sound.

He writes:

"In 1811 the Durham-Madison turnpike (Route 79) was chartered, followed by the Essex-Guilford turnpike (Green Hill Road) in 1818 and the Fair Haven turnpike (Route 80) in 1825.  Commercial traffic over these roads could afford to pay the fees charged by the charter companies.

Toll tokens minted for the New Jersey Highway Authority (NJHA) for use on its Garden State Parkway in the 1980s all had the year "1952" stamped on them, 1952 being the year the NJHA was established. With coins the convention is that they are stamped with the year of minting, but that convention wasn't applied to Garden State Parkway toll tokens. (see picture) We've been wrestling with this after we carried an advertisement for a 1952 token.

President-elect Obama is talking about creating millions of jobs making public buildings more efficient, funding 'infrastructure' and modernizing schools. Hopefully most of it will go on weatherstripping the doors and windows of government offices and fluorescent light bulbs in schools, because the promise of vast federal spending on roads will stop toll financing dead.

Jim Crawford, executive director of E-ZPass IAG and a longtime toll man in New Jersey emailed us with comments on the history piece we published on the Washington Crossing Bridge. He says he lived for twenty years just up the hill across from the Washington Crossing State Park in NJ, and picked up a bit of the history.

A little history is prompted by this nice picture of "a bridge on the Delaware River" we found on the web by a local photographer. It is confirmed by the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission as their Washington Crossing Bridge 8 miles (13km) upstream of Trenton.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike says it is going to be celebrated at the Smithsonian affiliated Heinz History center in Pittsburgh in the city's "Tradition of Innovation" exhibition to open shortly. An announcement from the Turnpike quotes CEO Joe Brimmeier as saying: "We’re proud of the fact that the Heinz Center has invited us to participate in this wonderful display.

Fourteen years ago on March 18 1994 on a snowy Friday afternoon there was a David vs Goliath battle at the Triborough Authority's head offices on Randall's Island in New York's East River. The chief executives of seven northeastern toll agencies comprising the Inter Agency Group (IAG) met to vote on whether to give Amtech or Mark IV the big E-ZPass electronic toll systems contract.

Here's an advertisement for a new coach service between Frederick (where TOLLROADSnews is based) and Hagerstown Maryland - one of the first improved roads over the Appalachians. The ad is part of a Historic Marker recently placed by the site of the National Pike in Hagerstown.

From the ad it seems service was something of a monopoly before the Union Line got going. It advertises FARE REDUCED.