The Governor Alfred E. Driscoll Bridge, also known as the Driscoll Bridge is a toll bridge (with a series of three spans) on the

Garden State Parkway The Garden State Parkway (GSP) is a controlled-access toll road that stretches the north–south length of eastern New Jersey from the state's southernmost tip near Cape May to the New York state line at Montvale. Its name refers to New Jersey ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sov ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

spanning the

Raritan River Raritan River is a major river of New Jersey. Its watershed drains much of the mountainous area of the central part of the state, emptying into the Raritan Bay on the Atlantic Ocean. History Geologists assert that the lower Raritan provided t ...

near its mouth in

Raritan Bay Raritan Bay is a bay located at the southern portion of Lower New York Bay between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey and is part of the New York Bight. The bay is bounded on the northwest by New York's Staten Island, on the west by Pe ...

. 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 the widest motor vehicle bridge in the world by number of lanes and one of the world's busiest. Only 30 feet east of the Driscoll Bridge are the Vieser and Edison Bridges, which carry U.S. Route 9 southbound and northbound, respectively.

History

The northbound lanes of the bridge were opened to the public without fanfare on July 30, 1954. The bridge was formally renamed in 1974 for former

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

Alfred E. Driscoll, who advocated for and oversaw the construction of the Garden State Parkway, as well as for the

New Jersey Turnpike The New Jersey Turnpike (NJTP) is a system of controlled-access highways in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The turnpike is maintained by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA).The Garden State Parkway, although maintained by NJTA, is not consi ...

.Next phase of Driscoll Bridge plan set to start
''

The Star-Ledger ''The Star-Ledger'' is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to ''The Jersey Journal'' of Jersey City, ''The Times'' of Trenton and the ''Staten Island Advance'', all of wh ...

'', 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." The original span was built with two lanes in each direction. A second span was added in 1972, with each span serving five lanes of traffic. The bridge had very narrow lanes which created traffic bottlenecks for miles in each direction on the Garden State Parkway, until it was widened.Driscoll Bridge project advances with today's action by Turnpike board

New Jersey Department of Transportation The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) is the agency responsible for transportation issues and policy in New Jersey, including maintaining and operating the state's highway and public road system, planning and developing transportat ...

press release dated April 20, 2002. Accessed December 13, 2008. The bridge was later restriped to have twelve ten-foot lanes, six in each direction. Construction on a new southbound bridge started on September 25, 2002, and the new bridge opened to traffic on May 3, 2006. The existing span was then closed for rehabilitation, and it reopened on May 20, 2009. The new configuration has seven southbound lanes on the newly constructed span, and the original span has eight lanes and carries northbound traffic only. The northbound span is also divided, with four lanes on each side. The west side contains four lanes for through traffic on the Parkway, and the east side contains three lanes for Exit 127 of the Parkway and one lane for through traffic. The toll charged for this bridge (due south) is not for the bridge itself but rather a toll for driving on the Garden State Parkway; as of January 1, 2022, the toll is currently charged $2.00 for Cash and $1.96 for E-Z Pass. The toll was 35 cents each way until September 2004 when it was doubled from 35 to 70 cents for southbound cars only. Then, the toll was increased to $1.00 from December 2008 to December 2011 (first phase of the toll increase) and then it was increased to $1.50 in January 2012 to September 2020 (second phase of the toll increase) to southbound traffic after passing the bridge. The toll was further increased to $1.90 from September 13, 2020 to December 31, 2021. This, along with many other Parkway toll plazas, has been converted to one-way in an effort to reduce traffic congestion. The speed limit on the Garden State Parkway was 45 mph between Milepost 126.7 and 127.7, approaching and traversing the Driscoll Bridge. As of February 2020, the speed limit was raised to 55 mph. This bridge contains views of some of the taller buildings in the

lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...

Skyline, the

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

skyline, the

Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge ( ) is a suspension bridge connecting the New York City boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn. It spans the Narrows, a body of water linking the relatively enclosed New York Harbor with Lower New York Bay and t ...

, and the

Outerbridge Crossing The Outerbridge Crossing, also known as the Outerbridge, is a cantilever bridge that spans the Arthur Kill between Perth Amboy, New Jersey, and Staten Island, New York. It carries New York State Route 440 (NY 440) and New Jersey Ro ...

Murder on the bridge

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. 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.DNA tests match baby thrown from Driscoll Bridge
May 3, 2010.

References

External links

The History and Technology of the Edison Bridge & Driscoll Bridge
{{New Jersey Turnpike Authority Garden State Parkway Toll bridges in New Jersey Bridges completed in 1954 Bridges completed in 1972 Bridges over the Raritan River Bridges in Middlesex County, New Jersey Road bridges in New Jersey Sayreville, New Jersey Woodbridge Township, New Jersey Box girder bridges in the United States 1954 establishments in New Jersey

History

Murder on the bridge

See also

References

External links