Driscoll Bridge

The Driscoll Bridge is a toll bridge (a series of three spans) on the Garden State Parkway in the U.S. state of New Jersey spanning the Raritan River near its mouth in Raritan Bay. 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[1] and one of the world's busiest.

Driscoll Bridge
The Driscoll Bridge (left) and the Edison Bridge (right).
Coordinates40.5093°N 74.3013°W / 40.5093; -74.3013
Carries15 lanes of G.S. Parkway
CrossesRaritan River
LocaleWoodbridge and Sayreville, Middlesex County, New Jersey
Maintained byNew Jersey Turnpike Authority
Characteristics
DesignBox girder bridge
History
ArchitectRobinson & Steinman
OpenedJuly 30, 1954
Statistics
Toll$1.50 (Southbound only; no trucks allowed)

History

The northbound lanes of the bridge were opened to the public without fanfare on July 30, 1954.[2] The bridge was formally renamed in 1974 for former Governor Alfred E. Driscoll, who advocated for and oversaw the construction of the Garden State Parkway, as well as for the New Jersey Turnpike.[3]

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.[3]

The bridge had very narrow lanes which created traffic bottlenecks for miles in each direction on the Garden State Parkway, until it was widened.[4] The bridge was later restriped to have twelve ten-foot lanes, six in each direction.[4]

Construction on a new southbound bridge started on September 25, 2002, and the new bridge opened to traffic on May 3, 2006.[5] 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.[6] The Driscoll Bridge is now the world's widest bridge, in terms of total number of travel lanes (15 total).

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; 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 on January 2012 to present (second phase of the toll increase) to southbound traffic after passing the bridge. 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.[7] 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 Skyline, the New Brunswick Skyline and the Outerbridge Crossing.

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.[8][9] 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.[10]

See also

References
  1. "Garden State Parkway opens world's widest bridge - 15 lanes". TOLLROADSnews, Peter Samuel. Archived from the original on 2012-03-23. Retrieved 2011-06-06.
  2. "New Garden State Link. Raritan Bridge Is Opened for Northbound Traffic". The New York Times. Associated Press. July 31, 1954. Retrieved 2009-03-18. The New Jersey Highway Authority today opened a new link in the Garden State Parkway -- the high-level bridge over the Raritan River for northbound traffic.
  3. Next phase of Driscoll Bridge plan set to start, The Star-Ledger, 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."
  4. Driscoll Bridge project advances with today's action by Turnpike board, New Jersey Department of Transportation press release dated April 20, 2002. Accessed December 13, 2008.
  5. Bridge to open fully on Wednesday - Project completed ahead of schedule, Asbury Park Press, May 2, 2006
  6. Driscoll Bridge opening May 20, 2009
  7. New Jersey Turnpike Authority Regulations Relating to the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway, Effective December 9, 2004 (PDF), accessed July 5, 2006 Archived January 14, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  8. N.J. man gets life in prison for throwing baby daughter off bridge Nov 07, 2012
  9. N.J. man tells police he tossed baby off bridge Feb 17, 2010
  10. DNA tests match baby thrown from Driscoll Bridge Archived October 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine May 3, 2010.
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