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Jeffrey Syken
“…They write that for residents the turnpike is the ‘most important common experience,’ the ‘source of what it means to be a New Jerseyan,’ who can appreciate its efficiency but despise it as ‘a source of New Jersey’s negative image.’ For out-of-staters, it is one of the ‘central experiences of the East Coast,’ evoking ‘powerful images of dense traffic combined with an industrial landscape and chemically fouled air’… Although rural and somewhat nondescript in the south, the turnpike takes its identity from the northern, industrialized 35-mile section, a stretch so overwhelming in its ‘world class ugliness,’ the authors wrote, that it has become synonymous with the entire highway in the consciousness of most people…”
The New York Times, January 14, 1990
When two Professors of American Studies set out to write a book about the highway that cuts diagonally through their home state, little did they know it would be the journey of a lifetime for both men. Celebrated in song, TV and the movies, the New Jersey Turnpike is the quintessential highway that’s “so bad it’s good.” In Looking for America on the New Jersey Turnpike (the title being a play on lyrics from the Simon & Garfunkel song America), the authors proclaim the highway to be no less than a metaphor for America, representing many American ideals and values. They wrote: “Built as economically as possible, with virtually no attention to esthetics, the turnpike is the embodiment of American pragmatism and of the triumph of function over form. Offering its patrons virtually no amenities and with an exclusively bottom-line approach to management, the turnpike is an unabashed shrine to American materialism’…”
To understand the New Jersey Turnpike is to understand post-WWII America. But to understand that era, we must understand the period between the World Wars, in particular the rise of the automobile to ascendancy as the main means of transportation in America. Along with mass production of vehicles came the need for proper roads, this spawned the “Good Roads” movement of the early 20th Century which culminated with the opening of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in 1940. Built to modern standards (much of it influenced by Nazi Germanys Autobahn), it would set the standard for toll-road “Superroads” of the post-war era, the New Jersey Turnpike being the first of many. Unlike the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which followed a derelict railroad’s right-of-way, the New Jersey Turnpike would have to pass over, under or through many geographical and physical obstacles, in particular the Meadowlands, Civil Engineers met the challenge and the nation’s first “Superhighway” opened-to-traffic in early 1952. Its original 118-miles now extends to 148-miles, but it still serves its original purpose: provide a corridor connecting NYC and New England with Philadelphia and the rest of the country.
This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.
NY PE & PLS: You must choose courses that are technical in nature or related to matters of laws and ethics contributing to the health and welfare of the public. NY Board does not accept courses related to office management, risk management, leadership, marketing, accounting, financial planning, real estate, and basic CAD. Specific course topics that are on the borderline and are not acceptable by the NY Board have been noted under the course description on our website.