"You from Jersey? What exit?"Soon, Garden State drivers will have another option, courtesy of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.
It's been almost 20 years since the authority added an interchange, but early next year construction is to begin on a $235 million entrance, exit and toll plaza to serve planned commercial development in Secaucus.
So far, Turnpike haven't come up with a name for the new interchange, said authority Executive Director Edward Gross, although he said it almost certainly will be designated by number, like all the others on the toll road.
Picking an interchange number may not be easy. The new toll plaza and 1.5 mile-long ramp system will sit about two miles south of Turnpike Interchanges 16E and 18E on the highway's eastern spur. It will be about three miles north of Interchange 15E. And the number "17" is already taken - that's the designation for the toll plaza used by traffic heading north from, or south to, the Lincoln Tunnel.
Officials said they have some time to brainstorm.
"Construction could start in stages," Gross said. He said it would take until the summer of 2004 to complete the new interchange, the first brand new interchange for the Turnpike since Interchange 13A in Elizabeth opened in 1982.
To prepare for the work, Turnpike commissioners yesterday approved spending up to $2.7 million for soil and environmental samples and final design work for portions of the project.
State Transportation Commissioner James Weinstein said the new interchange also would provide a valuable way for carpools and drivers dropping off passengers to reach NJ Transit's Secaucus Transfer Station, which is being built and is to open in 2002.
"It also will provide an alternative for truck service (to the commercial development)," Weinstein said. The interchange also will connect with a proposed extension of a local road, Seaview Drive.
A private firm wants to build the Allied Junction development, comprising more than $1 billion in office, hotel, and retail space, atop the rail station. Regional planners mandated the interchange be built as a prerequisite to granting permission for the commercial development.
The rail transfer station will allow riders on NJ Transit's Bergen County lines to change to trains on the Northeast Corridor and go directly to midtown Manhattan for the first time, instead of traveling to Hoboken and then lower Manhattan.
The Turnpike already has $20 million for the interchange project, and another $215 million would come from $917 million in general construction bonds that are to be issued within the next two months.
The bonds will be repaid with revenues from two toll hikes over the next three years, the first of which is to go into effect with the start of E-ZPass electronic tolls on May 22. The amount of the increase will vary, with cash payers forking over 20 percent more, and E-ZPass users paying 8 percent more during peak hours and on weekends, but getting no increase during weekday nonrush hours.
In other business yesterday, Turnpike commissioners approved paying their consulting engineering firm an additional $480,000 to coordinate software development and perform other tasks to bring E-ZPass electronic tolls to the roadway on schedule for the May 22 start-up.
Gross said the firm, HNTB Corp., would not duplicate work being done by the state's general construction manager for the tolls installation, Parsons Brinckerhoff.
Turnpike commissioners also approved allowing the road's maintenance director, David Wingerter, to become a special adviser to the maintenance department for an undetermined number of months, and for a longtime Turnpike traffic engineer, Spencer Purdam, to head the maintenance department on an acting basis.
Gross said Wingerter wants to retire, but agreed to stay on temporarily at his $103,211-per-year salary to help with the transition.
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Staff writer Ted Sherman contributed to this report.