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Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2002
Three troops of State police patrol the State highways. Numerous stations connected by telephone and teletype enable rapid concentration of a
force in any locality where it is needed. Headquarters are in Trenton,
where contact is maintained with the State administration and with the
commanding officer and staff of the National Guard.
Outstanding among State highways is the Pulaski Skyway over the
Newark meadows, part of US 1. Three and one-half miles long, it steps
across two rivers on high cantilever bridges. No toll is charged.
Completing the highway system are bridges, tunnels, and ferries connecting the State with its neighbors. The major links with New York City
are three Port of New York Authority enterprises: the $60,000,000
George Washington Memorial Bridge, running from 181st Street in Manhattan to Fort Lee on the New Jersey side; the Holland Tunnel, extending from Jersey City to Canal Street, Manhattan; and the new Lincoln
Tunnel, linking midtown Manhattan with Weehawken. Hudson River
ferries have survived the competition' of the tunnels and the bridge by
reducing their rates.
Three Port of New York Authority toll bridges join New Jersey with
Staten Island. They are Bayonne Bridge between Bayonne and Port Richmond, with the longest steel arch span in the world (1,675 feet) ;
Goethals Bridge from Elizabeth to Howland Hook, and the Outerbridge
Crossing from Perth Amboy to Tottenville. The Delaware River Bridge,
between Camden and Philadelphia, and 10 other toll and 15 free bridges
span the Delaware.
One result of the construction of bridges and tunnels across the Hudson has been the shift from congested Manhattan of a part of its population into New Jersey. The trend began with the construction of the Hudson tubes, and between 1910 and 1930 Manhattan lost almost half a
million residents while New Jersey's four counties of the northern metropolitan area increased in population by 690,000.
Similarly, the rise of the motor bus since the World War has caused
amazing growth in the suburban zones of New Jersey's large cities. Rural
districts have almost overnight become modern towns with most of the
conveniences and few of the disadvantages of the urban centers nearby.
The Public Service Coordinated Transport, largest local bus operator in
the country, covers most of the State with lines that carried 292,398,000
passengers in 1936. The same company's trolley lines carried 118,075,000
passengers in that year. Like its neighboring States, New Jersey once had
an extensive network of interurban trolley lines, but streetcars have been
steadily displaced by busses. Some of the busses are equipped with trolleys for electric operation as well. Interstate bus lines cross the State in
generally the same directions as did the Colonial stages, and have been
particularly conspicuous in competing with rail service to Philadelphia and
shore points.
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