Atlantic City Expressway

Heading to the Shore over an expressway isn't for everyone. Some folks prefer the backroads. But for the experienced trekker, writing down the names of the roads can be tricky. Notes can include phrases such as "past the car dealerships," "that farm stand with the peaches," "that graveyard" and "666. " Jersey Shore backroads can be hard to pin down. Except for adventurous drivers wandering off the Atlantic City Expressway or Garden State Parkway's standard routes with a map or GPS in hand, most Shore routes were handed down by parents and grandparents.

A 57-year-old Cherry Hill man died Saturday in a single-car accident on the Atlantic City Expressway in Winslow Township, according to New Jersey state police. Earl Small was headed west around 4:40 p.m. when his car veered off the highway while he was attempting to change lanes, authorities said. The Chrysler Neon struck a tree and became engulfed in flames, trapping Small.

Atlantic City plans to build a new convention hall and it will be completed by 1990. The officials estimate the cost will be $220 million. It will be built on 25 acres at the end of the Atlantic City Expressway. I note our cost of a new convention hall will be $455 million. Philadelphia cannot compete with Atlantic City as it has too much to offer - casinos, beaches, Boardwalk, shows, gambling, etc. Atlantic City will have 450,000 square feet of exhibit space, 30,000 square foot ballroom, and 108,000 square feet of meeting rooms.

Elwood F. Kirkman, 89, a multimillionaire banker and lawyer influential in the construction of the Atlantic City Expressway and the development of Atlantic City, died Friday at his Ocean City home. Mr. Kirkman began practicing law in 1926 and became a power broker and civic leader in Atlantic City and in Ocean City, where he owned the Flanders Hotel from the Depression until the mid-1980s. Kirkman Boulevard in Atlantic City was named for him. Born in West Philadelphia, Mr. Kirkman started out life poor.

ATLANTIC CITY - Two years after the bodies of four prostitutes were found dumped behind a seedy motel just outside this gambling resort, those who called them daughter, sister, wife, friend, or even mother would prefer not to recall the murders, which brought more heartbreak into their lives. Authorities do not describe the crimes, commonly thought to be the work of a serial killer, as cold cases. A break can come out of the blue, criminologists say. "We continue to expend both time and resources" pursuing the investigation, the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office said in a statement last Friday.

If it's cool breezes you want at the Jersey shore but not the hot asphalt, tempers and engines that sometimes come with traffic congestion, you might want to rethink your route. The Atlantic City Expressway is the route to the Garden State's beaches and breezes, sure, but it's been on a record-breaking usage pace by area drivers this year. Over the Independence Day holiday weekend, for instance, it booked 667,888 vehicles - a number that topped the previous high-water mark for the three-day July 4 holiday, the 631,359 vehicles that logged in in 1994, according to South Jersey Transportation Authority spokesman Peter Hartt.

South Jersey transportation officials said yesterday they could not rule out the possibility that tolls may need to be increased along the Atlantic City Expressway to fund their portion of the $330 million tunnel and roadway to Steve Wynn's planned marina casino complex. Under an agreement between the state and Wynn reached late Friday night, $60 million of the tunnel's cost will be borne by the South Jersey Transportation Authority, the agency that collects tolls on the Atlantic City Expressway and operates the city's airport.

About 12,200 cars a day are traveling through the much-ballyhooed tunnel that connects the Atlantic City Expressway with the city's marina section - a figure officials hope will grow once a new casino opens at one end. The tunnel is part of a 2.5-mile road built at a cost of $330 million, two-thirds of which was paid with state money. The rest was financed by the MGM Mirage casino company. Officials at the South Jersey Transportation Authority estimated that 23,000 cars a day are using some portion of the roadway, including the tunnel, in either direction.

Five years ago, officials in Gloucester and Camden Counties began discussing the possibility of an interchange on the Atlantic City Expressway at Berlin-Cross Keys Road as a way to relieve congestion and spur economic growth. Now, after years of meetings, public hearings, and an increase in tolls, the interchange has moved a step closer to reality. The South Jersey Transportation Authority sold $204 million in bonds last week, some of which will pay for the $4 million expressway interchange.

In a bid to spur a new wave of casino construction, Gov. Whitman yesterday approved a $330 million tunnel and road construction project for Atlantic City that she said meets casino developer Steve Wynn's demand that the state improve access to the city's Marina district. The proposal would require that Wynn, who had insisted on substantial road improvements before going ahead with a $2 billion casino project, contribute at least $55 million to the cost of the improvements. Wynn, who had insisted earlier that the state pick up the tab, had issued no response to Whitman's announcement as of 11 last night.

Drivers headed to the Jersey Shore no longer have to stop to pay tolls on the Atlantic City Expressway, with the opening Friday of high-speed E-ZPass lanes at the Egg Harbor toll plaza. Express E-ZPass lanes were opened in 2004 at the road's other toll plaza, at Pleasantville, about 15 miles east of Egg Harbor. For the 35 percent of expressway drivers without E-ZPass, toll collectors will remain at both plazas - for now. Expressway officials say they hope to go to all-electronic toll collection in two to four years.

Heading to the Shore over an expressway isn't for everyone. Some folks prefer the backroads. But for the experienced trekker, writing down the names of the roads can be tricky. Notes can include phrases such as "past the car dealerships," "that farm stand with the peaches," "that graveyard" and "666. " Jersey Shore backroads can be hard to pin down. Except for adventurous drivers wandering off the Atlantic City Expressway or Garden State Parkway's standard routes with a map or GPS in hand, most Shore routes were handed down by parents and grandparents.

By the end of the summer, the party could be over for toll cheats on the Garden State Parkway. Automatic cameras would photograph the license plates of drivers who don't pay at exact-change lanes, and vehicle owners would be sent a bill for the toll plus a $50 fee - double the current fine - under regulations proposed by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. Motorists who find themselves without correct change now are supposed to use envelopes available at the toll booths to mail in their tolls.

Most of the full-time toll-takers on the Atlantic City Expressway make $60,000. One-third have seen wage increases of at least 30 percent since 2008, despite a steady drop in travelers paying in cash. And toll plaza supervisors earn $85,000. Sound good? Don't rush to apply for a job just yet. The South Jersey Transportation Authority, which oversees the expressway, plans to knock down the toll booths and convert to an all-electronic tolling system by Memorial Day weekend.

A 57-year-old Cherry Hill man died Saturday in a single-car accident on the Atlantic City Expressway in Winslow Township, according to New Jersey state police. Earl Small was headed west around 4:40 p.m. when his car veered off the highway while he was attempting to change lanes, authorities said. The Chrysler Neon struck a tree and became engulfed in flames, trapping Small.

ATLANTIC CITY - Two years after the bodies of four prostitutes were found dumped behind a seedy motel just outside this gambling resort, those who called them daughter, sister, wife, friend, or even mother would prefer not to recall the murders, which brought more heartbreak into their lives. Authorities do not describe the crimes, commonly thought to be the work of a serial killer, as cold cases. A break can come out of the blue, criminologists say. "We continue to expend both time and resources" pursuing the investigation, the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office said in a statement last Friday.

It's where they coined the word air-port, way back in 1919, when planes were a newfangled mode of passenger transport. But in an only-in-Atlantic City twist, when town fathers finally named their 12-year-old airstrip in 1922, they christened it Bader Field, not airport, after Mayor Edward L. Bader. Bader Field closed two years ago, decades past its heyday of aviation firsts and VIP sightings. State and local officials are now awaiting bids on the 143-acre city-owned property, which could sell for more than $1 billion and launch a new era of high times.

A state agency will take over as the city's "agent and partner" in the sale and redevelopment of Bader Field, the former airport site, under an agreement announced yesterday. The New Jersey Casino Reinvestment Development Authority unanimously approved the agreement, which also calls for the agency to lend the city $25 million for a tax-relief fund for residents and businesses. James Whelan, the state senator whose district includes this Shore resort, called a month ago for the state to become involved in the Bader project.

Revel Entertainment Group L.L.C., the company behind a proposed $2 billion casino on the northern end of the Atlantic City Boardwalk, said yesterday that it had applied for an environmental permit and filed a site-plan application for its project. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, which regulates development along the Shore, requires that all major projects secure a Coastal Area Facility Review Act, or CAFRA, permit. The CAFRA filing and a site-plan application with Atlantic City "represent important milestones for Revel," according to a statement issued by Kevin DeSanctis, chairman and chief executive officer of Revel Entertainment.

On any hot, steamy Friday afternoon, hordes of drivers flee the city and suburbs, stringing a Shore traffic jam that can stretch as far inland as the Walt Whitman Bridge. Even on most summer Saturday mornings, big pockets of traffic collect along the Atlantic City Expressway as drivers funnel through tollbooths and past fender benders and stalled vehicles. By Sunday night, the parade repeats - in reverse. More traffic is headed to and from the Jersey Shore than just 10 years ago. More even than last summer.