Taking toll of the New Jersey Turnpike
From:
The Grand Rapids Press
You remember that magazine cover showing a New Yorker’s view of the world, with Manhattan, New Jersey and other places that we don’t all the way acknowledge?
That’s pretty accurate. I'm not sure some of my relatives really know where I live, and pointing to a spot on my palm doesn't help them.
I thought about that this week when I traveled back to the homeland and even spent some time in New Jersey.
New Yorkers generally acknowledge New Jersey. It’s kind of hard to deny because it is right there in plain view across the Hudson and both the Jets and Giants play there, though that is a very sore subject.
We don’t know a whole bunch about Jersey other than that Bruce Springsteen lives there and many residents describe where they live by telling you where they exit the New Jersey Turnpike.
Now neither of those things might be true – though we’re pretty confident about Springsteen – but remember the magazine cover.
That leads to this week’s bad postcard.
We piled on the folks up near the
Mackinac Bridge for showing us postcards
with tollbooths, but they’re amateur tollbooth celebrants compared to our friends in the Garden State.
Look at our green-bordered card. The bottom photo shows us the majestic tollbooth spread out wide with motorists making their contribution to paying off turnpike debt and upkeep.
Then, in the upper right, we get an aerial view of a tollbooth. Could it be the same one? We just don’t know. They all look similar.
Then, you might be wondering, “Where do they collect, count and disperse all of those quarters?” Well, wonder no more, because the upper left corner allows us to take in the New Jersey Turnpike administrative building!
It’s a somewhat distant view, I grant you. But the photographer must have wanted to include that tower in the background.
Because I know you are wondering, the Jersey Turnpike is 122.4 miles long and is the sixth-busiest toll road in the country.
It is famous for its rest stops, named after famous people who were born in New Jersey or worked there, including Clara Barton, Walt Whitman, Woodrow Wilson, Vince Lombardi and Grover Cleveland.
Wait, “The Boss” doesn't even get a rest stop?
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