TOLL HIKE - in case you forgot - GSP NJ Turnpike

New rates begin Dec. 1

Toll hikes approved for Parkway, Turnpike, A.C. Expressway

The Expressway increase raises the Egg Harbor Plaza toll from its $2 to $3. Tolls at most ramps along the Expressway will rise from 50 cents to 75 cents.

Under the plan the Turnpike Authority approved, a driver now paying $1.20 for the average 23-mile trip on the turnpike would pay $1.70, starting in December, and $2.60 in 2012. The increase is 10 cents less than the authority's earlier proposal for each toll increase.

Parkway tolls would increase from 35 cents to 50 cents in December, and to 75 cents in 2012. Another 10-cent increase in 2023 was eliminated.

The plan continues the current 25 percent discount during off-peak hours for cars with E-ZPass and provides a new 10 percent discount during off-peak hours for E-ZPass drivers who are at least 65 years old and an extra 10 percent discount for drivers of fuel-efficient vehicles...
(Star Ledger)

http://www.state.nj.us/turnpike/2008_GSP_tollrates-revised-101008-dec.pdf


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Parkway tokens pave path to hell

Boy Scouts built traditional New Jersey icon

The Parkway - like a deer in the headlight

Parkway references on this blog

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Copyright © 2008 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Photos and content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

The Parkway - Like Deer in a Headlight

These days, what with the Garden State Parkway being taken over by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and our temporary governor eliminating toll booths in favor of double-fares one-way, well the Garden State Parkway isn't the tall doofy kid in class every one used to make fun of. Now it's been made to practically behave like a good neighbor. (Yeah, sure!) A genuine A-Student. Like Eddie Haskell.

Before you know it all the waste will be trimmed from its budget and we won't be able to poke fun at the Parkway ANYMORE. (Just don't hold your breath waiting.)

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Parkway Tokens Pave Path To Hell
Sure its an oldie, but it's a goodie!

Copyright © 2005 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission. Updated May 2008

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Parkway Tokens Pave Path To Hell

... We've always wondered if the old wives who said misery loves company ever spent time, endless smog-filled rush hours in line, attempting to pay a toll on the Garden State Parkway.

In countless hours of studying the pained expressions of obsessed drivers queued before the flashing red and green lights at the roadway obstructions, we have never recorded a smile other than the maniacal grin as someone launches a round metal missile at the urinal shaped receptacle.

These token tumbling commuters are not happy campers.

If only they knew how happy they should be. They have the privilege of tooling along the Garden State Parkway from the northern most part of the state to the southernmost pausing occasionally to hurl a coin or two.



Toll booth advocates espouse the logic of strategically placed roadblocks that make the highway more democratic.

For one thing, toll plazas make just about everyone drive at the same speed: zero.

Continue reading

Does anyone REMEMBER parkway tokens?

Copyright © 2008 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

Kean: Brian Stokes Mitchell in Love/Life at Wilkins

On Friday, Sept. 30, we enjoyed a terrific performance by Broadway Tony Award winner Brian Stokes Mitchell in Love/Life at the Wilkins Theatre at Kean University, Union, N.J.

We paid for our tickets as this was no perk of writing a blog, and enjoyed ourselves just the same.







We were fortunate that the two seats in front of us were vacant all night and gave us a clear view of the stage.

We had already seen Mitchell perform on Broadway in Ragtime and had a good idea what we were in for. We were delighted with each succeeding song.

He sang songs from across the past century and then some songs that have hit written all over them but are now waiting for the musical vehicle.

For his final encore, Mitchell sang The Impossible Dream from Man of La Mancha and of course all the hearts in the place were aflutter.

I wanted to hit REPLAY and watch the show again, but, alas, it was live and in person.

A kind young woman at the box office where we picked up our tickets at about 5:30 - ahead of the rush, suggested - after we asked - that we visit Tiffany for dinner.
She wrote out directions, and voila! A terrific meal at a very nice bar-restaurant somewhere on or near Vaux Haul Road in what was probably Union, N.J.

We took the Garden State Parkway south around rush hour. It was fun.

When we pulled in to the campus to park, we had selected the wrong entrance, but a student/teacher gave us directions to get to the theater just a little bit down the road.

Frankly, I don't miss driving on the Parkway, or the Parkway tokens which it said we could use two of now that the tolls in some areas are collected in only one direction.

And I wouldn't let some nuisance tolls keep me from seeing a great show. Neither should you.

Copyright © 2005 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.


Parkway tokens

Wilkins Theatre

Kean University

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April 1 brings spring and buds

Birds squeaking
in the trees
squirrels
scurrying
and cherry
blossom trees
blossoming.

Beyond Heller Parkway the car picks up some speed. On the left, Branch Brook Park is famous for its cherry blossom display. But anyone waiting for cherries to fall from these trees is in for a long, long wait. If you grew up here, you know they are cherry blossom trees, not cherry trees. And that there are single blossoms and double blossoms.
-- Rambling round Harborside , Jersey City



Across the tracks at Franklin Station, for a few weeks in the spring, you can see the cherry blossoms bloom. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times, they are not cherry trees. The cherry blossom trees produce blossoms not Cherries.
-- Underground, Newark City Subway

Daffodils smiling
two-tone yellow smiles,
the Saturday WSJ
on the grass



Copyright © 2006 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.

Everywhere in New Jersey

It sure seems like I've been every where in this long, narrow state.

I've been to West Milford and around Greenwood Lake until I crossed over into the little town on the New York side.

I drove south to Somers Point and east to Ocean City (in search of Gay Talese's childhood haunts).

I've been out Route 80 to the end and beyond more times than I can count. And old Route 46 out to Denville is an old friend too.

One summer our vacation consisted of Jersey trips. We saw Edison's Black Maria; the Sterling Mine in Ogdensburg; the Great Falls in Paterson & the Paterson Museum; the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

For a weekend break we hit the Marriott at Newark Airport - their pool has an indoor and outdoor section and you can swim back and forth between them. On alternate trips we went to the far reaches of Parsippany and stayed at the Hilton or the Marriott. They were all close enough to home to come home and walk the dog and feed her twice a day.

I've been up and down old Route 9 and the Palisades Parkway.

I've circled Milltown and East Brunswick, and headed off to South Amboy and over that Route 35 bridge around South River.

I rode a mock-paddleboat on the Delaware River cruise out of Trenton - or maybe it was Camden?

Another time we were supposed to ride a yacht on the Hudson River to celebrate a new book release - but it was too foggy and we ended up chilling with the author and some of the people in the book at Arthur's Landing.

We've seen Pele play at the Meadowlands.
... John Prine play at Club Bene
... Springsteen at the Capitol
... Amy Grant at Holmdel
... the Muppets at the Meadowlands

Yeah, me, who used to think that anything south of Newark is South Jersey and should have been in the 609 area code, well, I sometimes feel like I've been all over this great old state, and the thing is, there's so much more to see.

Copyright © 2006 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.

Dodge Poetry Festival - Sept. 28 - Oct. 1, 2006

The 2006 and 11th Biennial
GERALDINE R. DODGE POETRY FESTIVAL
is coming home to Waterloo Village, Stanhope, New Jersey.
September 28 – October 1, 2006

To mark its 20th year the Dodge Poetry Festival, the largest poetry event in North America, will return in 2006 to its birthplace ― beautiful Waterloo Village, a National Historic Site in Stanhope, New Jersey.

Nearly 20,000 people are expected to welcome the 11th biennial Dodge Poetry Festival back to Waterloo Village. The Festival will return to a completely new Concert Tent, more spacious satellite performance tents, and expanded free parking facilities in the restored 19th-century canal-lock and riverside village. Join more than 60 poets ― many of international stature including Pulitzer Prize winners and Poets Laureate. Dozens of accomplished musicians and storytellers will also contribute to four days of poetry and music beside the Musconetcong River and among the Village’s lawns, trees, and historic buildings.

Waterloo Village is located one mile from Exit 25 of I-80, easily reached from New York City and points east and Pennsylvania and points west. I-287, the Garden State Parkway, Pennsylvania Turnpike, New Jersey Turnpike, and other major highways connect with I-80, offering easy access from points north and south. Special round trip bus transportation from New York City will be available during the Festival.

Tickets will go on sale in April 2006. Special Dodge Poetry Festival rates are now available and may be reserved at several nearby lodging facilities.

Copyright © 2006 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.

GERALDINE R. DODGE POETRY FESTIVAL

Down Public Transit Lane II

My mother told me when I was a little kid that if I wanted the bus to show up, all I had to do was light a cigarette. She said that as soon as you lit a cigarette the bus would show up and you'd have to put it out.

She never smoked, so I guess this was an old wives' tale she once witnessed.

We've seen the queue for the bus and those smokers choking down the last puffs before the bus is going to pull away without them.

Sometimes they take the drag, drop the cigarette and exhale, then get on the bus.

It sucks when they take the drag, drop the cigarette, board the bus and then exhale.


Ever been on the light rail when the public address system is one stop off?

It drives the tourists nuts!

Have you ever ridden into the old Heller Parkway subway station and looked into the park? If you did you'd see piles of garbage in the fence behind the maintenance buildings.

Hey, we're not talking Burger King wrappers, we're talking big heavy pieces of crap that should have been cleaned up a long, long time ago.

Isn't it weird that the place called the maintenance yard is such a pig sty. Some day maybe they'll clean it up ... it's been there for years and I would practically stake my pension that the trash will be there when I'm dead and gone.

Copyright © 2005 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.

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