A DIRECT LINK FROM STATEN ISLAND TO THE JERSEY SHORE: In 1966, the Port of New York Authority and the Tri-State Transportation Commission proposed a direct link between the southwest tip of Staten Island and Keyport, New Jersey. The Raritan Bay Crossing was designed to relieve bottlenecks over the Outerbridge Crossing (NY 440-NJ 440) and the Driscoll Bridge (Garden State Parkway).

The 3½-mile-long crossing over the Raritan Bay likely was to have consisted of a high-level span, flanked on either side by causeway approaches. To the north, the bridge approach was to connect to the West Shore Expressway and the unbuilt Shore Front Drive. To the south, the bridge was to join the Garden State Parkway near milepost 118 in Keyport. It may have extended to the south through Monmouth and Ocean counties as the "Garden State Thruway," a toll bypass of the Garden State Parkway that was to have permitted commercial traffic. No known route designation was given to the Raritan Bay Crossing.

The Raritan Bay Crossing never evolved much beyond the planning stages, except for the construction of a massive interchange (completed in 1972) for the West Shore Expressway and the Korean War Veterans (Richmond) Parkway.

SOURCES: Transportation 1985: A Regional Plan, Tri-State Transportation Commission (1966); Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; Robert Olmstead.

RARITAN BAY CROSSING LINK:

Back to The Crossings of Metro New York home page.

Site contents © by Eastern Roads. This is not an official site run by a government agency. Recommendations provided on this site are strictly those of the author and contributors, not of any government or corporate entity.

Google
 
Web nycroads.com