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History

Original construction and early improvemnets

Garden State Parkway northbound at the Route 27 interchange in Woodbridge Township

Plans for the Garden State Parkway date back to 1942, where it would have connected to the Palisades Interstate Parkway in Fort Lee. Following World War II, traffic increased substantially on highways along the New Jersey coast. Due to the high traffic volume and presence of numerous traffic lights, it took motorists over three hours to travel between Paterson and Atlantic City. In 1946, plans were changed to construct a high-speed parkway to provide a bypass of Route 4, which, prior to 1953, ran from Cape May north to the George Washington Bridge by way of Paterson, largely following present-day US 1, US 9, and Route 35. In 1945, plans for the current parkway were notrduced. On November 8 1947, governor Walter Edge broke ground on the first section of roadway. This highway would be constructed using state funds and be known as the Route 4 Parkway. The landscape architect and engineer in charge of the newly named Garden State Parkway was Gilmore David Clarke of the engineering firm Parsons Brinckerhoff, who had worked with Robert Moses on the parkway systems around New York City. Clarke's design prototypes for the parkway combined the example of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, a model of efficiency with parallels in the German autobahn routes of the 1930s, with the Merritt Parkway model that stressed a planted "green belt" for beauty. Both design models featured wide planted medians to prevent head-on collisions and mask the glare of oncoming headlights. The Garden State Parkway was designed to have a natural feel. Many trees were planted, and the only signs were those for exits—there were no distracting billboards. Most of the signs were constructed from wood, or a dark-brown metal, instead of the chrome bars used on most other highways. The guardrails were also made from wood and dark metal. Most early overpasses were stone, but were later changed to concrete, with green rails and retro etchings, popular around the 1950s and 1960s. The parkway was designed to curve gently throughout its length so that drivers would remain alert and not fall asleep at the wheel. This section, which ran from Route 27 north to Cranford, was opened on June 29, 1950. The highway was completed south to New Brunswick Avenue in Woodbridge Township, Middlesex County, on November 1 that year, In Cape May County, a four-mile (6.4 km) bypass of Cape May Court House opened on July 29, 1951, from exit 12 to the point where the parkway directly parallels US 9 north of Burleigh. On July 3, 1952, the Toms River section was opened. The parkway was completed north to Union Township on July 16, 1953. Due to a lack of funds, construction of the Route 4 Parkway stalled quickly. The solution was for the state to establish the New Jersey Highway Authority (NJHA) on April 2 and 4 1952. This was officially passed by Governor Alfred Driscol on April 14. The new agency would oversee construction and operation of the remainder of the parkway as a self-liquidating toll road. This NJHA was banned from tolling the parkway between Springfield Avenue and Bloomingdale Avenue in Essex County, with tolls also being limited as much as possible on the rest of the highway due to the setting up of short toll free sections. There would be a total of 90 interchanges, each giving a total of 121 exit and entrance ramps. On August 21, 1952, the NJHA received their first two contracts for construction of the highway. On November 4, New Jersey voted voted 2-1 on a plan to make a state guarantee on the bonds. On May 25 1953, it was detrained that the bonds was considered constitutional by the NJ supreme court, with this, $150 Million in Series A bonds were issued on July 8. On September 16, it was determined that pedestrians would be served by overpasses instead of at-grade intersections. On November 18, the $135 Million series B bonds were awarded. The first section from US 22 to Mill Road, opened to traffic on January 13, 1954. However, due to poor weather conditions, the toll itself was not collected until January 15. Other sections began opening soon after. The section between Toms River and Manahawkin was opened on July 15, 1954. The section between Toms River and the Eatontown Spur (now Route 36) at on July 30, 1954. The bridge carrying the parkway over the Raritan River was also opened to northbound traffic on this day, completing the highway south to US 9 in Sayreville. The southbound lanes were opened on the bridge south to Eatontown on August 4, and an extension to New Gretna opened on August 5. The northbound roadway from Eatontown to Sayreville was opened on August 7, provideing for 90 miles of unbroken highway. Within Atlantic County, a large section from Tilton Road in Egg Harbor Township to the south bank of the Mullica River opened on August 11, though north of the White Horse Pike the road initially operated as a temporary super two on the southbound lanes. This ended on August 21, when the northbound lanes opened. The parkway was completed south to Somers Point on August 27. It was again a temporary super-two, with the northbound lanes opened on September 22.) This new section was connected across the Mullica River to the existing one on August 28 over a temporary super-two. The Cape May section of highway was also completed north to Route 50 in Seaville that day. The other lanes were completed a few weeks later. The section from Route 50 to Route 47 opened on September 4. This was followed by the section through the Beesley's Point Bridge on October 6. The entirety of the already built highway south of Irvington was declared finished on October 9. There was only one gap, the section crossing the Great Egg Harbor. Segments north of Irvington were opened soon after 1954. The section from Irvington Avenue to Central Avenue in East Orange was scheduled to open on November 26, but complaints about the road's safety from Irvington officials stalled opening until December 9, after the erection of temporary fences along the road's length. An section to North Arlington Avenue also proved tumultuous: though scheduled to open on January 4, the stretch a day earlier than scheduled. Mayor William McConnell ordered a blockade on this section of the highway on its intended opening of January 4, stating that North Arlington Avenue would be unable to handle traffic coming from the parkway. It was only when the southbound section was opened to exit 148 on January 8 that the blockade was lifted on the southbound section. At this point, Bloomfield mayor Donald E. Scott prevented the opening of the northbound lanes until the completion of a new bridge carrying Bloomfield Avenue over Second River needed to carry exiting traffic. Though this bridge was not completed for some time, the highway opened fully to US 46 on January 19, negating this prerequisite. However, Mayor Scott still barred all entrances and exits except for the southbound entrance from Bloomfield Avenue, until an inspection proved the highway safe; the exits were finally opened on January 21. During this conflict, the section from Route 3 to Hazel Street in Clifton opened on January 4. A similar blockade was threatened to be placed, but the announcement of speedy construction of fencing prevented this. On May 10, 1955, legislation was passed that made it legal for emergency vehicles to not pay tolls. The bridge over the Passaic River opened on May 26. This completed the parkway to US 46 in present-day Elmwood Park. On July 1 of that year, the portion of highway from US 46 to Route 17 in Paramus opened. On October 17, the northbound lanes were opened in Seaville. This was followed by the northbound lanes to the south of Cape May Court House on October 25, and to the rest of the roadway by October 28. This made it so that the entirety of the completed roadway was divided. On April 16, 1956, the parkway's trailblazer and current logo was officially put into use. With the work mostly complete, the only gap left in the roadway was the section between exits 30 and 29. Because of this, the NJHA planned for a 3,650-foot (1,110 m) two lane bridge over the Great Egg Harbor Bay, beginning at Beesley's Point, as well as a 750 two lane bridge crossing Drag Channel. The bridges would be linked by a two lane causeway. In construction, the bridge utilized 140 prestressed concrete beams, each 40 feet (12 m) in length, at an individual cost of $640 (equivalent to $7,261 in 2023). The bridge used cheap concrete decking that cost less than $2 per square foot. Originally, the engineers had planned to convert the access road onto US 9 into a tolled interchange, however, they later changed palns to abandonment of the road. The bridge opened to traffic on May 26, 1956, with it being officially dedicated on June 26 of that year. This work officially completed the parkway from Cape May to Paramus. The tolled sections of road had cost a total of $300,000,000. 459 bridge structures were built, which either carried other roads over the parkway, parkway traffic over other roads, or parkway traffic over lakes and other obstructions. The longest of these were the structures over the Raritan River and Great Egg Harbor. The roads speed limit for most of its length was 60 miles per hour (97 km/h), the only exception was on bridge structures, where it reduced to 50 miles per hour (80 km/h), as well as ramps and areas posted with a lower speed limit. The road had two or three 12-foot (3.7 m) lanes. On the tolled section, the asphalt was built as a 21⁄2-foot (3.2 m) bittmmous concrete know as blacktop, the sate built sections and bridge structures were built with concrete instead. The sub base was generally 8-foot (2.4 m) bank run gravel, and 5-to-71⁄2-foot (1.5 to 10.8 m) Each roadbed followed separate courses, meaning that neither direction was parallel the entire time. The section near exit 117 featured the widest right of way, at 1,200-foot (370 m), as well as the widest median, at 600-foot (180 m), the average median was only 100-foot (30 m). When it opened, it had more toll plazas per mile than any other toll road in the US. Literature from early on suggested that the parkway would have had its toll booths demolished once bonds used for its construction were paid off. However, this speculation never became a reality.

In May 1956, multiple improvements were made to the toll plazas. Exact change Lanes were built at every mainline toll barrier but the Great Egg one, and were located at the far right two. In addition, toll plazas were added to exit 158, and the honor system was introduced.

Soon after the parkway's opening, congestion on Route 17 increased substantially, prompting an extension of the parkway to Montvale, connecting to the newly-built New York State Thruway. On November 30, 1955, a study determined this extension was financially feasible. On January 18, 1956, the NJHA entered into an agreement with the New York State Thruway Authority (NYSTA) for the prompt, and began planning for extension. The agreement was formally signed on February 1 by NJHA Chairwoman Katharine E. White and NYSTA Chairman Bertram D. Tallamy. Groundbreaking for the road began on May 1 of that year. Unlike previous segments of the roadway, this one uses prestressed concrete for overpasses; this made correcting errors during construction easier. It was originally proposed as part of a northern extension of the unbuilt Route 101, a highway that was intended to run from Kearny to Hackensack. The extension, Route S101, would have continued northward from Hackensack to the state line via Paramus. Approximately nine miles (14 km) in length, the extension was planned to run north through the Bergen County municipalities of Paramus, Washington Township, Hillsdale, Woodcliff Lake, and Montvale to the state line, where the parkway would meet with a connecting spur from the mainline of the New York State Thruway. Part of the extension to Chestnut Ridge opened on July 3, 1957, and the Thruway's Garden State Parkway Connector opened on August 29 that year. In only 36 hours, the extension reported 8,000 drivers.

In September 1957, plans were announced for a new interchange in Clifton. This project would have constructed a southbound exit onto Getty Avenue, with a northbound entrance from Main Street also being provided. Each would have been 100-foot (30 m) away from each other, and the northbound entrance would have required construction of an overpass over Getty Avenue. This was the result of an agreement between Clifton mayor Edward O’ Bryne and the NJHA. Construction was set to start in Summer of 1958, and estimated to cost at least $400,000. This was never undertaken.

On February 7, 1958, U-turning was banned in order to increase safety. This was enforced at both the toll plazas and on the main roadway, and was considered a violation even if done to correct driving error.

In Summer 1958, the Highway authority began enforcing the speed limit through use of radar.

Garden State Parkway southbound approaching exit 154 with US 46 in Clifton

As originally built, exit 154 in Clifton only contained ramps from the parkway northbound onto US 46 eastbound as well as from US 46 westbound onto the parkway southbound. For drivers to reach US 46 westbound from the parkway southbound or US 46 eastbound to the parkway northbound, they had to use exit 153 and U-turn at Bloomfield Avenue on Route 3 eastbound. However, with the extension to the New York State Thruway, the need to build missing links became apparent. Following the recommendation of a survey to do so, D. Louis Tonti, the executive director of the New Jersey Highway Authority, announced plans in December 1957 to construct two new overpasses at exit 154 in Clifton. They had briefly considered plans to improve exit 153, though decided to improve this exit instead, as it was 2.5 times more needy. The new overpasses would connect drivers from US 46 eastbound to the parkway northbound, and from the parkway southbound to US 46 westbound. In May 1958, a bid of the project went to Thomas Nichol Company, Inc. of Farmingdale. In July, they approved a contract of $38,451 for the installation of tolling facilities to the Electronic Signal Company, Inc. of Jamaica, Queens. By August, the piers for the new viaduct from US 46 eastbound to the parkway northbound were finishing up. In September, the completed piers had roadway construction on top of them. The new ramps opened on January 1, and the toll booths on the ramps opened the in February, replacing the toll booths on the grounded ramps. The total cost of the project was $2.25 million, The overpasses were dedicated on January 15, 1959, when the Highway Authority and several city officials attended a ribbon cutting ceremony and luncheon. A study released In February 1960 noted that 1.5 million cars had used the new ramps since their opening.

In Spring 1955, a widening project began to expand the road between US 22 and the Asbury Park Toll Plaza to six lanes. It was completed on July 9 of that year from US 22 to the Raritan River Bridge. This was followed by the widening of the southbound road between the exit 117 and the Asbury Park Toll Plaza from two to three lanes in June 1958. On June 19, 1959, the northbound roadway equivalent was widened, completing the project. It was built on existing shoulder, which had been built under the assumption that the road would at some point need to be widened.

On December 30, 1959, exit 139B was opened. The ramp, which served the missing movements exits 139 and 140 lacked, had cost $108,487 in state funds to construct.

1960s to 1990s

On February 1, 1961, the state banned motorcycles, scooters, and bicycles from the entire road. This ban was approved by the highway department's safety committee and state attorney for the toll-free segments and NJHA's safety committee for the tolled ones. While there were no records on how exactly many motorcycles used the parkway, in 1960 alone, they had caused 20 accidents, of which two involved fatalities. Motorists who were caught using these modes of transportation on the parkway faced either a $200 fine or 30-day jail sentence.

On December 5, 1962, a new ramp from exit 120 onto the northbound lanes opened to traffic, serving direct access to them without traveling through Cheesequake State Park.

Garden State Parkway northbound at exit 114 in Middletown Township

In March 1961, the Highway Authority announced that plans were being made to construct a new interchange at either Red Hill Road or Nutswamp Road in Middletown. Either interchange would relieve local congestion, as well as serve expected travelers to the new Bell Labs Holmdel Complex and other new industrial parks opening in the area. By June, the Highway Authority had agreed the interchange would be built at Red Hill Road. In November, it was announced the exit would replace the free exit 116, though rather than being demolished, it would simply be restricted to emergency traffic. They also announced that, in order to return their investment spent on the interchange, it would be built with a tolled. On December 14, the Highway Authority made an appropriation of $50,000 for designing the interchange. Construction began on the exit 114 ramps on July 30, 1962, when construction equipment was taken to the site. The interchange was opened to traffic on December 20, 1962. Exit 116 was closed as planned; this was received negatively by both locals and county planners.

On June 18, 1963, a meeting was held between NJHA officials, Senator Charles W. Sandman Jr., and the Cape May County Board of Freeholders. They discussed exit 12;'s northbound exit, a ramp that traveled at-grade across the southbound lanes; it had been described as a "serious hazard" by the NJHA safety committee. After an agreement was settled on and approval came from the State Highway department, it was announced to the public on June 26 that the northbound ramp would close permanently. When this occurred on July 2, all northbound traffic that previously utilized the ramp was advised to use exit 13, only 0.5 miles (0.80 km) to the north, instead. The northbound entrance from US 9 was left unaltered.

In January 1962, the NJHA announced plans for the improvements to exit 109. This was the result of criticism by Red Bank’s board of Commerce, who through the southbound exit ramp was “poorly lighted and designed”. At their suggestion, the deceleration lane would be widened and lengthened, and lighting improved. They would also build a park and ride near the northbound on-ramp to serve carpooling traffic. This was completed at the end of 1963.

In May 1962, the NJHA announced plans to expand the northern section of roadway to six lanes. The first phase would widen the roadway from the new exit 159, which would serve I-80, Midland Avenue, and New Pehle Avenue, to the Passaic County line. The new interchange would replace exit 158, which had only served the former two. They would also close the northbound exit and southbound entrance and exit at exit 157. They also announced plans for exit 145, a interchange with I-280. In addition, exit 38 would also be built to serve the Atlantic City Expressway. The new exit 145 would replace the original exits 145 and 146, a northbound exit and southbound entrance onto Springdale Avenue and a southbound exit and northbound entrance. Other construction would expand the declaration lanes of exits 144 and 148 to be 1,200-foot (370 m), with widened ramps to allow for toll plazas, widened exit and entrance facilities, and experimental automatic snow melting devices. With the opening of exits 38, exits 30 and 29 would be reduced in importance, as such, the former would have its northbound exit and southbound entrance removed and remaining southbound exit and northbound entrance tolled. However, The latter would be entirely replaced, the old at-grade intersection would be closed and repealed by a grade separated southbound exit and northbound exit. On top of this, the old Cape May Toll Plaza would be replaced by a new facility to the north, and the Cape May Toll Plaza expanded with three extra collection lanes. No widening would occur as part of this interchange project. The ability to build exits 159 and 145 were the result of legislation passed that repealed the toll ban applied to the sections in the mid 1950s. Construction on exit 159 and its part of the widening was started when exit 158 had its northbound exit and entrance closed permanently on March 16, 1963, allowing for its partial demolition as the new ramps were partially constructed. Motorist who had previously used the interchange were advised to use exit 157 or exit 160 while exit 159 was still being built. the southbound exit and entrance followed on June 22. Construction on exit 38 began concurrent with the AC expressway itself. On August 1st, 1963, as part of the project, a rebuild came to the 2 mile segment of roadway from the Passaic County line to exit 154 that would add a one inch of asphalt. This construction also rebuilt the acceleration lanes to exit 153 and the grounded ramps at exit 154. It was completed by October 31. Exit 159s ramps onto Midland and New Pehle Avenues were opened on December 23, the expanded Bergen Toll Plaza and six lane widening were completed a week later. On July 31, 1964, part of exit 38 was completed. The ramps at exit 159 to and from I-80 opened on October 20, 1964. The project cost a total of $4,500,000. That November, the northbound exit and southbound entrance at exit 157 were permanently closed. This was done in order to protect the authority's investment on exit 159, witch was also tolled, unlike it. Traffic that had used the northbound exit were required to detour via exit 159, while traffic wishing to enter the southbound lanes from US 46 could use either exit 159 or exit 161. On March 8, 1965, the part of the project began that improved the existing infrastructure. While initially planned for competition by July 1, competition occurred on July 15. The rest of exit 38 was opened on July 31, 1965. The interchange had cost $800,000,000. Widening was also undertaken on the section of roadway in Essex County. On January 10, 1996, the improvements to exits 148 and 144 was completed. The new exits 145 was opened on January 12, 1966, at this point, the old exits 145 and 146 were closed, were opened to traffic, though the ramps onto I-280 at the latter remained barricaded off while the highway was still under construction. Part of the mainline was also closed in order to allow construction of an underpass. Work was also undertaken to construct exits 143B, which would complete the collector-distributor setup, that added access points to Union Avenue. This officially opened on April 12. On October 13, 1967, the I-280 ramps at exit 145 and underpass were completed. This massive project reduced congestion on the road drastically.

The NJHA rebuilt exit 4 into a full interchange. New ramps were built, the old ones were reconstructed to provide full connections. The project, completed on May 24, 1968, also involved the construction of toll plazas.

In March 1968, construction began on a new access road to the Garden State Arts Center at exit 116. It was completed in June of that year, and on August 8, exit 116 was reopened with a new exit number.

Garden State Parkway northbound at the Route 27 interchange in Woodbridge Township

In May 1966, the borough of Paramus and the New Jersey Highway Authority announced plans to extend the six lane section from the Bergen Toll Plaza to exit 166. This work would involve construction of new overpasses, including a new pedestrian overpass to serve a nearby school. A new exit 165, which would serve all directions with fully right hand turns, would be built, replacing the old exits 165, witch had been a partial diamond interchange. Exit 166 was also to be “discontinued” as part of the project. Toni explained that the project was deemed necessary due to a design flaw that caused locals using the exit as a bypass of, resulting in premature capacitation of the parkway section. A toll would be implemented to scare away the traffic, thereby reducing congestion. The old overpass had also featured a hazardous design, featuring a curve in the center. The new Ordell Road overpass would be six lanes wide and eliminate this issue. Costing $3.7 million (equivalent to $26.5 million in 2023), Construction on the new complete interchange began almost immediately, with the new southbound ramps opening on November 30, 1966. On December 29, the dual ramps on the northbound direction opened. On January 6, 1967, exit 166 was closed to prevent traffic from traveling through them. The reasoning for this was that traffic heading onto them congested many of the local roads. They had intended to later demolish the ramps. On February 13, tolls went into effect at exit 165, the wideing from In September, exit 166 was forcibly reopened after a gag order was secured to prevent local authorities from affecting parkway operations. In early 1967, the parkway was widened from four lanes to six lanes between the Bergen Toll Plaza and exit 161 in Paramus. In 1968, the road was widened from four lanes to six lanes between exit 163 and exit 165. In early 1969, the roadway was widened between exit 163 and exit 161. When the parkway was opened through Clifton in 1955, a spur was supposed to open south of its exit to Broad Street at exit 155P. However, by 1965, no other construction had occurred, and the parkway's spur had been canceled. Because of this, in 1967, work began on a project to construct the remaining ramps at exit 155P (now exit 155A); instead of serving as a spur of the parkway, they would serve Route 20 (now Route 19) instead. The ramps were opened to traffic on October 20, 1969. A project began at the end of the 1960s to bring parts of the road from Middlesex County to Cape May County to what was then the latest highway design standards. On September 18, 1969, a new 20 laneexit 129 were opened, the remaining ramps were opened to traffic by early 1970. Done as part of expansion of the NJ Turnpike, this replaced the existing 10 lane facilities, and made it so that the turnpike had direct connections to both directions and vice versa. After the opening of the new exit, the old ramps were demolished in phases. On November 24, 1970, southbound parkway traffic from there south to the Raritan River was redirected onto a new roadway that lied in the median of the old one, the old were not demolished however, but rather became an exit onto US 9, effectively creating a collector-distributor road. This effectively eliminated southbound exits 127-127A. On August 17, 1971, the same switch occurred to the northbound roadway, the old one also became a collector-distributor road, though it rather served as a US 9 ramp to connect to the northbound GSP as well as the New Jersey Turnpike. An expansion of the Driscoll Bridge across the Raritan River was completed on September 2, 1971. Work then began on widening the Sayerville side and repairing and widening the existing part of the bridge deck, work was completed by beginning of 1972. On January 17, 1973, the new exit 127 was opened to I-287. By June, the NJ route 440 link had opened as well. In May 1973, exit 98 was opened to northbound traffic. On July 3, 1973, the southbound exit 98 opened. these exits replaced the existing exits 96, 97, and 97A, with the new exit featuring a right hand collector-distributor roadway combining the cloverleafs at exits 97 and 97A as well as the left-hand ramp at exits 97. On February 21, 1974, a project to rebuild exit 91 to increase safety was completed, as part of this project, the at-grade intersection was altered and toll plazas added. On February 27, 1974, the building of exit 117A (now exit 118) and rebuild of exit 117 from a left hand exit to right side exit were competed. The latter also gained a toll plaza, making it consistent with exit 117A. On July 2, 1973, southbound traffic heading onto exit 105 was redirected onto a new right hand ramp, and the left-hand ramp was permanently closed. As early as 1956, the NJHA had considered adding a second roadway to the section in Monmouth County, which had already been built with it in mind. However, it would not be until the early 1970s that construction began on the new express roadways in the median. It was two lanes wide in each direction, and had much fewer exits than the local roadway. As part of the project, a new Raritan Toll Plaza was built for southbound traffic, with the existing one becoming northbound only. The segment from Sayreville to Keyport was opened on July 3. The segment of roadway from Keyport to the Tinton Falls toll plaza was opened on August 2 of that year.

The speed limit was raised from 50 to 55 miles per hour (80 to 89 km/h) on January 3, 1974.

On November 1, 1975, motorcycles were relegalized after 14 years of protest from motorcyclists; all of the other restrictions remained. Particular pushback was made by Malcolm Forbes, who filed a lawsuit to stop this ban.

In 1966, planning began on exit 142, a new interchange serving I-76. Whole initially planned for completion in 1967, it did not open until April 14, 1976.

There once plans to a new interchange near exit 80, which would’ve serve the Driscoll Expressway, a 38-mile (61 km) toll road that was planned to run from Toms River to the New Jersey Turnpike in South Brunswick. However, this plan was abandoned in 1977.

Garden State Parkway in the 1970s

The NJHA once planned to build exit 19, which would have served the terminus of Route 55. This was canceled in 1975 after the conclusion that the highway ran through too many wetland areas. The plans have since been revisited after frequent traffic congestion on Route 47.

In 1979, plans for an exit 124 to serve Main Street was proposed. In 1980, this interchange was officially approved. In March of that year, Hardroads Incorporated, a firm located in East Brunswick, was hired to construct the new interchange. They quickly acquired the land necessary to build the interchange. Construction began in June 1982. On October 25, 1982, the entrance ramp onto the northbound lanes was opened to traffic. On November 19, the exit ramp onto Maine Street from the southbound lanes was opened to traffic, thereby completing the project. It had cost the NJHA $184,000 to build.

In 1980, the NJHA began construction of exit 171, which would serve the boom of office complexes replacing farmland across Chestnut Ridge road. In March 1985, the entrance leading onto the southbound parkway was opened, with the exit ramp opening on July 25 of that year.

In 1987, the NJHA purchased the 19 miles (31 km) of road that had been constructed by what is now the New Jersey Department of Transportation. These segments were located in Cape May County between exits 6 and 12, in Ocean County between exits 80 and 83, and in Middlesex County between exits 129 and 140. NJDOT sold the sections for one dollar with the requirement that tolls were never to be charged on them. That same year, the roadway between mileposts 99.5 and 83.5 was restriped from two lanes with a shoulder to three lanes with no shoulder.

In 1973, plans were made to further expand the parkway, with the first section to be widened being a 3.1-mile (5.0 km) segment in Toms River. While this widening was planned to start in 1975, its beginning was delayed to 1978. By 1979, work on the Toms River segment was completed, at this point the project transitioned to widening the segment between the Asbury Park toll plaza and exits 100, and widening the segment in Lakewood from two lanes to three lanes. On November 17, 1980, the road was widened from three to four lanes between exits 129 and exits 141. These new lanes were HOV lanes that were restricted to vehicles with three or more occupants, though this was later lowered to two or more occupants in June 1981. They were converted into general use lanes in 1982 after almost universal criticism. In late 1983, a project to widen the segment of roadway near the Raritan Toll Plaza from ten to twleve lanes began. The work was completed in 1984. Work on the widening between the Asubury Toll Plaza and exits 102, as well as between the Union Toll Plaza and exits 140, was completed by the end of 1985. Also as part of this project, the Asbury Park Toll Plaza and Union Toll Plazas were both expanded. As part of the project, in December 1986, an new right hand ramp at exit 100A was opened, the existing the left-hand one was then closed permanently. Work on widening the parkway between exits 100 and exits 102 to eight lanes began in March 1987. This involved construction new overpasses carrying NJ 66 over the parkway to replace the old one, improved signage and lighting, as well as extending exits 100 and 100B to meet with the new overasses. After it was open, the old overpass was demolished through controlled implosion during night time periods. Work on this part of the project was fully completed in December 1987.

In 1988, the northbound exit 105 ramp was reconstructed, a new new loop ramp was built to feed onto NJ route 18 northbound, and the existing deceleration lane was replaced by a new one. In addition, an on-ramp was built that allows southbound Route 18 traffic to enter the southbound local roadway.

In August of 1989, the NJHA introduced token only lanes. While it was though these lanes would reduce congestion, it was quickly realized this did not.

1990s-present

In 1980, the NJHA announced plans to construct exit 84, which would have consisted of a southbound exit and northbound entrance onto Indian Head Road. They also would’ve expanded the New Gretna Toll Plaza, Hillsdale Toll Plaza, and Barnegat Toll Plaza. Those who objected the plan proposed improving the existing exit 83 instead. However, it was declared unbeneficial after a study deemed it to likely discourage use of public transit, and despite a replanning of the interchange, it was later shelved indefinitely. In 1983, this plan was followed up with one to open exit 116 as a tolled interchange. The interchange, which officials had stopped restricting in 1981, had become mainly used by shunpikers. Additionally, nearby exit 114 had become incapacitated carrying traffic it was not designed for, and highway officials thought opening it to traffic would relocate that traffic. However, never occurred, mostly due to protest from highway officials after study indicated that it would in fact not reduce traffic. They had also planned to build new toll barriers at milepost 4 and 40. Additionally, that had planned to add tolls to exit 120. They expected them to be completed by 1991.

In 1994, the section between exits 81 and 82 was widened to six lanes.

The NJHA rebuilt exit 74. These included demolishing the existing southbound entrance and exit ramps and constructing new ones to turn around at where the southbound entrance once was, thus eliminating the traffic signal that existed prior. This was completed on November 20, 1996, at the cost of $4.4 million.

In April 1997, plans to construct an overpass from southbound exits 159 onto eastbound I-80 were made. Also as part of this, new traffic signals would be installed at the Midland avenue ramps, and its overpass crossing the parkway would be reconstructed. Work on this project began immediately, and the ramp was opened to traffic in January 1998, six months ahead of schedule. The overpass carrying I-80 traffic was not rebuilt, instead, a retaining wall was constructed instead.

In 1998, most of the roadway had its speed limit increased to 65 miles per hour (105 km/h).

On April 1, 1998, a project to lengthen exit 83’s deceleration lane was completed, this required construction of a new overpass. Later that year, additional improvements were made to exit 81.

In June 1999, a project to expand the Barnegat toll plaza from 11 to 14 lanes was completed. Also included in this project was new fencing, new electrical work, increased landscaping, and a toll re-coordinating shed.

As early as 1990, there had been proposals to implement all electronic tolling onto the parkway. However, it would not be until 1996 that the NJHA signed a contract with Lockheed Martin to add E-ZPass support to the entire parkway. E-ZPass was installed at the Pascack Valley Toll Plaza in December 1999. It was implemented at the Raritan Toll plaza in April 2000. By August, installation of the system had been fully completed.

In 2000, work began on a project to improve exit 80, with the declaration lane widened and overpass rebuilt. This was completed in April 2001.

In 2001, the NJHA began planning for exit 77, a new interchange to serve Berkley. This was necessary because population had increased drastically in the area since the section of parkway was opened in the 1950s. This was opened to traffic in August 2002, and had exit and entrance ramps in both directions, of which the southbound entrance and northbound exit were tolled 25 cents. In order to avoid demolition of the nearby Double Trouble State Park, the ramps were constructed 1⁄2 mile (0.80 km) away from each other.

On July 9, 2003, Governor Jim McGreevey's plan to disband the New Jersey Highway Authority and give control of the parkway to the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA) was completed.

In November 2003, construction was completed on the $16.23 million exit 89, a new southbound exit and northbound entrance in Lakewood. This new exit featured a toll facility, and was located in the same general area as exit 88. Due to featuring collector-distributor lanes, the Cedar Bridge Road bridge had to be demolished and a replacement with a wider superstructure built in its place.

In September 2003, construction began on express E-ZPass lanes at the Pascack Valley Toll Plaza. They would allow traffic to travel at standard speeds. This project was completed on January 11, 2004, when the new lanes opened.

By 2005, improvements had been made to various interchanges.

In 2006, a project to rebuilt the overpass carrying Route 138 eastbound over the parkway was completed. This allowed the roadway underneath it to be widened from three to four lanes, as well as eliminating a curve the old overpass contained.

Historical picture of a Garden State Parkway toll plaza

To reduce congestion, 9 of the 11 toll plazas on the roadway were converted into one-way plazas starting in 2004. The Cape May (in Upper Township), Great Egg (in Somers Point), New Gretna (in Bass River Township), Barnegat (in Barnegat Township), Asbury Park (in Tinton Falls), Raritan (in Sayreville), Union (in Hillside), Essex (in Bloomfield), and Bergen (in Saddle Brook) toll plazas were among these. The tolls at these plazas were doubled upon conversion. The Toms River Toll Plaza (in Toms River) is the only location on the parkway mainline where a toll is still collected in both directions. Some of the new plazas also contain express E-ZPass (akin to the Passaic Valley Plaza), which allow for faster travel than in the existing E-ZPass lanes.. The last plaza to get this was the Barnegat Toll Plaza in March 2007. The improvement was successful in reducing congestion.

In September 2006, construction began on improvements to exit 145. This project, which replaced the ramps with longer and wider ones as well as building new EZ-Pass lanes at the ramps toll plaza, was completed in November 2007 at the price of $11 million, and was completed three years ahead of schedule.

In October 2007, a project to improve exit 135 began. It was completed circa May 2008.

Garden State Parkway northbound approaching the Driscoll Bridge in 2002, before the southbound span was built

On September 25, 2002, construction began on a new span of the Driscoll Bridge just west of the original spans, consisting of seven lanes and emergency shoulders. On May 3, 2006, all traffic was shifted onto the new span, and the original was closed for superstructure replacement. On May 20, 2009, all northbound traffic was shifted back onto the original spans, and the new one was made exclusively for southbound traffic.

In February 2010, tolling was eliminated in the northbound direction at the Passaic Valley Toll Plaza.

Flyover ramp from the GSP northbound to I-78 westbound, opened in 2009

In April 2008, a $150 million project began to construct two new overpasses at exit 142. In its original design, the parkway northbound did not have a ramp to I-78 westbound, and the parkway southbound did not have an exit to I-78 eastbound. The lack of connections was due to the cancellation of the extension of I-278 (which would have connected northbound parkway traffic with I-78 westbound) and Route 75 (which would have connected southbound parkway traffic with I-78 eastbound via I-280) in the 1980s. As such commuters had to loop around to get to the other connection/ The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) awarded the project contract to the engineering firm Gannett Fleming for the design, and to Union Paving & Construction Company for building the ramps. The ramp connecting the parkway northbound with I-78 westbound opened on September 16, 2009, with a ribbon cutting ceremony led by Governor Jon Corzine. The ramp connecting the parkway southbound with I-78 eastbound opened on December 10, 2010.

In April 2011, New Jersey Transportation Commissioner James Simpson announced the NJTA was considering allowing trucks on the northern portion of the Garden State Parkway. However, the idea was quickly abandoned after the agency found the road had engineering concerns that would not accommodate trucks on this segment.

A project that rebuilt the Watchung Avenue overpass at exit 151 in order to add shoulders to the segment underneath and increased safety by being wider and more friendly to pedestrians was completed in 2013. Additionally, both existing ramps were widened from two lanes to three lanes, and both of the entrance ramps onto the Parkway were entirely rebuilt.

Former traffic light at exit 9 (Shell Bay Avenue) before construction of overpass in 2014

When originally built in the 1950s, exits 9, 10, and 11 in [[Cape May Court House, New Jersey|Cape May Court House were at-grade intersections. This was considered adequate for the lighter traffic that used this section at the time. However, as traffic levels increased, collisions did as well. Divers also drove at the same speed as they did on the rest of the roadway( expecting it to be of the same standard, many rear end collisions occurred because of this. Planning to replace them with grade separated interchanges began in 2002.The plan was delayed because it had not been approved by the federal government. Construction began in 2013. The $125 million project was completed in September 2015, with the Mechanic Street interchange also being closed around this time.

On September 5, 2016, a project to rebuild exit 0 was completed. It involved constructing a new ramp from NJ 109 southbound onto the parkway northbound, reconstructing the ramp itself, and reconfiguring the traffic signal with pedestrian crosswalks and other safety features.

In 2012, a project began to reconstruct the roadway between exit 83 and exit 100 with shoulders. On November 9, 2014, as part of the project, exit 88 was permanently closed. On June 11, 2015, the northbound replacement exit 89 were opened to traffic. It was completed in May 2017, when the reconstruction of exits 91 into a full interchange was completed, ten months behind schedule because the legislature failed to raise the state's gas tax.

Garden State Parkway northbound at Route 17 in Paramus

In April 2014, a $68 million project to replace the left-hand exit 163 with a standard right hand exit began. Due to this, a half mile stretch of the GSP mainline was shifted towards the median, with the existing ramps retained but now passing under the Parkway and joining it from the right. This major project was mostly completed in mid 2016, with demolition work continuing into mid-October 2017.

In November 2018, exact-change lanes were removed from toll barriers in order to make evading tolls harder. They are now only on exit plazas.

In 2012, the improvement of exit 105 southbound at the intersection with NJ route 36 on the local lanes was proposed. It involved replacing the single-lane ramp which provided access to Route 36 with a new one. This ramp would have two lanes and a wider shoulder, and would also provide access to Route 18 via Wayside road. Additionally, the northbound ramp onto route 36 would be constructed, as opposed to locating traffic onto route 36, it would instead carry traffic into an intersection with Wayside Road. Also, in both directions, the deceleration lanes were increased in length and widened to two lanes in addition to lighting improvements and replacing the signage southbound with new overhead ones, and replacing the sign heads northbound. Construction began in 2013, and was completed by the end of 2017.

In April 2016, a project to reconstruct exits 125 into a full interchange commenced. The new southbound exit would be tolled and made exclusively for E-ZPass users; no toll would be added to the new northbound entrance. Also involved in this project was the replacement of the overpasses that carried the parkway over Chevalier Avenue with wider structures, adding a alternate ramp onto Main Street, and constructing a new southbound entrance ramp and demolishing the existing one–this would provide greater access to a new shopping mall in the vicinity that is yet to be completed. It was completed in February 2020.

In 2018, the NJTA began planning for improvements at the northbound exits 109. The project involved partly winding the ramp and constructing a new ramp to directly allow access to the Lincroft park and ride from the parkway and to allow easier access to Newman Spring Road eastbound. Improvements were also made to the ramps onto the parkway from County Route 520. These include a ramp and overpass being built on Newman Spring Road eastbound, the addition of a traffic light at Schulz Dr, the removal of the U-turn ramp to Half Mile Road and the addition of a left turn signal at the junction to compassionate. Bidding for the project was completed in July 2018, and construction began shortly after. It was completed in May 2020.

On March 24, 2020, the NJTA temporarily suspended cash toll collection due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Drivers without E-ZPass transponders had their license plates photographed at the toll plazas and were sent bills in the mail. Cash collection resumed on May 19 of that year. Also around this time, a new high speed toll gantry was completed at the New Gretna Toll Plaza.

In June 2018, an improvement project began at exits 145. The project involved widening the entrance ramp to the parkway southbound from one to two lanes and adding a second deceleration lane on the parkway northbound. Due to the addition of the deceleration lane to South Grove St, the toll plaza on the exit lanes was demolished starting on July 26, 2018, at 10 pm. To accommodate the wider roadway, the overpass carrying Central Avenue over the parkway was also rebuilt. Five nearby bridges were also rehabilitated as part of the project. The project cost approximately $63 million and was completed in August 2022.

In March 2022, exit 105 was closed in multiple stages so that five of the overpasses, of which some date back to 1954 and others to 1974, could be replaced. The project was completed in late 2023.

In May 2005, Governor Richard Codey announced plans for a widening of the parkway between exit 63 in Stafford Township and exit 80 in South Toms River from two to three lanes in both directions. However, the NJTA later made plans to widen the parkway from exit 80 all the way south to exit 30 in the city of Somers Point. In 2008, related work began to construct a southbound entrance and northbound exit at exit 67. By March 27, it was revealed that the new ramps would not be tolled. Construction began in the summer of 2008. While initially planned for completion on May 20, 2009, it was ultimately completed in October 2010. The project was divided into three phases. The first of these, the one from exits 80 to 63, was completed in May 2011. As part of the work, express E-ZPass was installed at the Barnegat Toll Plaza. In November 2014, a widening project was completed between exits 63 and 48. Exit 41 was opened on March 13, 2015. Previously, drivers who wanted to go to Jimmie Leeds Road had to cut through the parking lot of the Atlantic City Service area, though they still can. In August 2015, a project which constructed missing movements at exits 44 was completed. In June 2017, three projects to improve exits 36, 37, and 38 were completed. A new ramp was built at exit 38 order to reduce unsafe weaving, exit 37 had its deceleration lane reconstructed to be longer, and exit 36 was rebuilt to eliminate its “stop-and-go” pattern. In 2018, a widening from exits 48 to milepost 35 was completed, it included reconstruction of overpasses, and the opening of new bridges across the Mullica River from the city of Port Republic to Bass River, after which point the older ones had their superstructures replaced. In October 2020, work began on the final phase, which expanded the shoulder between mileposts 30 and 35 to provide a future extension of the six lane setup. They also expanded exits 30’s declaration lanes to meet modern standards, on top of upgradeing the lighting. This was completed in 2023, bringing an end to the near decade-long widening.

In 2020, a project that involved making multiple improvements between mileposts 140 and 143 was commenced. It involves repaving the road, adding new lighting, and constructing a median barrier. It also systematically replaces multiple bridges in between the mile markers, including two that carry traffic over US 22 and one that carries traffic over NJ 82. It is scheduled to be completed at the end of 2024.

On February 23, 2023, the overpass carrying exit 156 were was temporarily closed to traffic, this was because the ramp was in the way of construction on the Passaic River Bridge and needed a retaining wall to be constructed in order to minimize disruption to local communities. This was completed on July 15, and is part of a greater project to reconstruct the Passaic River Bridge, the current superstructure considered functionally obsolete and structurally deficient, in addition to not meeting the standards of the New Jersey turnpike Authority. Work on that part of the project is scheduled for competition in fall 2025.