page_title: Atlantic City–Brigantine Connector
section_title: Opening
hierarchical_section_title: Atlantic City–Brigantine Connector / History / Opening
caption_attribution_description: English: Borgata
context_page_description: The Atlantic City–Brigantine Connector, also known as the Atlantic City Expressway Connector, is a 2.3-mile-long freeway connector and tunnel in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States. It is an extension of the Atlantic City Expressway, connecting it to State Route 87, which leads into Brigantine via the Marina district of Atlantic City, owned and operated by the South Jersey Transportation Authority. The connector is a state highway with the unsigned designation of Route 446X.
  Proposals for a connector roadway between Atlantic City and Brigantine date to 1964; planning began in 1995 after businessman Steve Wynn proposed a new casino in the city's Marina district. The goals were to reduce traffic on Atlantic City streets and improve access to the district and Brigantine. It was supported by New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman and Atlantic City Mayor Jim Whelan, but faced major opposition during its planning. Residents whose homes were to be destroyed for the tunnel construction fought the project, and competing casino owner and future president Donald Trump filed lawsuits to prevent its construction.
context_section_description: A shortage of materials and delivery delays in late 2000 delayed the connector's opening from May to July 2001.  The grand opening ceremony took place on July 27, with festivities including a pedestrian tunnel walk. The connector was expected to open to traffic that evening but due to last-minute malfunctions with the tunnel's emergency radio communications system, it did not open to vehicles for four days.  Upon opening, the road was formally named the Atlantic City Expressway Connector. Exit ramps to Borgata and Trump Marina were completed and opened in 2003.
  Once the connector opened, travel times between the Midtown and the Marina districts fell to four minutes from 15. A year after its opening, 18,000 to 20,000 vehicles traveled it daily, higher than the SJTA's expected annual average daily traffic volume of 14,000 to 17,000. Following the opening of Borgata in 2003, the connector served 25,000 vehicles a day.
  The connector also affected the city's casino industry, shifting business from boardwalk casinos to those at the marina. Transportation analyst and former SJTA executive Anthony Marino agreed that the connector "[wa]s no doubt a factor in the difficulties experienced by Boardwalk casinos." The eight casinos along the boardwalk in 2001 were down to four by 2016. State records that year showed that the three marina casinos had an average annual gross revenue of $134 million, compared to $70 million for the boardwalk casinos. Whelan said "the impact of the [connector] project is undeniable", in improving traffic flow in the city and road access to Brigantine. He also credited the project for bringing Borgata, which has since become the city's top-grossing casino.
caption: The opening of the connector helped establish Borgata, the city's high-grossing casino, which opened in 2003.
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