page_title: Atlantic City Expressway
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Atlantic City Expressway / History
caption_attribution_description: English: View west at the east end of New Jersey State Route 446 (Atlantic City Expressway) just west of Fairmount Avenue and Baltic Avenue in Atlantic City, Atlantic County, New Jersey
context_page_description: The Atlantic City Expressway is a 44.19-mile, controlled-access toll road in the U.S. state of New Jersey, managed and operated by the South Jersey Transportation Authority. It serves as an extension of the freeway part of Route 42 in Turnersville southeast to Atlantic City. It connects Philadelphia and the surrounding Delaware Valley with Atlantic City and other Jersey Shore resorts. Besides providing a route between the Delaware Valley and Atlantic City, as well as other Shore Points, the expressway also serves other South Jersey communities, including Hammonton and Mays Landing. The expressway intersects many major roads, including Route 73 in Winslow Township, Route 54 in Hammonton, Route 50 in Hamilton Township, the Garden State Parkway in Egg Harbor Township, and U.S. Route 9 in Pleasantville.
  The Atlantic City Expressway has an open system of tolling, with two mainline toll plazas and seven exits with ramp tolls. Tolls can be paid using cash or the E-ZPass electronic toll collection system. The total cost to travel the length of the Atlantic City Expressway for passenger vehicles is currently $3.00 but will be raised to $3.75 on September 18, 2020.
context_section_description: The road was planned as a parkway in 1932, running from the Ben Franklin Bridge in Camden to Atlantic City, but it never materialized.  The idea for a limited access road between the Philadelphia area and Atlantic City resurfaced in the 1950s when South Jersey officials, led by State Senator Frank S. Farley. He pushed for an expressway between the two areas to help the economy of Southern New Jersey. The New Jersey State Highway Department authorized traffic studies for a toll road between Turnersville and Atlantic City in 1958 and 1959, and the New Jersey Expressway Authority Act in 1962 called for a five-member agency (the New Jersey Expressway Authority) with representatives from four Southern New Jersey counties to be responsible for issuing bonds to build and maintain the Atlantic City Expressway.
  Construction of the Atlantic City Expressway started in the middle of 1962. The design was to feature a 300- to 400-foot-wide roadway with 12-foot-wide travel lanes and right shoulders as well as 3-foot-wide left shoulders. The part between Route 42 in Turnersville and the Garden State Parkway in Egg Harbor Township was completed on July 31, 1964, and the part between the Garden State Parkway and Atlantic City was finished in July 1965. Construction of the Atlantic City Expressway cost a total of $48.2 million. Tolls on the Atlantic City Expressway initially cost $0.75 at the Egg Harbor toll plaza and $0.15 at the Pleasantville toll plaza. In 1991, the South Jersey Transportation Authority was created by the New Jersey Legislature to operate the Atlantic City Expressway, the Atlantic City International Airport, and operations of the Atlantic County Transportation Authority.
  In 2000, the Atlantic City Visitor Welcome Center opened in the median of the expressway near Atlantic City. Construction of the welcome center cost $3.5 million. The welcome center offered amenities including tourist information, T-shirts, restrooms, and E-ZPass sales. The Atlantic City Visitor Welcome Center closed on May 1, 2019 due to a lack of visitors.
  In recent years, many improvements have been made to the Atlantic City Expressway. A new interchange with County Route 689 on the border of Gloucester Township and Winslow Township was completed in 2000 for $5 million. The Atlantic City-Brigantine Connector was completed on July 31, 2001, to connect the Atlantic City Expressway to the Marina district and Brigantine. In 2005, the Atlantic City Expressway added a third lane in both directions between the Garden State Parkway and Atlantic City and in the eastbound direction between Route 73 and the Garden State Parkway. Also, the Pleasantville Toll Plaza was reconstructed, replacing the older cash booths with newer technology.
  On November 21, 2008, construction began on the reconstruction of Interchange 17, with completion on June 18, 2010. As a result of reconstructing this interchange, the SJTA approved raising the interchange toll to $3.00. This new rate is charged to motorists heading to or from the east along the Atlantic City Expressway at Route 50. The proposal drew opposition from area officials who felt the proposed rate was too high. The westbound exit and eastbound entrance at Interchange 17 were designed to be E-ZPass only, the first such interchange on the Atlantic City Expressway.
  In 2007, it was announced that the mainline Expressway from milepost 7.0–31.0 would be widened in the westbound direction to accommodate a third lane from north of the Garden State Parkway to Route 73. Interchange 17 (Route 50) would be reconstructed to form a full movement interchange (completed June 18, 2010), and the Egg Harbor Toll Plaza would receive Express E-ZPass lanes to allow traffic to maintain highway speed. Construction on these three projects was financed by a $25 million bond. The first phase was completed in the middle of 2010 and the Express E-ZPass was completed in May 2011.
  The work under the widening project also included improvements to bridges, lighting, and guide signs.  Also, Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) technology, such as tra
caption: The beginning of the westbound Atlantic City Expressway in Atlantic City
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