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Driscoll Bridge

Driscoll BridgeDriscoll Bridge

Driscoll Bridge je most na dálnici Garden State Parkway ve státě New Jersey, překlenující řeku Raritan River nedaleko jejího ústí Raritan Bay. Most spojuje Middlesex County communities of Woodbridge Township na severu s Sayreville na jihu.

The northbound lanes of the bridge were opened to the public without fanfare on July 30, 1954. The bridge was formally renamed in 1974 for former Governor of New Jersey Alfred E. Driscoll, who advocated for and oversaw the construction of the Garden State Parkway, as well as for the New Jersey Turnpike.

The original span was built with two lanes in each direction. A second span was added in 1972, with each span serving five lanes of traffic.

The bridge has very narrow lanes which creates traffic bottlenecks for miles in each direction on the Garden State Parkway. The bridge is currently being widened. The original configuration was four twelve-foot lanes with shoulders. This was then widened to the current width, probably originally eight twelve-foot lanes with shoulders. The shoulders on each side were then converted to travel lanes, resulting in a total of ten twelve-foot lanes. Finally, the bridge was restriped to have twelve ten-foot lanes, six in each direction. The speed limit on the Garden State Parkway is 45 mph between Milepost 126.7 and 127.7, approaching and traversing the Driscoll Bridge.

Once the new southbound span is fully open, and the current span is reconstructed, the new span will have seven southbound lanes and the current span will have eight northbound lanes, separated between through traffic and traffic exiting at Exit 127. The new southbound bridge opened to traffic on May 3, 2006, bringing to an end this part of the construction project, which started on September 25, 2002. Once reconstruction is complete on the northbound bridge, the Driscoll Bridge will be the world's largest bridge, in terms of total number of travel lanes (15 total).

The bridge levies a toll of 70 cents on southbound motorists. This toll is not for the bridge itself but rather a toll for driving on the Garden State Parkway; however, any southbound motorist that uses the bridge will pass through this toll plaza, as there are no southbound exits between the bridge and the plaza. Until mid-2004, the toll was 35 cents each way; this, along with many other Parkway toll plazas, have been converted to one-way in an effort to reduce traffic congestion.