The One Minute Geographer: New Jersey’s Transportation Corridor

The New Jersey Turnpike between Newark Airport to the west and marine terminals and docks on Newark Bay to the east. Image from Google Maps. Red numbers added by the author.

I was a geography professor (retired now) and I guess because of that, I’m one of those strange people who love to drive through New Jersey on I-95 and see the action. Having spent most of my life on the east coast I’ve driven through the Garden State maybe a hundred times. I lived for 25 years in Northern Virginia (I worked at George Mason University) and my wife and I had family in New England. Sometimes we flew and sometimes took the train but mostly we drove.

Despite the acrid smell from the refineries that line the highway, the most exciting part of the trip was on the Jersey Turnpike near the Newark Airport where you can turn your head and see planes taking off and landing on the west and container ships being unloaded next to the railway yards on Newark Bay to the east. (My wife may not agree with this assessment, lol.)

My point is that this strip of frenetic activity in northern New Jersey heading into New York is a perfect example of a transportation corridor. When you say ‘transportation corridor’ to someone they think immediately of highways — ‘Oh yea, the Interstate highways connecting all the big cities.’ And yes, we certainly have that. The Jersey Turnpike (I-95) near Newark Airport has 14 lanes: a 6-lane cars-only Interstate sandwiched in between an 8-lane truck, bus and car Interstate on each…