![]() ![]() Though 86, Rody does not recall an era without the expressway. Rody and Susan O'Mara visit Atlantic City once a month. ![]() "We come to Cape May every year and we go by the expressway every time," said Tom, 59. The Pottsville, Pa., couple recently retired as social workers. ![]() She and her husband, Tom, were headed to Cape May for a brief vacation. "I was always in the back seat so I don't know how we got there," Schaffer said at the Farley Service Center in May. Her family frequently visited Atlantic City when she was a little girl. Take Donna Schaffer, 10 years old in 1964. It cut 30 to 45 minutes off a trip."īefore the Atlantic City Expressway, a ride to the shore relied on the Black and White Horse pikes. "The roadway served as a good connection to the Garden State Parkway, which had an enormous positive economic impact for the shore resorts in Cape May County. "The expressway exceeded expectations but failed in my judgment to revive Atlantic City," added Marino, who worked for the expressway in various capacities for 24 years. The Egg Harbor plaza did OK, but collections at the Pleasantville toll plaza stagnated or decreased. Traffic did not increase to Atlantic City as hoped, but the highway did open a shortcut to beach resorts in Cape May County and, to a lesser extent, to Long Beach Island.īetween 19, the road failed to help Atlantic City, said Anthony Marino, a former deputy executive director of the highway's authority. The highway succeeded, but not in ways Farley envisioned. Motorists paid $0.75 at the Egg Harbor plaza and $0.15 at the Pleasantville plaza. Farley believed a direct roadway into Atlantic City would boost the sagging city's fortunes. Hap Farley of Atlantic County, ended at the terminus of the Garden State Parkway, seven miles west of the resort. The highway, built after much cajoling by powerful state Sen. "It was a hectic first day," said the 79-year-old, a longtime Atco resident hired as the first toll collector on the fledgling roadway. The day the Atlantic City Expressway opened 50 years ago, Gerard Carden expected a madhouse in the toll booths at the Egg Harbor Toll Plaza. ![]()
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