New Jersey Highway Car Accidents

Garden State Parkway Accidents

The Garden State Parkway in New Jersey experienced 29 accidents that killed 32 people in 2016, which was up from 10 accidents causing 10 deaths in 2015. The number of deaths ranks it as the state’s deadliest road. New Jersey State Police reported that 10 people were killed while being ejected from their vehicles, most of whom did not wear seat belts. The parkway posted a fatality rate of 0.49 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, which is higher than its 10-year average of 0.41 fatalities per 100 million miles traveled.

A 2.7 percent increase in Garden State Parkway traffic is partly to blame for the increase in fatal accidents in 2016, State Police said. Driver error accounts for about 94 percent of all accidents, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports.

The 173-mile Garden State Parkway is officially designated as New Jersey Route 444. The Garden State Parkway is the state’s longest roadway with the nation’s busiest toll-ways with nearly 2 million vehicles every day. It runs from Montvale at the New Jersey-New York state line south to Cape May. Cape May is New Jersey’s southern-most community.

Work on the parkway first began immediately after World War II in 1946, but languished until the early 1950s, when the state Legislature funded its development. The Garden State Parkway combined innovative transportation and landscape architecture to create a thoroughly modern transportation corridor through New Jersey. Innovations include rumble strips, wide lanes, and landscaped medians and overpasses painted to blend in with the surrounding landscape.

New Jersey Turnpike Accidents

Despite increased traffic numbers in 2016, the New Jersey Turnpike recorded a decrease in fatalities at 21. That is down from 25 deaths in 2015, the New Jersey State Police reported.

The New Jersey Turnpike mostly shares the same route with I-95 as it traverses the state some 122 miles from the George Washington Bridge in Bergen south to the U.S. 130 interchange in Salem County to the Delaware Memorial Bridge. The turnpike, as well as I-95, provides a transportation corridor link from interstates near the Hudson River south to interstates near the Delaware River. It is the nation’s sixth busiest toll road, and it is one of the most heavily traveled highways in the country.

Work on the New Jersey Turnpike started in early 1950 and concluded two years later. Designers intended it to handle vehicles traveling between 70 mph and 75 mph for much of its length and declared an initial speed limit of 60 mph.

Route 287 Accidents

Interstate 287 is an important transportation route that serves as the New York-New Jersey beltway around New York City via New Jersey’s easternmost counties. The New Jersey portion of the route runs nearly 68 miles from the Hudson River at South Nyack to I-95 in Middlesex County. I-287 in New Jersey posted a crash rate of 1.82 accidents per million miles traveled in 2017, which is a slight increase from 1.73 in 2016 and 2015, respectively.

Route 10 Accidents

The nearly 24-mile New Jersey Route 10 in the state’s northern region connects U.S. Route 46 in Morris County with Prospect Avenue in Essex County. The New Jersey Dept. of Transportation shows a crash rate of 3.81 accidents for every million miles traveled on Route 10 in 2017, which is up from 3.48 in 2016.

Route 46 Accidents

U.S. Route 46 runs some 75 miles from the George Washington Bridge westward to I-80 in Warren County, and is the shortest non-spur federal highway. The route provides an important east-west transportation corridor connecting the Hudson and Delaware rivers. U.S. 46 recorded a crash rate of 3.72 accidents per million miles traveled in 2017, which is an increase from 3.63 in 2016. The route also recorded a 3.63 crash rate in 2015.

Route 80 Accidents

Route 80 runs nearly 69 miles, from the Delaware Water Gap in the west to the New Jersey Turnpike and the I-95 corridor in Teaneck. Route 80 fatalities totaled 11 in 2016 – up from nine in 2015. The number of deaths ranks Route 80 as the state’s eighth-deadliest roadway in 2016. Route 80 posted a crash rate of 2.02 accidents per million miles traveled in 2017, which is up from 1.97 in 2016. The route had a crash rate of 1.94 in 2015.

Route 280 Accidents

Interstate 280 connects I-95 in Kearny with I-80 in Morris County by traversing the Watchung Mountains along the 18-mile route. I-280 had crash rates of 3.96 accidents per million miles traveled in 2017, 3.85 in 2016 and 3.87 in 2015.