“What did you do over the summer?” For many students, the answer is automatic: “I went to the Jersey Shore.”
Rivaling the Jersey Shore’s famous beaches and boardwalks is the infamy of Jersey Shore traffic.
With traffic congestion during peak travel times on highways such as the Atlantic City Expressway (ACE), the average Philadelphian spends much more than the drive’s hour or hour-and a-half, stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
“Go on a Monday because everyone leaves then. Going on Thursday night will also save you tons of time, since you don’t have to worry about traffic congestion.”
Alek DeLeo ’28
This ritual has existed for so long that many students and families have created their own ways of dealing with shore traffic.
Third Former Alek DeLeo believes the key to an enjoyable trip is to drive during off-peak hours. “Most of my drives were pretty easy due to driving late at night,” DeLeo said. “Normally the worst times to drive to the Shore would be either on Fridays or before and after holidays, like Memorial Day.”
Third Former Greyson Heneks said, “Go on a Monday because everyone usually leaves then. Going on Thursday night will also save you tons of time, since you don’t have to worry about traffic congestion.”
“Leaving really early in the morning or going later in the evening can help,” Third Former Dean Han said. “My family and I usually get there around 8, and it’s not too busy.”
It seems like shore traffic is unavoidable if you want to spend time at the beach, so what is currently being done to address this problem, and what could be done in the future?
The South Jersey Transportation Authority (SJTA) currently plans the Preliminary Engineering Phase of widening the ACE—adding a third lane for its entire length. Adding an additional lane will certainly reduce congestion, but the project is not set to start construction until 2028.
There are many other initiatives to reduce overall traffic. One is to use New Jersey’s public transportation system. According to NJ TRANSIT, public transportation is one of the greatest mitigators of traffic on NJ roadways, reducing the miles traveled by 1.5 billion annually. A round-trip express bus ticket fare between Philadelphia and Wildwood is $34.50 and $37.95 between Philadelphia and Cape May.
High Occupancy Vehicle lanes, which encourage carpooling, are a relatively old proposal to address traffic congestion. Carpooling can reduce the number of cars on the road: according to AAA, roughly 90% of people from the Philadelphia area travel by car.
So, what can ultimately be done to alleviate the ACE’s intense traffic? Expressway expansion and transit creation.
“Maybe if more roads were added so that more cars can get in and out of the shore easily, [traffic would be lessened],” Han said.
Widening lanes and expanding networks would help the traffic situation on the ACE by having more space to drive, but NJDOT should create a more immediate solution, such as adding a direct train route from 30th Street Station similar to Amtrak’s Acela service.
An extension of New Jersey Transit’s Jersey Coast Line from where it currently terminates, Point Pleasant, to Cape May, could also alleviate traffic along the whole coast of New Jersey in addition to the ACE.
A final solution may come in the form of another expressway to create an alternative route to the beaches.
All three options would benefit in the case of an emergency, such as a hurricane. Nonetheless, all proposed solutions require funding and agreement in order to be completed.
