A reciept from my July 2k2 roadtrip on the Garden State Parkway.
That comment on the bottom is absolutely true,
there are four toll plazas between the Thruway and Mile 140.

The slip road from the Garden State Extension to the Thruway.
The “Nanuet” off slip goes to Pascack Road-Rockland County Road 35.
A left on that takes you to NY 59.

Approaching the split at the end of the GSP extension in NY.
This is part of the Thruway system. As it happens, you are approaching Mile 0.
The mileposts count backwards. The signs on this gantry are repeated down the road.

A parkway entry sign at JN 172.
I saw some older signs that had the symbol messages at the bottom in text further south.

A cell phone mast near JN 171. This is still there as of Oct 2k4.

A speed limit sign. Both 55 and 65 MPH signs look like this.
The difference is that the “65” is pop-riveted on.
I don't know if there is a “55” under that.

JN 166 sign. Sort of half-arsed, this.
This is just south of high-speed E-ZPass Toll Plaza.

JN 165 sign. Still half-arsed.
There are a few of this style floating around. I blame Canada.

And here is a Sine that Bips®
Backwards “b's” the odd “l”, a 3 digit shield for a two digit route;
Centered/attached junction plate, and “GWB” in small caps...

Fairly nice looking PennDOT style signage here
on politically correct cor-ten gantries.
There are a LOT of left off slips in both directions in this area.
The VMS mounting is common, as are the nag messages.
No “Report suspicious activity messages”, tho. Pity that.
The blue symbol incidentally, is for the Meadowlands Sport Complex.

Three Views of the Essex toll plaza:
The first is northbound, the other two are southbound.
The larger plazas on the southern part of the Thruway use similar plates
for numbering plaza lanes: the inside to outside numbering scheme is also used.
GSP plazas are much larger, and unlike the Thruway,
have “Exact Change” lanes. You can also use tokens in these lanes.
the third photo shows the southbound inside sub-plaza. This is at the far right.
The signs above the canopy are foldable and can be changed to however the lane is used.
You see all 3 flavors here. The lights above the ramps show solid green for cash,
flashing green for exact change, and flashing yellow for E-Z Pass, red is for a closed lane.
You can use E-Z Pass in any lane. There seemed to be less confusion
with people running the E-ZPass lanes. Maybe it's because the violation fine is $250!

An off-slip toll plaza. After paying a mainline toll,
sometimes you have to ante up again.
This plaza has a cash booth, some are exact change or E-ZPass only.

An overpass on the Parkway.
This bit is where the highway was shoehorned into a narrow space.
It would be a nasty problem to add in new lanes....
Note the horizontal-mount mast-arm signal installations on the surface roads.

Near JN 144 northbound.
Note the impaired headroom warning at right.
That's fairly common on this part of the parkway.
Interestingly enough, no large articulateds are allowed,
and headroom is rarely, if ever, an issue with allowed vehicles...

Two junction 143 signs and a cheep fake!
One, the $1.98 version they got along with two boxtops;
then, a PennDOT style sign,
and from the Project For Public Spaces 1^st April 2k4 newsletter,
they saw fit to rip off the first snap for a “Garden State Greenway” parody page.
Woulda been nice to have gotten credit for it.
Notice how the Parkway gets progressively wider as we go south.

New signs on an old gantry at JN 139, northbound.
Note the arrow for the NJ 82 sign. It's a tight loop ramp.
The pull-through is a bit more standard.
No shield or direction or destination, tho.That might be nice.

More than 3 sines on a gantry, TMI!!!
Now, here the VMS is mounted independently-no sign plate backing.
Of course on weekends, these just nag you to do
things you should have sense enough to do anyway.
It's bad form to mow down tollway workers.

Junction 138 signs.
The first shot being newer PennDOT stylee, northbound;
the second are OG stylee from the 70's.
If CA had copped to standard junction numbers in the 70's,
this is what the sines would look like. This particular sign construction also appears in PA
and was used in GA and Alabama. Note the County Route shield has no square backing it.

There are a few of this sort of sign on the free GSP(mp 127-140).
The shield is showing it's age.

There was at least one more sign on this gantry.
Maybe two. I don't know if this is an example of replacement or abatement.
JN 135 is a diamond/roundabout configuration.

This sine sure seems to be a lot wider than the copy merits....

Now what's wrong with this picture?
You're northbound, and you have the "B" exit first. There is no "A" exit.
These are newer generation signs than the above pictures.

Another impaired shoulder headroom warning.