Garden State Parkway’s Toms River stretch gets a $500 million safety rebuild

New Jersey plans to spend at least $500 million rebuilding the Garden State Parkway between Exit 80 and Exit 83 in Toms River. This stretch of the main north-south road to the Jersey Shore has a high crash rate. Construction is scheduled to start in 2027.

The Ocean County section has had more than 1,100 crashes in the past few years. Since 2023, crashes there have killed five people and injured 335.

What the Garden State Parkway redesign includes

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority laid out the plan at a public hearing. Lanes would be widened and Exit 80 would get additional ramps. The biggest change is at the Route 37 interchange, which would be rebuilt so drivers getting on and off the parkway no longer mix with traffic that stays on it.

“For us, it is a safety improvement first and foremost,” said Kris Kolluri, the authority’s executive director. He said the project is also meant to ease congestion.

Drivers who use the road often describe cars entering and leaving the parkway crossing paths in the same lanes at highway speed. “It’s scary,” said Elva Dudley of Manchester Township. Beachwood resident Joey Lerch said summer traffic on the stretch is bad enough to make back roads the better choice.

Construction timeline and traffic impacts

Officials said the work will stretch over several years and that drivers will face short-term disruptions. To limit them, crews plan to do much of the job overnight and in the off-season, when fewer cars are on the road.

Officials called the rebuild a long-term effort to fix a route built decades ago for much less traffic than it carries today.