1952 Movie Promotes the Building of the Garden State Parkway

Imagine life in South Jersey without the Garden State Parkway.

You may really hate driving on the Parkway today, but what if all north and south driving in the eastern part of the state was done only on Rt. 9?  Sixty years ago that was the case, and, even by 1952 standards, that situation was a real problem!

Here's a black and white 1952 short movie produced by the New Jersey Highway Authority, advocating the benefits on the G.S.P. to New Jersey-ians who were about to go to the polls to vote for the completion of the highway project.

The movie, in the finest propaganda film style, paints an idyllic picture of the state once the Parkway, with its "cool green woods set aside for picnics", is complete.  I've driven on the Parkway thousands of times, but I've always missed the picnic grounds.

Over 60 years later though, there's no doubting the value of the highway, even if it failed to "end traffic snarls", as promised on this scratchy, but fascinating, look back at the Garden state, before the Garden State Parkway.