The Parkway, Route 72, Atlantic City Expressway, and several other highways will see a massive turnout of police and traffic coordinators this Thursday. New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) and related emergency agencies roll out a full-bore hurricane evacuation exercise. 

Sign announcing Thursday's evacuation drill
Sign announcing Thursday's evacuation drill (NJ DOT)
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The New Jersey State Police, Turnpike Authority and the South Jersey Transportation Authority are collaborators in the drill, aimed at refining response to a cataclysmic weather event.

Roads will stay open, but drivers can expect to see a heavy turnout of State Troopers and NJDOT crews on the Parkway, from the start point in Lower Township to Exit 38 in Egg Harbor Township; the full lengfth of the AC Expressway, Atlantic City to Washington Township; I-195, milepost 6 in Robbinsville to milepost 34 in Wall Township; Route 72, milepost 13.8 in Barnegat to milepost 29 in Ship Bottom - obviously, including the bridge over Barnegat Bay; Route 47, mileposts 16 to 21 in Dennis, and mileposts 32 to 35 in Maurice River; and Route 347, milepost 0 in Dennis to milepost 9 in Maurice River.

Officials are testing their abilities in reversing traffic flow on key evacuation routes, to point away from the coast and send evacuees inland. The technical term is contra-flow. Crews will set up message boards, speed attenuators and road cones, but they won't divert vehicles, and the roads will not be closed during the drill.

 

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