Life is What Happens
By Lisa Zaslow Segelman
It was a 1962 turquoise Buick station wagon and for my first decade of life it served as my ride, my wheels, my best and only way to get to the shore.
It worked for our family of six – parents in the front, two in the middle row, the two youngest – my brother and me, in the cargo area, which had a bench seat you could pop up. We faced backwards; what fun for little kids to see where they’d been. Other times we kept the seat down and rolled around in the back – yes pre-seatbelts.
A lot went on in that car with a family of six, but one thing that never happened on any ride to the shore from the western Philly suburb of Broomall, Pa., was that Buick station wagon was never going to find itself on the Atlantic City Expressway because it cost a dollar in tolls, which is the equivalent of $9-$10 today.
The Expressway was a new road then, built between 1962 and 1964 at the cost of $43 million. It could have cost $43 billion, my dad was not spending that extra dollar.
Sound like your dad? If you’re local you know what that meant: be prepared for the start and stop of White Horse Pike (U.S. Route 30) or Black Horse Pike (U.S. Route 322). By the time we stopped at roadside stands for peaches and tomatoes he might has well have spent the extra $1 or $10.
For my dad it was the “why pay more” school of thought, even if it devalued our time. To a child, one road was a new expressway and the other two slow-poke pikes. What would you choose?
Children learn what they live, so those White Horse and Black Horse routes to AC, Brigantine and Ventnor are deeply imbedded in my driving soul when it comes to my own route choice, too, many decades later.
Say “Margate Bridge” to me and I murmur, “I go around.” Saying “I go around” around here is akin to saying, “I’m down the shore.” Everyone knows it means you’re taking an alternate route to the Mainland instead of the Margate Bridge, which requires a toll of $2.50 each way.
If you don’t know what makes the Margate Bridge different, it’s that it’s a private bridge. That means it’s not maintained by the state, and your toll money doesn’t go to New Jersey. It goes to a company called Downbeach Express, which runs the show. They set the tolls, they keep it running and maintain it – just not with taxpayer dollars.
As of 2024, the United States had approximately 618,000 highway bridges. Ownership is predominantly public, with state and local governments responsible for the majority of them. Privately owned bridges constitute a small fraction of the total. There are just 2,200 privately owned highway bridges (less than ½ of a percent) across 41 states and Puerto Rico.
Officially, it’s called the Margate-Northfield Boulevard Bascule Bridge (but really, who says that?). It’s been connecting Margate City to the Mainland since 1932, when it opened as a shortcut to avoid ferries and trains. From the start, it charged a toll. That hasn’t changed. What has changed is ownership.
The bridge ran into financial trouble soon after it opened and was briefly shut down. In 1938, the Hill Dredging Company bought it at a sheriff’s sale, fixed it up, and reopened it with a 25-cent toll. Then in 1964, the Capaldi and Hansen families bought it at a federal auction. It’s been privately owned ever since.
In 2012 it got a bit of a makeover and was rebranded as the Downbeach Express, which sounds more like a bullet train, but is still the same bridge with a new name.
Residents and visitors alike have varying opinions as to whether the bridge is “worth it” or not. A lot depends on where they live on Absecon Island (Atlantic City, Ventnor, Margate, Longport), how much time they have and how much dough they’re willing to part with.
Drivers on Absecon Island have four choices of routes off the island – two public highways, one expressway and the famed Margate Bridge.
To take the sting out of the price, there is a prepaid card for the bridge that saves 75 cents each way. You have to load the card with at least $10 and can add to it at any time. A little yellow light at the toll booth lets you know when your card is at $12. The card isn’t affiliated with E-ZPass and has a one-time, non-refundable activation fee of $5 per pass. Still, you may agree that anything pre-paid eventually feels free.
“My wife and I use the Margate Bridge at least 99% of the time; we live nearby and for us it’s just not worth it to go all the way around,” says Mark Neisser of Margate. “I know a lot of people in town who think it’s way too expensive, but my time is worth something, too. If you take the Black Horse Pike, you hit Pleasantville traffic, and if you go to Longport and into Somers Point to get to the Mainland, you’ll hit traffic there as well. I just don’t think it’s worth it. If you buy the pass it’s only $1.75 each way.”
For those who borrow the family car, their take on the bridge is a little different.
“In high school, I’d always ask my dad for two bucks to cross the Margate Bridge, says Jake Zaslow, of Margate, now 24 and wintering in Chicago.
“If I didn’t have cash, (and I never did), I’d just take the long way through Atlantic City – no toll. Eventually, my dad caved and got us the bridge pass. Now I don’t pay anything – and I don’t see the bill, which is honestly the best part.”
For me, as a Ventnor resident smack-dab in the middle of the island, with my dad’s toll aversion in my head, that $5 Downbeach Express toll feels like a slice and a Diet Coke down the drain.
So my formula is this: If I have time, I “go around.” If I’m running late, I ascribe to my mom’s adage of “pay the man the two dollars” – in this case $2.50.
When I do take the bridge, I’ve got the vast expanse of the Intracoastal Waterway on both sides of the car, salt marshes, and a sea breeze. It’s a serene, speedy ride.
Last month, in the 30 seconds the car behind me had patience for, I interviewed the toll takers who said they love their jobs. They don’t even balk at pennies. If I’ve got nine quarters and can dig up that last one embedded in the passenger seat, the Margate Bridge feels like a good idea.
Lisa is an advertising copywriter (think Madmen without the men), journalist and columnist. Claim to fame: Lou’s waitress for four teenage summers. For column comments, story ideas, or to get on her “quote list” for future columns: redshoeslzs@gmail.com.
Lisa is an advertising copywriter (think ‘Madmen’ without the men), journalist and columnist. Claim to fame: Lou’s waitress for four teenage summers. For column comments, story ideas, or to get on her “quote” list for future columns: redshoeslzs@gmail.com
