The Atlantic City Expressway, officially numbered, but unsigned, as Route 446 and abbreviated A.C. Expressway, ACE, or ACX, and known locally as the Expressway, is a controlled-access toll road in the U.S. state of New Jersey, managed and operated by the South Jersey Transportation Authority. It runs from Route 42 from Turnersville southeast to Atlantic City. The Atlantic City Expressway is signed as east–west, though the mileage and exits decrease as if one is travelling north–south. It connects Philadelphia and the surrounding Philadelphia metro area with Atlantic City and other Jersey Shore resorts, and also serves other South Jersey communities, including Hammonton and Mays Landing. The expressway intersects many major roads, including Route 73 in Winslow Township, Route 54 in Hammonton, Route 50 in Hamilton Township, the Garden State Parkway in Egg Harbor Township, US 9 in Pleasantville, and the Atlantic City–Brigantine Connector near the eastern terminus in Atlantic City.
The Atlantic City Expressway uses all-electronic tolling, with two mainline toll plazas (Egg Harbor in Hamilton Township and Pleasantville) and ramp tolls at seven interchanges. Tolls can be paid using E-ZPass or toll by plate. The total cost to travel the length of the Atlantic City Expressway for passenger vehicles is currently $5.90. The expressway features one service plaza, the Frank S. Farley Service Plaza, in Hamilton Township a short distance west of the Egg Harbor Toll Plaza, as well as a gas station and mini-mart in Pleasantville.
Plans for the highway began in the 1930s when a parkway was proposed between Camden and Atlantic City that was never built. Plans resurfaced for the road in the 1950s when a group of officials led by State Senator Frank S. Farley pushed for a road to help the area economy. The New Jersey Expressway Authority was created in 1962, tasked with building an expressway. The Atlantic City Expressway was built between 1963 and 1965 at a total cost of $48.2 million. The South Jersey Transportation Authority assumed control of the road in 1991 from the New Jersey Expressway Authority.
Route description
The Atlantic City Expressway begins at an interchange with Route 42 in Turnersville in Washington Township, Gloucester County, where the freeway right-of-way continues north as the North–South Freeway, a part of Route 42. Here, Route 42 continues south on the Black Horse Pike and Route 168 continues north on the Black Horse Pike. A westbound exit provides a connection to County House Road (CR 705) and northbound Route 168. Named for New Jersey State Senator Frank S. Farley and run by Applegreen, it has a building containing multiple fast-food restaurants, a Sunoco gas station, a mini-mart and gift shop with New Jersey Lottery sales, a seasonal farm market, an ATM, tourist information, and an electric vehicle charging station. The service plaza is also the site of the South Jersey Transportation Authority administrative offices and a New Jersey State Police barracks. Past the service plaza, the Atlantic City Expressway meets the mainline Egg Harbor Toll Plaza. It then features a partial cloverleaf interchange with Route 50, with the westbound exit and eastbound entrance being E-ZPass only. It meets Leipzig Avenue (CR 670), with another partial interchange featuring an eastbound off-ramp and a westbound on-ramp. Next, it has an eastbound exit and westbound entrance for Wrangleboro Road (CR 575), which provides access to Black Horse Pike (US 40/US 322) and the Hamilton Mall near Mays Landing. in the median before it enters the city of Atlantic City. Upon entering Atlantic City, the expressway passes under the Southern Railroad of New Jersey's Pleasantville Industrial Track line and features an eastbound exit and westbound entrance with US 40/US 322.) and Arkansas Avenue westbound. The speed limit on the Atlantic City Expressway is for most of the route. The Emergency Services Patrol provides motorist assistance along the expressway. Motorists needing assistance can dial #ACE or 609-965-7200 on their mobile phones. The entire length of the highway is part of the National Highway System, a network of roads important to the country's economy, defense, and mobility.
Tolls
thumb|left|Egg Harbor mainline toll plaza
The Atlantic City Expressway uses all-electronic tolling, with mainline toll plazas and ramp tolls. As of January 4, 2026, the Egg Harbor Toll Plaza charges $10 for toll by plate and $5 for E-ZPass for cars. At the Pleasantville toll plaza, eastbound exits and westbound entrances at exits 5, 28, and 33, the westbound exit and eastbound entrance at exit 12, and all ramps at exit 9, a toll of $2.98 is charged for toll by plate and $1.49 for E-ZPass. At the eastbound exits and westbound entrances at exits 38 and 41, the toll is $1.64 for toll by plate and $0.82 for E-ZPass.
Every year since 2013, with the exception of 2020 and 2021, eastbound tolls are waived at the Egg Harbor Toll Plaza for one hour in the late afternoon on the Friday before Memorial Day to promote the unofficial beginning of the summer tourist season at the Jersey Shore. Chickie's & Pete's, a local sports bar chain, pays for the tolls collected during this hour. In October 2014, eastbound tolls were waived at the Egg Harbor and Pleasantville toll plazas on Tuesdays between noon and midnight to encourage midweek tourism to Atlantic City.
History
thumb|right|The beginning of the westbound Atlantic City Expressway in Atlantic City
The road was planned as a parkway in 1932, running from the Ben Franklin Bridge in Camden southeast to Atlantic City, but it never materialized. The idea for a limited-access road between the Philadelphia area and Atlantic City resurfaced in the 1950s when South Jersey officials, led by State Senator Frank S. Farley, pushed for an expressway between the two areas to help the economy of Southern New Jersey. The New Jersey State Highway Department authorized traffic studies for a toll road between Turnersville and Atlantic City in 1958 and 1959, and the New Jersey Expressway Authority Act in 1962 called for a five-member agency (the New Jersey Expressway Authority) with representatives from four Southern New Jersey counties to be responsible for issuing bonds to build and maintain the Atlantic City Expressway.
Construction of the Atlantic City Expressway started in the middle of 1963. The design was to feature a 300- to 400-foot-wide roadway with 12-foot-wide travel lanes and right shoulders as well as 3-foot-wide left shoulders. The part between Route 42 in Turnersville and the Garden State Parkway in Egg Harbor Township was completed on July 31, 1964, and the part between the Garden State Parkway and Atlantic City was finished in July 1965. Construction of the Atlantic City Expressway cost a total of $48.2 million. In 1969, tolls increased to $1.00 at the Egg Harbor Toll Plaza and to $0.25 at the Pleasantville Toll Plaza.
In April 1977, whats now the service area was renamed in honor of Frank S Farley, who died shortly after.
In the late 1980s, a third eastbound lane was added between the interchange with Route 73 and the Pleasantville Toll Plaza, while the number of lanes was increased at both the Egg Harbor and Pleasantville toll plazas. That same year, a new interchange with Berlin-Cross Keys Road (CR 689) on the border of Gloucester Township and Winslow Township was completed for $5 million. The completion of this interchange led to the increase of adjacent retail development. As a result of reconstructing this interchange, the SJTA approved raising the interchange toll to $3.00. This new rate is charged to motorists heading to or from the east along the Atlantic City Expressway at Route 50. The proposal drew opposition from area officials who felt the proposed rate was too high. The westbound exit and eastbound entrance at exit 17 were designed to be E-ZPass only, the first such interchange on the Atlantic City Expressway. The work under the widening project also included improvements to bridges, lighting, and guide signs. Also, intelligent transportation system technology, such as traffic cameras and variable-message signs, were added to the Atlantic City Expressway to enhance safety and aid in monitoring traffic. The first phase widened the road from the Garden State Parkway to the Egg Harbor Toll Plaza. The second phase widened the road from the Egg Harbor Toll Plaza to milepost 24.5. The third phase widened the road west to Route 73. The ITS components were installed along these sections of the roadway through the course of each phase. The fourth phase added ITS technology to the parts of the road that are not being widened.
The Atlantic City Visitor Welcome Center closed on May 1, 2019, due to a lack of visitors. Collection of cash tolls along the expressway resumed on May 19, 2020. On September 13, 2020, tolls at the Egg Harbor Toll Plaza increased from $3.00 to $4.25 and the $0.75 tolls at the Pleasantville Toll Plaza and several interchanges increased to $1.25. On January 1, 2022, tolls along the Atlantic City Expressway increased 3 percent, with the Egg Harbor Toll Plaza increasing to $4.40 and the Pleasantville Toll Plaza and several interchanges increasing to $1.30. Another toll hike occurred on January 1, 2023, which increased tolls to $4.55 at the Egg Harbor Toll Plaza and to $1.35 at the Pleasantville Toll Plaza and several interchanges. On January 1, 2024, tolls increased to $4.70 at the Egg Harbor Toll Plaza and to $1.40 at the Pleasantville Toll Plaza and several interchanges.
On January 1, 2025, tolls increased to $4.85 at the Egg Harbor Toll Plaza and to $1.45 at the Pleasantville Toll Plaza and several interchanges.
Future
thumb|left|Atlantic City Expressway eastbound at the junction with the Brigantine Connector in Atlantic City
The SJTA revealed plans for a major road improvement project that would link the Atlantic City International Airport to the Atlantic City Expressway, with construction beginning as early as 2013. The plan includes new ramps with two overpasses over the expressway. The road would connect Amelia Earhart Boulevard with an overpass above Airport Circle. Plans also call for building a service road with another overpass that would provide access to Delilah Road. Another project involves the installation of an overpass at the end of Amelia Earhart Boulevard next to the entrance to the FAA Tech Center. The proposed roadway would intrude upon a small section of a mobile home park and land owned by Egg Harbor Township. In 2020, the interchange's cost was projected at $60 million.
In April 2020, as part of a plan to raise tolls by 37% on the Atlantic City Expressway, the South Jersey Transportation Authority announced a $150 million plan to widen the expressway to three lanes in each direction from exit 31 to the western terminus with Route 42. The project would also replace the current tolling system with an all-electronic tolling system using E-ZPass or toll-by-plate, a tolling system which mails an invoice to license plates without E-ZPass. In 2022, a request for bids was issued to implement all-electronic tolling along the Atlantic City Expressway, which would serve as a pilot program for all-electronic tolling on toll roads in New Jersey. Groundbreaking for the all-electronic toll system took place on October 30, 2023, and the system was implemented on January 4, 2026. The widening of the Atlantic City Expressway to six lanes between exit 31 and the western terminus, which will build new bridges and reconstruct the interchange with Route 42, is expected to begin in 2024 with completion in 2025.
Exit list
Mileposts run from east to west.