Here’s what was going on at the Jersey Shore 50 years ago today, on October 12, 1972.
In Manalapan, township leaders were fighting the state of New Jersey against adding a New Jersey Turnpike extension that sought to cut the town in half. 100 residents turned out to hear Mayor Barry Brandt argue against the extension to thunderous applause in town hall. The Turnpike extension would have brought the interstate highway well into Freehold through Manalapan. That extension was never built.
In Toms River, Freeholder Joseph Portash announced the county would try earmark $650 million to fund Ocean County road projects to Route 88 and Route 166. Even 50 years ago, Route 166 was congested, a problem that exists today after the 1972 project and a recent project by the state. The project also paid for the widening of Route 70 from Brick Township to the Lakehurst traffic circle and the widening of Route 37 and Route 72 west of the Garden State Parkway.
Robert J. Doefflinger drove his car into Fletcher Lake between Ocean Grove and Bradley Beach. He was charged with driving while impaired.
Middletown Mayor Thomas Lynch got on a soap box to declare danger on the roadways and urged bicyclists to install lights on their bikes when riding at night.
The weather was cool with a high of 58 degrees and an overnight low of 45 degrees.
Monmouth Sheriff Paul Kiernan holds a press conference to detail new security features at the Monmouth County jail after inmates escaped a year prior.
Atlantic City planners opposed a ‘catastrophic’ plan to build a $1 billion off-shore nuclear power plant. The plant was to be built 12 miles off the coast of Atlantic City on two floating platforms. Officials up and down the shore balked at the absurd plan by the Atomic Energy Commission. In 1978, the plan was scrapped and the off-shore nuclear power station was never built.
Construction was progressing at the original World Trade Center site in New York City.
