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New Jersey is sprucing up highway rest stops by naming them after famous Garden State celebrities like Whitney Houston and Jon Bon Jovi, but there’s one glaring omission – The Boss.
The revamped rest stops also include bathroom breaks devoted to “Sopranos” star James Gandolfini and Frank Sinatra. The names were approved for National New Jersey Day Tuesday and the Garden State Parkway areas will also include “Hard Rock Café-style exhibits.”
Rock legend Bruce Springsteen was left out of the strange honor — but it was no oversight.
“Bruce Springsteen respectfully declined to have a service area named after him,” Natasha Alagarasan, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Hall of Fame, told northjersey.com.
“It should be noted, though, that Bruce has been very supportive of the New Jersey Hall of Fame over the years, and is very much a part of the fabric of the Hall.”
Springsteen had a run-in with local enforcement in his home state last year, when he took a pit stop while riding his motorcycle in a Sandy Hook park and did “two small shots” of tequila with some fans at Gateway National Recreation Area.
Earlier this year, prosecutors dropped DWI and reckless driving charges against the Boss for the incident because he wasn’t drunk, but he pleaded guilty to a count of drinking in a closed area – and had to pay a $540 fine.
Even though the Garden State Parkway was no “Thunder Road” for Springsteen, other name brands in the arts and sports will get the rest-area treatment.
News anchor Connie Chung, singer Celia Cruz, authors Toni Morrison and Judy Blume and baseball player Larry Doby – who followed Jackie Robinson’s in the National League and broke the color barrier in the American League — will all get a rest stop devoted to them.
“This is about putting New Jersey greatness on full display,” Gov. Phil Murphy said in a statement. “This is the first part of an extended statewide exhibition of New Jersey heroes throughout our state.”
The New Jersey Turnpike Authority Board approved the name changes on Tuesday – but they’re not the first rest stops to be named after state natives that have gone on to big things.
The New Jersey Turnpike’s rest stops are named for people including former presidents Grover Cleveland and Woodrow Wilson.
Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti, the state’s transportation commissioner, said millions of drivers travel on the parkway every day.
“The service areas they visit during those travels are a fitting place to call attention to the accomplishments of their fellow New Jerseyans in the arts, entertainment, and sports,” she said in a statement.
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