"South Jersey Transportation Authority" established

4. There is established in the Department of Transportation a public body corporate and politic, with corporate succession, to be known as the "South Jersey Transportation Authority," as the successor to the New Jersey Expressway Authority and the Atlantic County Transportation Authority. The authority, which shall be a continuance of the corporate existence of the New Jersey Expressway Authority and the Atlantic County Transportation Authority, shall constitute an instrumentality of the State exercising public and essential governmental functions to provide for the public safety, convenience, benefit and welfare, and the exercise by the authority of the powers conferred by this act shall be deemed and held to be an essential governmental function of the State. For the purpose of complying with the provisions of Article V, Section IV, paragraph 1 of the New Jersey Constitution, the authority is allocated within the Department of Transportation, but notwithstanding that allocation, the authority shall be independent of any supervision or control by the department or any board or officer thereof, except as may be provided in this act. L.1991,c.252,s.4.