List of crossings of the Hackensack River

The Hackensack River courses southward for approximately 50 miles (80 km)[6] through Rockland County in New York and Bergen and Hudson counties in northeastern New Jersey, forming the border of the latter two for part of its length. Its source, as identified by the U.S. Geological Survey (Hydrological code 02030103901),[7] is in New City, New York. The river empties into Newark Bay between Kearny Point (South Kearny) and Droyer's Point (Jersey City).

Bridges at the lower end of the Hackensack River in a historic photo. The Lower Hack Lift is just upstream of the clustered Wittpenn, Harsimus Branch Lift, and PATH Lift (foreground), collectively known as the Triple Bridges[1][2] or Tri Hack.[3] They are part of the Hackensack River Vertical Lift Bridges Historic District[4] (NJSHPO #3971[5]).

The area was settled by Bergen Dutch who established regular water crossings at Douwe's Ferry[8] and Little Ferry.[9] The first bridge crossing of the Hackensack was at Demarest Landing (now Old Bridge Road), built in 1724, which was replaced by that at New Bridge Landing in 1745.[10] The first railroad crossing was completed by the NJRR in 1834, and was soon followed by many others. By the early 1900s conflicts between rail and maritime traffic led to calls for changes in regulations giving priority to trains.[11]

At one time, Van Buskirk Island, created in 1804, was the head of navigation, but freshwater flow in the Hackensack has been diminished by construction of dams,[12] namely the Oradell (1923), the DeForest (1952), and the Tappan (1972).[13] The river is now tidally influenced to the island.[14] The Hackensack has only been channelized to Milepoint 3.5 at the Riverbend in Hudson County.[12][15] The accumulation of silt has diminished the depth, and thus navigability, of the Lower Hackensack.[16] which at one time was a major waterway for towboats and river barges in the Port of New York and New Jersey.[17]

Since 1999, the bridge at Milepoint 16.3 is the most upstream bridge required by the Code of Federal Regulations to open on request,[18] though no requests have made since 1994.[19] The Lower Hackensack remains partially in use for commercial maritime traffic, notably for coal deliveries to the Hudson Generating Station.[20] and sewage sludge for treatment at a facility on the bay.[21] Downstream of the power plant, vehicular moveable bridges (at MP 1.8 and MP 3.1) are required at all times to open on demand.[22] and rail crossings to open on 1-hour notice.[18] As of 2012 there were plans to replace the Wittpenn Bridge, a vehicular bridge at MP 3.1, with a new vertical lift bridge[23] and the Portal Bridge, a rail swing bridge at MP 5.0, with a through arch bridge.[24]

The New Jersey Turnpike in the Meadowlands

Crossings

Mile Crossing Image Carried/Carries Location Coordinates Notes
HD Draw (defunct) Newark and New York Railroad (CNJ) Jersey City & Kearny Point 40°43′07″N 74°06′14″W
1.7 Newark Plank Road (defunct) PS 40°43′36″N 74°05′57″W
1.8 Lincoln Highway Hackensack River Bridge

(Shawn Carson and Robert Nguyen Memorial Bridge)


U.S. Route 1-9 Truck
milepoint 1.72
Lincoln Highway
East Coast Greenway
40°43′38″N 74°05′55″W [25]
Pulaski Skyway U.S. Route 1/9 40°44′06″N 74°05′42″W
PATH Lift Bridge PRR and H&M
PATH
Jersey City & Kearny Meadows 40°44′24″N 74°04′59″W
Harsimus Branch Lift
aka Hack Freight Railroad Bridge
[26]
PRR
Conrail (North Jersey Shared Assets)

NS
CSX

40°44′26″N 74°04′55″W
3.1 Wittpenn Bridge original alignment of the Newark Turnpike
NJ 7
40°44′25″N 74°04′52″W
Wittpenn Bridge Replacement
(under construction)
40°44′28″N 74°04′53″W
New Jersey Railroad
(defunct)
PRR 40°44′28″N 74°04′53″W
3.4 Lower Hack Lift DL&W
Morris and Essex Lines (NJT)
Riverbend 40°44′36″N 74°04′37″W
5.0 Portal Bridge PRR
Northeast Corridor
Amtrak and NJT
Secaucus Junction & Kearny Meadows 40°45′13″N 74°05′41″W
Portal Bridge South (planned) Gateway Project
Portal Bridge North (planned) Gateway Project
Lewandowski Hackensack River Bridge New Jersey Turnpike (Eastern Spur)
Interstate 95
Snake Hill & Kearny Meadows 40°45′36″N 74°05′41″W
DB Draw (unused) New York and Greenwood Lake Railroad (Erie)
Boonton Line (NJT)
NS
40°45′30″N 74°05′36″W
6.9 Upper Hack Lift DL&W Boonton Line (1959-1963)
Erie/NJ Transit Main Line (NJT)
Port Jervis Line (MNCR)
MP 4.95
Harmon Cove & Kingsland 40°46′41″N 74°05′24″W NJT #129
Lackawanna Swing Bridge (defunct) DL&W
7.7 HX Draw
aka The Jacknife
Bergen County Line (NJT)
Pascack Valley Line (NJT)
Meadowlands Rail Line (NJT)
Port Jervis Line (MNCR)
former Erie Main LineMP 5.48
Harmon Cove & Meadowlands Sports Complex 40°47′17″N 74°04′55″W NJT #
Route 3 East NJ 3 Secaucus & Meadowlands Sports Complex 40°47′55″N 74°04′08″W
Route 3 West
(Medgar Evers Bridge)
NJ 3 40°48′02″N 74°04′01″W
Paterson Plank Road (defunct) Jersey City, Hoboken and Rutherford Electric Railway
Public Service
Secaucus North End &
Meadowlands Sports Complex
40°48′21″N 74°03′39″W
New Jersey Turnpike (Western Spur) Interstate 95 Carlstadt & Ridgefield Park 40°49′23″N 74°02′04″W
Bergen Turnpike
(aka Hackensack Plank Road) (defunct)
Public Service
CR 124
Ridgefield Park & Little Ferry 40°50′55″N 74°01′49″W
14.0 Route 46 Hackensack River Bridge
(aka S46 Bridge & Winant Avenue Bridge)
U.S. Route 46 40°51′04″N 74°01′45″W
Interstate 80 Interstate 80 Bogota & Hackensack 40°52′02″N 74°02′08″W
16.3 Court Street Bridge
(Harold J. Dillard Memorial Bridge)
Court Street - West Fort Lee Road 40°52′44″N 74°02′22″W
16.2 New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway NYS&W[27] 40°52′52″N 74°02′15″W
Midtown Bridge
aka Salem Street Bridge
(Ryan Memorial Bridge)[28]
West Main Street
originally carried PS and predecessor streetcars lines
40°52′57″N 74°02′10″W
Anderson Street Bridge
aka Cedar Lane Bridge
East Anderson Street - Cedar Lane Teaneck & Hackensack 40°53′31″N 74°02′11″W
Fairleigh Dickinson University Footbridge 40°53′56″N 74°01′54″W
Route 4 NJ 4 40°54′09″N 74°01′48″W
Swing Bridge at New Bridge Landing
Built 1889. to replace earlier 1744 sliding drawbridge.

Main Street (no cars) New Bridge Landing
River Edge, Teaneck, New Milford
40°54′46″N 74°01′56″W
New Bridge Road New Milford & River Edge 40°54′54″N 74°01′50″W
River Edge Avenue Bridge 40°56′06″N 74°01′43″W
New Milford Avenue Bridge
(Merschrod Memorial Bridge)
New Milford 40°56′46″N 74°01′35″W
Elm Street Bridge
part of the New Milford Plant of the Hackensack Water Company
Phoenix column Pratt pony truss New Milford & Oradell 40°56′49″N 74°1′30″W [29][30][31]
Oradell Avenue Bridge Oradell 40°57′14″N 74°01′44″W
Oradell Reservoir Dam Oradell 40°57′22″N 74°01′44″W
Old Hook Road Bridge CR 502 Emerson, Harrington Park & Closter 40°58′37″N 73°59′03″W
Harriot Avenue Bridge River Vale & Harrington Park 40°59′06″N 73°59′30″W
Westwood Avenue Bridge River Vale & Old Tappan
New Jersey
40°59′57″N 73°59′21″W
Old Tappan Road 41°00′44″N 74°00′31″W
Lake Tappan Dam footbridge 41°01′06″N 74°00′04″W
Poplar Road – Washington Avenue 41°01′07″N 73°59′59″W
Veterans Memorial Drive CR 20 New York State
Pearl River
41°02′39″N 73°59′17″W
Convent Road CR 26 Pearl River & Blauvelt 41°03′16″N 73°58′56″W
Blauvelt Road 41°03′38″N 73°59′09″W
Palisades Interstate Parkway 41°03′57″N 73°58′44″W
Fifth Avenue 41°04′13″N 73°58′32″W
Former Erie Railroad Bridge
Western Highway CR 15 West Nyack 41°05′10″N 73°57′47″W
River Subdivision (CSX) West Shore Railroad (NYC)
River Line (Conrail)
41°05′12″N 73°57′44″W
New York State Route 59 NY-59 41°05′40″N 73°57′40″W
New York Thruway West Nyack & Bardonia 41°06′03″N 73°57′56″W
Old Mill Road Bardonia 41°06′20″N 73°58′00″W
Lake DeForest Dam 41°06′22″N 73°58′01″W
Congers Road Causeway CR 80 across Lake DeForest New City & Congers 41°09′21″N 73°57′30″W
Ridge Road CR 23 New City 41°09′36″N 73°57′53″W
New York State Route 304 NY-304 41°09′48″N 73°58′05″W
Haverstraw Road Old Route 304 41°10′17″N 73°58′11″W

Abbreviations

1974 view of Lincoln Highway and Pulaski Skyway

See also

References

  1. "Bridges are man-made marvels of the Hackensack River". North Jersey.com. July 15, 2010. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
  2. "Hackensack River". The Travels of Tug 44. www.tug44.org. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
  3. Wang, Dayi; Lynne M. Baumann; Feraidoon Kashani (October 2002). Movable Versus Fixed - Wittpenn Bridge Replacement (PDF) (Report). Heavy Movable Structures. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved November 7, 2012.
  4. Modica, Glenn. "The Hackensack River Vertical Lift Bridges Historic District" (PDF). Richard Grubb Associates. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  5. "New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places - Hudson County". New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection - Historic Preservation Office. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  6. "The Hackensack River: A True Come-Back Story". Haceknsack Riverkeeper. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
  7. Jeffs, Ed (April 2005). "A History of Lake Lucille & Vicinity". Retrieved November 1, 2012.
  8. McKelvey, Bill. "Chronology: Transportation Milestones Around the CRR of NJ Jersey City Terminal (now Liberty State Park) and the NJ / NY Port Area". Liberty Historic Railway. Archived from the original on January 11, 2013. Retrieved November 1, 2012.
  9. Snow, Violet (October 2, 2011). "Little Ferry 'tries to improve living' for residents". The Record (Bergen County). Retrieved October 10, 2012.
  10. Howitt, Naomi; Howitt, george (1976), Musket, Anchor, and Plow: The Story of River Edge, 1677-1976, Arno Press, ISBN 0405098596
  11. "Drawbridges and Railroad Operation" (PDF), The New York Times, May 1, 1903, retrieved October 31, 2012
  12. Marshall, Stephen (December 2004). "The Meadowlands Before the Commission: Three Centuries of Human Use and Alteration of the Newark and Hackensack Meadows". 2 (1). Urban Habitats. Dredging of the Hackensack River began in the 1900s, when the corps dug a 12-foot-deep channel. The current Hackensack River channel is 32 feet deep for the first 3 miles, 25 feet deep for the next ¼ mile, and 15 feet deep for an additional ½ mile. The channel varies between 800 and 200 feet in width Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  13. Newark Bay/Hackensack River/Passaic River Study Area Report (PDF). Hudson-Raritan Estuary Environmental Restoration Feasibility (Report). United States Army Corps of Engineers. June 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 31, 2010. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
  14. "Ecology Along the Hackensack River" (PDF). Hackensack Water Works. Rutgers University School of Environmental and Biological Sciences Center for Urban Sustainability. August 2012. Retrieved November 1, 2012.
  15. Newark Bay, Hackensack and Passaic Rivers – Hackensack River, New Jersey (PDF). Report of Channel Conditions 100 to 400 Feet Wide (ER 1130-2-306) (Report). April 18, 2011. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
  16. Army Corps of Engineers. "Meadowlands Environmental Site Investigation Compilation". New Jersey Meadowlands Commission. Retrieved November 1, 2012.
  17. Olsen, Kevin K. (2008), A Great Conveniency: A Maritime History of the Passaic River, Hackensack River, and Newark Bay, American History Imprints, ISBN 9780975366776
  18. "117.723 Hackensack River", Title 33: Navigation and Navigable Waters Part 117—Drawbridge Operations Regulations, US Government Printing Office, October 20, 2012, retrieved October 20, 2012
  19. Cichowksi, John (June 20, 2010), "Historic Bridge Getting Face-lift", The Record, retrieved October 20, 2012
  20. Sheenan, Bill (Winter 2006). "The Truth About Traffic On the River". At the Helm: A Word from Captain Bill. Hackensack Riverkeeper. Retrieved November 1, 2012.
  21. Maag, Christopher (February 21, 2015). "When Bergen County sludge meets rusty Amtrak bridge, both sides lose". The Record.
  22. "Drawbridge Schedules". NJDOT. April 12, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  23. "Overview". Route 7 Wittpenn Bridge. NJDOT. August 5, 2011. Retrieved November 6, 2012.
  24. "Portal Bridge Capacity Enhancement Project" (Press release). NJDOT. Archived from the original on October 13, 2012. Retrieved November 1, 2012.
  25. "U.S. Route 1-9 Truck straight line diagram" (PDF). NJDOT. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  26. 33CFR117.723(c)
  27. https://bridgehunter.com/nj/bergen/bh73369/
  28. bridgesnyc: Midtown Bridge (Hackensack and Bogota)
  29. "Elm Street Bridge". Bridgehunter.com. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  30. "New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places". New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection - Historic Preservation Office. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  31. Ryall, M. J.; Parke, J. E. Harding, G. A. R. (December 14, 2013). Bridge Management: Inspection, Maintenance, Assessment and Repair. Springer. ISBN 9781489972323.

Sources

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