List of crossings of the Lower Passaic River

The NX, Clay Street, and Stickel bridges are seen in this view looking downstream, or south, to Newark Gateway.

The Lower Passaic River in New Jersey is the section of the Passaic River below the Great Falls which flows over the Dundee Dam to the river mouth at Newark Bay in the northeastern part of the state. Its midpoint generally delineates the Essex-Hudson and Passaic-Bergen county lines. Numerous spans, mostly moveable bridges, have been built over of the lower reaches of the river, which is tidally influenced to the dam at about mile point (MP) 17.4 and channelized to about MP 17. Once one of the most heavily used waterways in the Port of New York and New Jersey, it remains partially navigable for commercial marine traffic. While requests have significantly diminished since the mid-late 20th century, the bridge at MP 11.7 and those downstream from it are required by federal regulations to open with advance notice, with the exception of the first at MP 1.8, which is manned and opens on demand.

Early fixed crossings included turnpikes, sometimes built as plank roads. Wood, and later, metal bridges were constructed by competing railroads to access railyards, carfloat operations, passenger terminals, and ferries on the Hudson Waterfront. Rail lines led to further industrialization, urbanization-suburbanization, and the construction of vehicular bridges and streetcar lines. The advent of automobile age in the early and mid 20th century saw the building of highway bridges.

The Acquackanonk Bridge was dismantled in 1776 as George Washington retreated from Fort Lee. Another with the same name at the crossing was lost to flooding in 1903. The first railroad swing bridge in the United States was built in 1833. Numerous bridges have been demolished or fallen into disuse, while others have had their swing spans removed, replaced or immobilized. The first new bridge to be built since 2002, the Passaic River Crossing, opened in 2014.^[1]

Crossings

MP	Crossing	Image	Open	Carries/Carried	Locale/Connecting	Coordinates	Notes
1.2	PD Draw (unused-swing span removed)		1869 1912	Newark and New York Railroad (CNJ)	Kearny Point & Newark Ironbound	40°43′23″N 74°07′17″W / 40.72295°N 74.12126°W / 40.72295; -74.12126	Swing spand shifted to new alignment[2]
	Portway Bridge (proposed)			Doremus Avenue to Central/Pennsylvania Aves	Kearny Point & Port Newark		NJDOT to Wittpenn Bridge replacement
	Newark Plank Road (removed)			PS	Kearny Point & Newark Ironbound		Ferry Street first bridge 1795
1.8	Lincoln Highway Passaic River Bridge		1941	US 1-9 Truck Lincoln Highway	Kearny Point & Newark Ironbound	40°43′57″N 74°07′05″W / 40.7324°N 74.1180°W / 40.7324; -74.1180	East Coast Greenway Raymond Boulevard NJRHP
2.0	Pulaski Skyway		1932	US 1/9	Kearny Point & Newark Ironbound		no trucks, bicycles, or peds NJRHP & NRHP
2.6	Point-No-Point Bridge		Coordinates: 40°44′29″N 74°07′17″W / 40.74148°N 74.12136°W / 40.74148; -74.12136	Conrail Passaic and Harsimus Line (CSX) (NS)	Kearny Meadows & Newark Ironbound		PRR
2.7	Chaplain Washington Bridge		1952	NJ Turnpike Eastern Spur I-95	Kearny Meadows & Newark Ironbound		no bicycles or pedestrians
2.7	Harry Laderman Bridge		1970	NJ Turnpike Western Spur I-95	Kearny Meadows & Newark Ironbound		no bicycles or pedestrians
4.6	Jackson Street Bridge		1903	Jackson Street Frank E. Rodgers Blvd	Harrison & Newark Ironbound		NJRHP
	Pedestrian bridge (proposed)			Harrison Riverfront Riverbank Park	Harrison & Newark Ironbound
	Market Street Bridge (removed)		1868 1899	NJRR PRR	Harrison & Newark Penn		Swing span shifted to new alignment[3]
5.0	Amtrak Dock Vertical Lift (2 spans)		1935 (west) 1937 (east)	Northeast Corridor Amtrak Northeast Corridor Line (NJT) North Jersey Coast Line (NJT) Raritan Valley Line (NJT) PATH	Harrison & Newark Penn		PRR & H&M NJRPH & NRHP
	Centre Street Bridge (removed)		1834 1911	New Jersey Railroad PRR H&M Route 158	Harrison & Downtown Newark Park Place Station		Upper level added Converted from rail to vehicular bridge 1927
5.6	Bridge Street Bridge		1913	Bridge Street & Harrison Avenue CR 508	Harrison & Downtown Newark		NJRHP
5.85	Newark Drawbridge		1903	Montclair-Boonton Line (NJT) Morristown Line (NJT) Gladstone Branch (NJT)	Harrison & Newark Broad Street Station		Morris and Essex Railroad (DL&W)
5.9	William A. Stickel Memorial Bridge		1949	I-280	Harrison & Newark
6.0	Clay Street Bridge		1908	Central Avenue Clay Street	East Newark & Newark Broadway|
6.35	NX Bridge (abandoned)		1922	Newark Branch (Erie)	Harrison/East Newark & Newark		Fixed open position
8.1	WR Draw (unused)		1897	New York & Greenwood Lake (Erie) Boonton Line (NJT)	Arlington, Kearny & North Newark		Kearny Riverbank Park
8.9	Belleville Turnpike Bridge		2002	Route 7 (Belleville Turnpike)	Arlington, Kearny & Belleville
10.7	Avondale Bridge		1905	Park Avenue to Kingsland Avenue	Nutley & Lyndhurst		aka DeJessa Memorial Bridge or Park Avenue Bridge
11.7	Lyndhurst Draw		1903	Main Line (NJT) NS	Clifton Delawanna & Lyndhurst		DL&W & Erie Boonton Branch NJRHP
	Route 3 Passaic River Crossing		2014	Route 3	Clifton & Rutherford/Lyndhurst		NJDOT
11.8	Old Route 3 Passaic River Bridge (demolished)		1949 demolished 2013		Clifton & Rutherford
13.2	Union Avenue Bridge		1896 2002	Union Avenue	Route 21 Passaic & Rutherford		aka Douglas O. Mead Bridge Swing removed and reconstructed (2002)
	BE Draw (removed)		1833 (1st)	Paterson and Hudson River Railroad (Erie)	Passaic-Passaic Park & Rutherford/Wallington Carlton Hill		Erie Main Line until 1963[4][5]
	Acquackanonk Bridge (removed)			Paterson Plank Road Paterson, Passaic and Rutherford Electric Railway	Passaic & Wallington		burned 1776 destroyed in flood 1903
14.0	Gregory Avenue Bridge		1906	Gregory Avenue to Paterson Avenue	Passaic & Wallington		aka Slomiany Memorial Bridge Fixed closed position (1986) NJRHP
14.7	Second Street Bridge		1930 2002	Market Street	Passaic & Wallington		aka Market Street Bridge Fixed closed position (1977) swing removed & reconstructed (2002)
15.3	Eighth Street Bridge		1915	Eighth Street Main Avenue	Passaic & Wallington		Fixed closed position (1976) NJRHP
	Passaic Street Bridge		1898	Passaic Street	Passaic & Garfield		NJRHP
	Bergen County Short-Cut		1881 (1st)	Dundee Spur (Erie) New York and Greenwood Lake Railway (1996)	Passaic & Garfield		connections to NS/Bergen County Line (NJT)
	Monroe Street Bridge		1908	Monroe Street	Passaic & Garfield		1875-1878 bridge lost to flooding
	Passaic Branch[6] (removed)		1885	Passaic and New York Railroad (NYS&W)	Passaic & Garfield		Passaic Junction (rail yard) Botany Mills
	Veterans Bridge			Ackerman Avenue Outwater Lane	Clifton & Garfield		aka Robertsford Bridge Dundee Canal Industrial Historic District
17.4	Dundee Dam		1861	n/a	Clifton & Garfield

Abbreviations

• CNJ=Central Railroad of New Jersey
• CSXT=CSX Transportation
• DL&W=Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad
• Erie=Erie Railroad
• H&M=Hudson and Manhattan Railroad
• NRHP=National Register of Historic Places
• NJDOT=New Jersey Department of Transportation
• NJRHP=New Jersey Register of Historic Places
• NJT=New Jersey Transit
• NYS&W=New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway
• NS=Norfolk Southern Railway
• PATH=Port Authority Trans-Hudson
• PRR=Pennsylvania Railroad
• PS=Public Service Railway

See also

• Bridges portal
• New Jersey portal
• Timeline of Jersey City area railroads
• List of bridges, tunnels, and cuts in Hudson County, New Jersey
• List of crossings of the Hackensack River
• List of NJT moveable bridges
• List of fixed crossings of the North River (Hudson River)

Notes

Sources

• "Lower Passaic River Restoration Project Commercial Navigation Analysis" (PDF). United States Army Corps of Engineers. July 2, 2010 (2nd Revision). Retrieved 2012-08-20.  Check date values in: |date= (help)
• "Historic Bridge Survey (1991-1994)". NJDOT. 2001. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
• "New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places". NJ DEP - State Historic Preservation Office. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
• "Masonry and Metal The Historic Bridges of Bergen County, New Jersey" (PDF). Richard Grubb and Associates. 2008. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
• "33 CFR 117.739 - Passaic River.". Code of Federal Regulations. Coast Guard, Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved 2012-08-021. updated to July 1, 2010  Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
• "Section 117.739 - Passaic River." (PDF). Code of Federal Regulations Title 33 - Navigation and Navigable Waters Volume: 1. Government Publishing Office. July 1, 2002. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
• Report of the Assembly Committee Appointed to Inquire into the Condition of the Bridges over the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in the Counties of Union, Essex, Hudson (Report). Trenton: New Jersey Assembly. 1865. 
• "Bridges over the Passaic River". Passaic River Basin. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
• "Drawbridge Schedules". NJDOT. April 12, 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
• "Bridgehunter: Passaic River". Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
• "Bridgesnyc". Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
• "FAQS about Recreational Boating on the Lower Passaic River". Passaic River Boat Club. Retrieved 2012-08-25. 
• Jag9889. "Passaic River Bridges". Flickr. Retrieved 2012-08-25. 
• "National Bridge Inventory Database". Retrieved 2012-08-21. 
• "Passaic River, New Jersey" (PDF). Report of Channel Conditions 100 to 400 Feet Wide (ER 1130-2-306). US Army Corps of Engineers. September 14, 2010. Retrieved 2012-11-11. 
• "Route 3 Passaic River Crossing". NJDOT. August 11, 2011. Retrieved 2012-08-25. 
• "Acquakanonk Bridge". Revolutionary War in New Jersey. Retrieved 2012-08-08. 
• Olsen, Kevin K. (2008), A Great Conveniency A Maritime History of the Passaic River, Hackensack River, and Newark Bay, American History Imprints, ISBN 9780975366776 

External links

Ensslin, John C. (September 30, 2012), Many Bergen County bridges nearing end of lifespan, retrieved 2012-10-03 

• http://www.urbanindustrialimaging.com/p764603697/h25066bbe#h27cc738