The Hackensack River courses southward for approximately 50 miles (80 km)[4] in Rockland County, New York in the north and Bergen and Hudson counties in northeastern New Jersey to the south, forming the border of the latter two for part of its length. Its source[5] is in New City, New York. The river empties into Newark Bay between Kearny Point in South Kearny and Droyer's Point in Jersey City.
The area was settled by Bergen Dutch who established regular water crossings at Douwe's Ferry[6] and Little Ferry.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9]
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,[10] namely the Oradell (1923), the DeForest (1952), and the Tappan (1972).[11] The river is now tidally influenced to the island.[12] The Hackensack has only been channelized to Milepoint 3.5 at the Riverbend in Hudson County.[10][13] The accumulation of silt has diminished the depth, and thus navigability, of the Lower Hackensack.[14] which at one time was a major waterway for towboats and river barges in the Port of New York and New Jersey.[15]
Since 1999, the bridge at Milepoint 16.3 is the most upstream bridge required by the Code of Federal Regulations to open on request,[16] though no requests have made since 1994.[17] The Lower Hackensack remains partially in use for commercial maritime traffic, notably for sewage sludge for treatment at a facility on the bay.[18] (Coal deliveries to the Hudson Generating Station ended upon the facilities closure).[19] and 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.[20] and rail crossings to open on 1-hour notice.[16] New crossings included the replacement the Wittpenn Bridge, a vehicular bridge at MP 3.1 with a new vertical lift bridge[21] and replacement the Portal Bridge, a rail swing bridge at MP 5.0, with a through arch bridge.[22]
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 / 40.718709°N 74.103985°W | |||
1.7 | Newark Plank Road (defunct) | PS | 40°43′36″N 74°05′57″W / 40.7268°N 74.0992°W | |||
1.8 | Lincoln Highway Hackensack River Bridge
(Shawn Carson and Robert Nguyen Memorial Bridge) |
US 1-9 Truck milepoint 1.72 Lincoln Highway East Coast Greenway |
40°43′38″N 74°05′55″W / 40.727324°N 74.098728°W | [23] | ||
Pulaski Skyway | US 1-9 Truck |
40°44′06″N 74°05′42″W / 40.735064°N 74.09493°W | ||||
PATH Lift Bridge | PRR and H&M PATH |
Jersey City & Kearny Meadows | 40°44′24″N 74°04′59″W / 40.740108°N 74.083048°W | |||
Harsimus Branch Lift aka Hack Freight Railroad Bridge[24] |
PRR Conrail (North Jersey Shared Assets) NS |
40°44′26″N 74°04′55″W / 40.740475°N 74.082034°W | ||||
3.1 | Wittpenn Bridge | original alignment of the Newark Turnpike Route 7 |
40°44′25″N 74°04′52″W / 40.740313°N 74.081138°W | |||
Wittpenn Bridge |
40°44′28″N 74°04′53″W / 40.741064°N 74.081266°W | |||||
New Jersey Railroad (defunct) |
PRR | 40°44′28″N 74°04′53″W / 40.741064°N 74.081266°W | ||||
3.4 | Lower Hack Lift | DL&W Morris and Essex Lines (NJT) |
Riverbend | 40°44′36″N 74°04′37″W / 40.7432°N 74.0770°W | ||
5.0 | Portal Bridge | PRR Northeast Corridor Amtrak and NJT |
Secaucus Junction & Kearny Meadows | 40°45′13″N 74°05′41″W / 40.75361°N 74.09472°W | ||
Portal Bridge South (planned) | Gateway Project | |||||
Portal Bridge North (planned) | Gateway Project | |||||
Lewandowski Hackensack River Bridge | I-95 Toll / N.J. Turnpike (Eastern Spur) |
Snake Hill & Kearny Meadows | 40°45′36″N 74°05′41″W / 40.760098°N 74.094594°W | |||
DB Draw (unused) | New York and Greenwood Lake Railroad (Erie) Boonton Line (NJT) NS Essex–Hudson Greenway |
40°45′30″N 74°05′36″W / 40.75831°N 74.093355°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 / 40.778015°N 74.089906°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 / 40.788078°N 74.081869°W | NJT # | |
Route 3 East | Route 3 | Secaucus & Meadowlands Sports Complex | 40°47′55″N 74°04′08″W / 40.798745°N 74.068978°W | |||
Route 3 West (Medgar Evers Bridge) |
Route 3 | 40°48′02″N 74°04′01″W / 40.800678°N 74.067058°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 / 40.80586°N 74.0608°W | |||
Western Spur Bridge | I-95 Toll / N.J. Turnpike (Western Spur) |
Carlstadt & Ridgefield Park | 40°49′23″N 74°02′04″W / 40.823179°N 74.034358°W | |||
Bergen Turnpike (aka Hackensack Plank Road) (defunct) |
Public Service CR 124 |
Ridgefield Park & Little Ferry | 40°50′55″N 74°01′49″W / 40.8485°N 74.0303°W | |||
14.0 | Route 46 Hackensack River Bridge (aka S46 Bridge & Winant Avenue Bridge) |
US 46 | 40°51′04″N 74°01′45″W / 40.8511°N 74.0293°W | |||
Interstate 80 | I-80 | Bogota & Hackensack | 40°52′02″N 74°02′08″W / 40.867104°N 74.035601°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 / 40.8790°N 74.0395°W | |||
16.2 | New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway | NYS&W[25] | 40°52′52″N 74°02′15″W / 40.881163°N 74.037393°W | |||
Midtown Bridge aka Salem Street Bridge (Ryan Memorial Bridge)[26] |
CR 56 West Main Street originally carried PS and predecessor streetcars lines |
40°52′57″N 74°02′10″W / 40.882509°N 74.036116°W | ||||
Anderson Street Bridge aka Cedar Lane Bridge |
East Anderson Street - Cedar Lane | Teaneck & Hackensack | 40°53′31″N 74°02′11″W / 40.891975°N 74.036288°W | |||
Fairleigh Dickinson University Footbridge | 40°53′56″N 74°01′54″W / 40.898812°N 74.031638°W | |||||
Route 4 | Route 4 | 40°54′09″N 74°01′48″W / 40.902582°N 74.030021°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 / 40.912816°N 74.032221°W | ||
New Bridge Road | New Milford & River Edge | 40°54′54″N 74°01′50″W / 40.914907°N 74.030521°W | ||||
River Edge Avenue Bridge | 40°56′06″N 74°01′43″W / 40.934914°N 74.028541°W | |||||
New Milford Avenue Bridge (Merschrod Memorial Bridge) |
New Milford | 40°56′46″N 74°01′35″W / 40.946163°N 74.026505°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 / 40.94694°N 74.02500°W | [27][28][29] | ||
Oradell Avenue Bridge | Oradell | 40°57′14″N 74°01′44″W / 40.953909°N 74.028933°W | [30] | |||
Oradell Reservoir Dam | Oradell | 40°57′22″N 74°01′44″W / 40.956129°N 74.029001°W | ||||
Old Hook Road Bridge | CR 502 | Emerson, Harrington Park & Closter | 40°58′37″N 73°59′03″W / 40.976889°N 73.984235°W | |||
Harriot Avenue Bridge | River Vale & Harrington Park | 40°59′06″N 73°59′30″W / 40.984976°N 73.991579°W | ||||
Westwood Avenue Bridge | River Vale & Old Tappan New Jersey |
40°59′57″N 73°59′21″W / 40.999274°N 73.989304°W | ||||
Old Tappan Road | 41°00′44″N 74°00′31″W / 41.012293°N 74.008504°W | |||||
Lake Tappan Dam | footbridge | 41°01′06″N 74°00′04″W / 41.0183°N 74.0011°W | ||||
Poplar Road – Washington Avenue | 41°01′07″N 73°59′59″W / 41.01855°N 73.99978°W | |||||
Veterans Memorial Drive | CR 20 | New York State Pearl River |
41°02′39″N 73°59′17″W / 41.044145°N 73.98807°W | |||
Convent Road | CR 26 | Pearl River & Blauvelt | 41°03′16″N 73°58′56″W / 41.054534°N 73.982284°W | |||
Blauvelt Road | 41°03′38″N 73°59′09″W / 41.060537°N 73.985845°W | |||||
Palisades Interstate Parkway | Palisades Parkway | 41°03′57″N 73°58′44″W / 41.065892°N 73.978937°W | ||||
Fifth Avenue | 41°04′13″N 73°58′32″W / 41.07024°N 73.97554°W | |||||
Former Erie Railroad Bridge | ||||||
Western Highway | CR 15 | West Nyack | 41°05′10″N 73°57′47″W / 41.086237°N 73.962923°W | |||
River Subdivision (CSX) | West Shore Railroad (NYC) River Line (Conrail) |
41°05′12″N 73°57′44″W / 41.086712°N 73.962341°W | ||||
New York State Route 59 | NY 59 | 41°05′40″N 73°57′40″W / 41.094388°N 73.961045°W | ||||
New York Thruway | I-87 / I-287 / New York Thruway | West Nyack & Bardonia | 41°06′03″N 73°57′56″W / 41.100925°N 73.965501°W | |||
Old Mill Road | Bardonia | 41°06′20″N 73°58′00″W / 41.105468°N 73.966711°W | ||||
Lake DeForest Dam | 41°06′22″N 73°58′01″W / 41.10621°N 73.966806°W | |||||
Congers Road Causeway | CR 80 across Lake DeForest | New City & Congers | 41°09′21″N 73°57′30″W / 41.1558°N 73.9584°W | |||
Ridge Road | CR 23 | New City | 41°09′36″N 73°57′53″W / 41.1599°N 73.9648°W | |||
New York State Route 304 | NY 304 | 41°09′48″N 73°58′05″W / 41.1632°N 73.9681°W | ||||
Haverstraw Road | Old Route 304 | 41°10′17″N 73°58′11″W / 41.17134°N 73.96984°W |
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
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Bridge was constructed in 1904. The structure had a major reconstruction in 1970 and rehabilitated in 1995 with funding provided by NJDOT-LA. The bridge is structurally deficient and functionally obsolete. Superstructure is in poor condition due to section loss and deformed bottom flange plates as a result of the significant rust between the steel plates at midspan of the girders, holes in the bottom girder flanges, and section loss to the sidewalk cantilevered struts. The structure is classified as fracture critical. Oradell train station adjacent to bridge
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: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)This publication lists the wrong date for the swing bridge at New Bridge Landing. Correct date built is February 4, 1889.