The Belleville Turnpike Bridge is a vehicular

moveable bridge A moveable bridge, or movable bridge, is a bridge that moves to allow passage for boats or barges. In American English, the term is synonymous with , and the latter is the common term, but drawbridge can be limited to the narrower, historical d ...

spanning the

Passaic River Passaic River ( ) is a river, approximately long, in Northern New Jersey. The river in its upper course flows in a highly circuitous route, meandering through the swamp lowlands between the ridge hills of rural and suburban northern New Jersey, ...

northeastern New Jersey The Gateway Region is the primary urbanized area of the northeastern section of New Jersey. It is anchored by Newark, the state's most populous city. While sometimes known as the Newark metropolitan area, it is part of the New York metropolitan ...

from its

river mouth A river mouth is where a river flows into a larger body of water, such as another river, a lake/reservoir, a bay/gulf, a sea, or an ocean. At the river mouth, sediments are often deposited due to the slowing of the current reducing the carrying ...

Newark Bay Newark Bay is a tidal bay at the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in northeastern New Jersey. It is home to the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the largest container shipping facility in Port of New York and New Jersey, t ...

. Also known as Rutgers Street Bridge and Route 7 Bridge, it is the fourth fixed crossing to be built at the location, today the

tripoint A tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints as of 2020. Nearly half are situated in rivers, l ...

of the municipal and county lines of Belleville in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, Kearny in

Hudson Hudson may refer to: People * Hudson (given name) * Hudson (surname) * Henry Hudson, English explorer * Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back * Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Hudso ...

, and North Arlington in

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

. Commissioned by the

New Jersey Department of Transportation The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) is the agency responsible for transportation issues and policy in New Jersey, including maintaining and operating the state's highway and public road system, planning and developing transportat ...

, which owns and operates it, the

vertical lift bridge A vertical-lift bridge or just lift bridge is a type of movable bridge in which a span rises vertically while remaining parallel with the deck. The vertical lift offers several benefits over other movable bridges such as the bascule and swin ...

opened in 2002.

Operations

The lower of the Passaic River downstream of the

Dundee Dam The Dundee Canal was an industrial canal in Clifton and Passaic in Passaic County, New Jersey. It was built between 1858 and 1861 and ran parallel to the Passaic River. It supplied hydropower and water for manufacturing. There was interest by some ...

is tidally influenced and channelized. Once one of the most heavily used waterways in the

Port of New York and New Jersey The Port of New York and New Jersey is the port district of the New York-Newark metropolitan area, encompassing the region within approximately a radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. It includes the system of navigable water ...

, it remains partially

navigable A body of water, such as a river, canal or lake, is navigable if it is deep, wide and calm enough for a water vessel (e.g. boats) to pass safely. Such a navigable water is called a ''waterway'', and is preferably with few obstructions against dir ...

for commercial

marine traffic Maritime transport (or ocean transport) and hydraulic effluvial transport, or more generally waterborne transport, is the transport of people (passengers) or goods (cargo) via waterways. Freight transport by sea has been widely used throu ...

. 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. Both bridges along

New Jersey Route 7 Route 7 is a state highway in the northern part of New Jersey in the United States. It has two sections, an east–west alignment running from U.S. Route 1/9 Truck in Jersey City, New Jersey, Jersey City to New Jersey Route 21, Route 21 in ...

are operated by the NJDOT. The crossing of the

Hackensack River The Hackensack River is a river, approximately 45 miles (72 km) long, in the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, emptying into Newark Bay, a back chamber of New York Harbor. The watershed of the river includes part of the subur ...

, the

Wittpenn Bridge The Wittpenn Bridge is a vertical-lift bridge that carries New Jersey Route 7 over the Hackensack River connecting Kearny, New Jersey, Kearny and Jersey City, New Jersey, Jersey City, New Jersey. It is named after H. Otto Wittpenn, a former mayor ...

, is manned and opens on demand. The Rutgers Street Bridge requires four hours' notice for opening.

History

The valley of the Passaic River in the vicinity of the bridge was first settled by Europeans in the late 17th century.

Schuyler Copper Mine The Schuyler Copper Mine is an abandoned, historic copper mine located in what is now North Arlington in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. Operations began in 1715, making it the earliest copper mine in New Jersey and one of the oldest i ...

, founded in 1715, was one of the earliest in the United States. Of the homesteads that lined the banks, several remain, including (from south to north) the Sydenham House, the

Van Riper House The Van Riper House is a Bergen Dutch sandstone house located in Nutley, New Jersey, built in 1708. The building was owned in the 20th century by ITT Corporation and served as executives' residence and offices. In 2001, the building and 0.9 acr ...

Kingsland Manor The Kingsland Manor is a Dutch Colonial home with Federal-style elements located at 3 Kingsland Street in Nutley, Essex County, New Jersey, United States. The house was added to the New Jersey Register of Historic Places on January 9, 1978, a ...

Vreeland Homestead The Vreeland Homestead is located in Nutley, Essex County, New Jersey, United States. The house was built in 1702 and added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 14, 1994. The inscription on the tablet placed in 1935 by Nutle ...

Jacob W. Van Winkle House The Jacob W. Van Winkle House is located in Lyndhurst, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The homestead was built in 1797 and is the current home of the Masonic Club of Lyndhurst. The homestead was added to the National Register ...

, and Yereance-Berry House. Belleville was founded near the point where the Second River empties in the Passaic, the river crossing is in the immediate vicinity of the

Reformed Dutch Church of Second River The Belleville Dutch Reformed Church, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Reformed Dutch Church of Second River, is a historic church located in Belleville, Essex County, New Jersey, United States. Founded as a Dutch Reforme ...

. A bridge crossing the Passaic was built some time earlier at Acquackanonk about 4 miles to the north. The Belleville Turnpike was created in 1759 as a colonial turnpike originally laid with cedar logs to cross what was then known as

New Barbadoes Neck New Barbadoes Neck is the name given in the colonial era for the peninsula in northeastern New Jersey, US between the lower Hackensack and Passaic Rivers, in what is now western Hudson County and southern Bergen County. The neck begins in the ...

and today as the Kearny Meadows. The first bridge across the Passaic River at Rutgers Street was chartered in 1790 by Anthony Rutgers. The wooden structure burned down in 1841, and was immediately replaced by the second, known as the White Bridge. That structure was replaced in 1914 by a

bascule bridge A bascule bridge (also referred to as a drawbridge or a lifting bridge) is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances a span, or leaf, throughout its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. It may be single- or ...

Dedication

As of July 4, 2013, the bridge was formally designated the Lance Corporal Osbrany Montes de Oca Memorial Bridge to honor a North Arlington resident, a 20-year-old U.S. Marine fatally wounded February 10, 2012, while serving in Afghanistan.Assembly, No. 2676 State of New Jersey 215th Legislature

New Jersey General Assembly The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. Since the election of 1967 (1968 Session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts for ...

, introduced March 8, 2012. Accessed August 21, 2013. "Designates State Highway Route 7 bridge between Township of Belleville and Borough of North Arlington 'Lance Corporal Osbrany Montes de Oca Memorial Bridge.'"

References

External links

*
Belleville Historic Photo Archive: Belleville Bridges
* *
Citydata photo
* {{Crossings navbox , structure =

Crossings Crossings may refer to: * ''Crossings'' (Buffy novel), a 2002 original novel based on the U.S. television series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' * Crossings (game), a two-player abstract strategy board game invented by Robert Abbott * ''Crossings'' ...

, place =

, bridge = Belleville Turnpike Bridge , bridge signs = , upstream = Kingsland Avenue Bridge , upstream signs = , downstream = Passaic Avenue , downstream signs = Belleville, New Jersey Bridges over the Passaic River Road bridges in New Jersey Kearny, New Jersey North Arlington, New Jersey Bridges in Essex County, New Jersey Bridges in Bergen County, New Jersey Bridges completed in 2002 Historic American Engineering Record in New Jersey Vertical lift bridges in New Jersey Bridges in Hudson County, New Jersey 2002 establishments in New Jersey Steel bridges in the United States Concrete bridges in the United States

Operations

History

Dedication

See also

References

External links