Kingsland Avenue Bridge, earlier known as Avondale Bridge and designated the De Jessa Memorial Bridge, is a vehicular

movable 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 ...

over 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, ...

in northeastern New Jersey. It crosses the county line to connect the towns of Lyndhurst 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 ...

and Nutley 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 ...

, originally taking its name from the Kingsland section. The bridge is from the river's mouth at

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 ...

, and is required to open on four hours' notice. As of 2010, there were 26,420 daily crossings of the bridge, which provides one lane in each direction.

History

Designed as a joint project between the two counties and built 1903-1905 by the New Jersey Bridge Company, it has a rim-bearing hybrid (pinned/riveted) Warren

through truss A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

swing span A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravity, about which the swing span (turning span) can then pi ...

supported on an

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

substructure and Warren

pony truss A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or s ...

approach spans. Rededicated July 14, 1981, in memory of Joseph Carmine De Jessa, a U.S. Marine and the first Lyndhurst native killed in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, the bridge was significantly rehabilitated in 1984.

Planned reconstruction/replacement

The bridge is considered functionally obsolete, meaning that it can no longer handle the traffic demands made upon it when considering such factors as load carrying capacity, vertical, clearance, alignment, and deck geometry. Bergen and Essex have requested that the bridge be re-built by the NJDOT and are acquiring land for a widening of right-of way along approach roads to it. The scope of work could be as extensive as that of the Court Street Bridge on the Hackensack completed in 2012. As of 2014 roadworks in the vicinity of the bridge were under way, but no funding for its repair or replacement had been identified. In December 2014 the

North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority The North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA) is the federally authorized metropolitan planning organization (MPO) for the 13-county northern New Jersey region, one of three MPOs in the state. NJTPA's annual budget is more than $2&nb ...

(NJTPA) recommended funding for the concept development for the replacement of the bridge. In September 2015, NJTPA put out a request for proposals to begin the process. As of 2020 NJTPA reported it as a development project.

References

External links

* {{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 = Kingsland Avenue Bridge , bridge signs = , upstream =

, upstream signs = NJ Transit , downstream =

Belleville Turnpike Bridge The Belleville Turnpike Bridge is a vehicular moveable bridge spanning the Passaic River in northeastern New Jersey from its river mouth at Newark Bay. Also known as Rutgers Street Bridge and Route 7 Bridge, it is the fourth fixed crossing to be ...

, downstream signs = Bridges over the Passaic River Swing bridges in the United States Lyndhurst, New Jersey Nutley, New Jersey Bridges in Essex County, New Jersey Bridges in Bergen County, New Jersey Bridges completed in 1905 Road bridges in New Jersey Steel bridges in the United States Warren truss bridges in the United States 1905 establishments in New Jersey

History

Planned reconstruction/replacement

See also

References

External links