The Newark Plank Road was a major artery between

Hudson Waterfront The Hudson Waterfront is an urban area of northeastern New Jersey along the lower reaches of the Hudson River, the Upper New York Bay and the Kill van Kull. Though the term can specifically mean the shoreline, it is often used to mean the contigu ...

at Paulus Hook (in today's

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Newark further inland across the New Jersey Meadows. As its name suggests, a

plank road A plank road is a road composed of wooden planks or puncheon logs. Plank roads were commonly found in the Canadian province of Ontario as well as the Northeast and Midwest of the United States in the first half of the 19th century. They were oft ...

was constructed of wooden planks laid side-to-side on a roadbed. Similar roads, the

Bergen Point Plank Road The Jersey City and Bergen Point Plank Road was a road originally built in the 19th century in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States which ran between Paulus Hook and Bergen Point. The company that built the road received a charter on March 6 ...

, the Hackensack Plank Road and Paterson Plank Road, traveled to the locales for which they are named. The name is no longer used, the route having been absorbed into other streets and freeways. In 1765, an act of the Assembly of the

Province of New Jersey The Province of New Jersey was one of the Middle Colonies of Colonial America and became the U.S. state of New Jersey in 1783. The province had originally been settled by Europeans as part of New Netherland but came under English rule after t ...

stated:

A road from New-Ark to the publick road in the town of Bergen, leading to Poulos Hook, and establishing ferries over the two small rivers, Passaick and Hackensack, which makes the distance from Poulus Hook to New-Ark eight miles, and will be a level and good road when the cause-ways are made ; and as said road will be very commodious for travelers, and give a short and easy access of a large country to the markets of the city of New-York and be of a general benefit both to city and country, it is hoped they will unite in the necessary expence of rendering said road for travellers and carriages, more especially since by said law the publick interest alone is regarded.

A corporation sanctioned by the legislation to build a road and bridges over 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 ...

and

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, ...

as part of the developing colonial road network in New Jersey was established. Initially ferry service was instituted at the river crossings which operated until the bridges were completed in 1795. A charter to operate the road was granted on February 24, 1849, and it was renamed Newark Plank Road. By 1869

Central Railroad of New Jersey The Central Railroad of New Jersey, also known as the Jersey Central or Jersey Central Lines , was a Class I railroad with origins in the 1830s. It was absorbed into Conrail in April 1976 along with several other prominent bankrupt railroads of ...

Newark and New York Railroad The Newark and New York Railroad was a passenger rail line that ran between Downtown Newark and the Communipaw Terminal at the mouth of the North River (Hudson River) in Jersey City, bridging the Hackensack River and Passaic River just north ...

was running trains that mirrored the route, using the

PD Draw PD, P.D., or Pd may refer to: Arts and media * ''People's Democracy'' (newspaper), weekly organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) * ''The Plain Dealer'', a Cleveland, Ohio, US newspaper * Post Diaspora, a time frame in the ''Honorverse'' ...

and HD Draw. (The right of way through

Bergen Hill Bergen Hill refers to the lower Hudson Palisades in New Jersey, where they emerge on Bergen Neck, which in turn is the peninsula between the Hackensack and Hudson Rivers, and their bays. In Hudson County, it reaches a height of 260 feet. Rai ...

is now used by Hudson-Bergen Light Rail West Side Branch).

Public Service Railway Transport of New Jersey (TNJ), earlier Public Service Transportation and then Public Service Coordinated Transport, was a street railway and bus company in the U.S. state of New Jersey from 1917 to 1980, when NJ Transit took over their operations ...

Lines #1 ran along much of route until

bustitution A rail replacement bus service uses buses to replace a passenger train service on a temporary or permanent basis. The train service that is replaced may be of any type such as light rail, tram, streetcar, commuter rail, regional rail or he ...

was implemented, keeping the old number now used by

New Jersey Transit New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit, and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey, along with portions of New York State and Pennsylvania. It operates bu ...

as part of the #1 bus route.

Jersey City

The Newark Plank Road begins at the Hudson River on Grand Street, where a ferry took travelers to New York. The road then follows the course of Grand Street (CR 622) and Communipaw Avenue (CR 612) before crossing the Hackensack River on U.S. Route 1/9 Truck. After 1913, the bridge and its approach became part of the

Lincoln Highway The Lincoln Highway is the first transcontinental highway in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated October 31, 191 ...

, one of the first transcontinental automobile routes across the United States.

Kearny Point

After crossing the

on the

Lincoln Highway Hackensack River Bridge The Lincoln Highway Hackensack River Bridge is a vehicular vertical lift bridge crossing the Hackensack River at a point from the river mouth at Newark Bay in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. The bridge, along the route of the Lincoln ...

the road traverses

Kearny Point Kearny may refer to: People *Cresson Kearny (1914–2003, American author and researcher **Kearny fallout meter ** Kearny air pump *Eleanor Kearny Carr (1840–1912), American planter and political hostess, First Lady of North Carolina *Jillian K ...

, the southern tip of

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 ...

where the Hackensack and

meet. It ran parallel to the

Morris Canal The Morris Canal (1829–1924) was a common carrier anthracite coal canal across northern New Jersey that connected the two industrial canals at Easton, Pennsylvania across the Delaware River from its western terminus at Phillipsburg, New Jers ...

. It crosses the

Lincoln Highway Passaic River Bridge The Lincoln Highway Passaic River Bridge is a vehicular moveable bridge crossing the Passaic River at a point from the river mouth at Newark Bay in northeastern New Jersey, United States. The vertical lift bridge, along the route of the Lincol ...

. This section was part the transcontinental

and retains that name. 9 truck Passaic br jeh

Newark

Ferry Street in the

Ironbound The Ironbound is a neighborhood in the city of Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. It is a large working-class multi-ethnic community, covering approximately of well maintained streets and homes. Historically, the area was cal ...

section of Newark was part of the plank road, named after the ferry that would travel between Newark and points east. In 1849, "The Newark Plank Road Company" was hired to fix the road with planks for smoother travel. Ferry Street was then changed to "Plank Road." It was not completed within the fifty-year charter that it was given to accomplish the work. A legal dispute arose and the

Hudson County Hudson County is the most densely populated county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It lies west of the lower Hudson River, which was named for Henry Hudson, the sea captain who explored the area in 1609. Part of New Jersey's Gateway Region in ...

section changed "Plank Road" to the

while the Essex County section was changed back to "Ferry Street.""Ferry Street."
''Newarkology!'' September 29. October 14, 2007.

References

{{coord, 40.73393, -74.14462, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-NJ, display=title History of Newark, New Jersey Streets in Hudson County, New Jersey Bridges in Hudson County, New Jersey Transportation in Hudson County, New Jersey Bridges in Newark, New Jersey Transportation in Essex County, New Jersey Turnpikes in New Jersey Crossings of the Hackensack River U.S. Route 1 U.S. Route 9 Streets in Essex County, New Jersey

Jersey City

Kearny Point

Newark

See also

References