The Lincoln Highway Hackensack River Bridge is a vehicular

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 ...

crossing 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 ...

at a point from the river 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 ...

Hudson County, New Jersey 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 t ...

, United States. The bridge, along the

route of the Lincoln Highway ''Note: A fully interactive online map of the Lincoln Highway and all of its re-alignments, markers, monuments and historic points of interest can be viewed at thLincoln Highway Association Official Map website'' As the Lincoln Highway was one of ...

, carries U.S. Route 1/9 Truck (at

milepoint A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway line, canal or boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks; or they can give their position on the route relative to so ...

1.72) and the

East Coast Greenway The East Coast Greenway is a pedestrian and bicycle route between Maine and Florida along the East Coast of the United States. In 2020, the Greenway received over 50 million visits. The nonprofit East Coast Greenway Alliance was created in 1991. ...

between the

West Side West Side or Westside may refer to: Places Canada * West Side, a neighbourhood of Windsor, Ontario * West Side, a neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia United Kingdom * West Side, Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Westside, Birmingham E ...

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.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 ...

in Kearny. The most recent of many crossings at the location, the current bridge was completed in 1954. It is owned by and operated 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 ...

(NJDOT), and is required by the

Title 33 of the Code of Federal Regulations Title 33 is the portion of the Code of Federal Regulations that governs Navigation and Navigable Waters within the United States. It is available in digital or printed form. Title 33 and Title 46 of the Code of Federal Regulations are usually co ...

to open on signal for maritime traffic. In 2007 it was designated the Shawn Carson and Robert Nguyen Memorial Bridge.

Location

The Lincoln Highway Bridge crosses the Hackensack River in the vicinity of the river's Droyer's Reach and Marion Reach. Along the east bank of the river Hudson Mall and Droyer's Point lie to the south of the bridge, and

Lincoln Park Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US President Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for seven miles (11 km) from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, ...

and the Marion Section lie to the north. The west bank at

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 ...

is an industrial and distribution warehouse area. During the first half of the 20th century it was a site of yards of the

Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company The Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company was a United States shipyard, active from 1917 to 1948. It was founded during World War I to build ships for the United States Shipping Board. During World War II, it built ships as part of the U.S. Gov ...

. The eastern approach to the bridge is fed by Communipaw Avenue (CR 612) from the east, Route 440 from the south, and Route 1/9 Truck from the north. The bridge is an important component in the transportation of goods 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 ...

. 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 ...

crosses 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, ...

Port Newark A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...

and

Newark Airport Newark Liberty International Airport , originally Newark Metropolitan Airport and later Newark International Airport, is an international airport straddling the boundary between the cities of Newark in Essex County and Elizabeth in Union Count ...

. Since the nearby

Pulaski Skyway The Pulaski Skyway is a four-lane bridge-causeway in the Gateway Region, northeastern part of the U.S. state of New Jersey, carrying an freeway, expressway designated U.S. Route 1/9 (US 1/9) for most of its length. The structure has a ...

prohibits trucks they often use Route 1/9 Truck to serve the numerous

intermodal freight transport Intermodal freight transport involves the transportation of freight in an intermodal container or vehicle, using multiple modes of transportation (e.g., rail, ship, aircraft, and truck), without any handling of the freight itself when changing ...

facilities in the

New Jersey Meadowlands New Jersey Meadowlands, also known as the Hackensack Meadowlands after the primary river flowing through it, is a general name for the large ecosystem of wetlands in northeastern New Jersey in the United States, a few miles to the west of N ...

and to access the

Holland Tunnel The Holland Tunnel is a vehicular tunnel under the Hudson River that connects the New York City neighborhood of Hudson Square in Lower Manhattan to the east with Jersey City in New Jersey to the west. The tunnel is operated by the Port Author ...

Early roads and crossings

In 1765, 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 the ...

authorised construction of a new

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 ...

connecting the city of

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

to the

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 ...

Paulus Hook Paulus Hook is a community on the Hudson River waterfront in Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Exchange Place in Jersey City). It incorporated an existing road, now

Ferry Street (Newark) 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 ...

, on the west bank of the

and another across 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 t ...

to the Hackensack. From the Hackensack the road travelled eastward over

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 ...

and connected with another colonial

turnpike Turnpike often refers to: * A type of gate, another word for a turnstile * In the United States, a toll road Turnpike may also refer to: Roads United Kingdom * A turnpike road, a principal road maintained by a turnpike trust, a body with powers ...

, later known as

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 ...

, at Communipaw Junction in what was then Bergen Township.

Cable ferry A cable ferry (including the terms chain ferry, swing ferry, floating bridge, or punt) is a ferry that is guided (and in many cases propelled) across a river or large body of water by cables connected to both shores. Early cable ferries often ...

service preceded the construction of the first fixed crossing in the immediate vicinity of the current bridge. The crossing was known as Brown's Ferry for the man who operated the ferries across the rivers. Built in the early 19th century, 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 ...

route crossed the rivers parallel to the ferry crossing, and later, the turnpike bridges.

First, fallen and failed bridges

In 1849 a charter was granted by the

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 ...

to a corporation to upgrade and operate the

toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or ''toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented ...

, which became known as the

Newark Plank Road The Newark Plank Road was a major artery between Hudson Waterfront at Paulus Hook (in today's Jersey City) and city of Newark further inland across the New Jersey Meadows. As its name suggests, a plank road was constructed of wooden planks laid ...

. Soon after, the ''"Newark Plank Road and Ferry Company"'' requested and received permission to build bridges over the Hackensack and Passaic rivers, a request contested by stockholders of the rival ''"Proprietors of Bridges over the Rivers Passaic and Hackensack"'', which operated the Newark Turnpike over the rivers and Hackensack Meadows. They maintained that a monopoly for bridges had been granted in their 1790s charter. A bridge across the Hackensack was built by 1856, but one across the Passaic was the subject of litigation. A survey published in 1865 described the Hackensack bridge as a wooden half-pivot draw.

Streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

service along the plank road was initiated in 1895 by a predecessor of the Public Service Railway, later becoming part of its Newark-Jersey City Line (#1). (Today's New Jersey Transit bus service #1 retains the number along the route.) A new bridge was constructed in 1906. During the

Good Roads Movement The Good Roads Movement occurred in the United States between the late 1870s and the 1920s. It was the rural dimension of the Progressive movement. A key player was the United States Post Office Department. Once a commitment was made for Rural F ...

the road and bridges were again renewed in conjunction with the creation 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, 1913 ...

, the first transcontinental highway in the USA. On December 13, 1913 New Jersey dedicated the new "Lincoln Way" after having spent $1.25 million on a widening and re-paving project in the northeastern part of the state. By the early 1920s this part of the

, including the bridges spanning the rivers, was among the most heavily used roads in the United States. A survey conducted in 1920 by county officials counted 11,000 crossings of the river in a 15-hour period. In 1921 it was reported that a survey had counted 12,000 crossing in a busy period, and 4,011 one-way crossings within one hour. On June 22, 1922 the

steamship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...

''Glenaruel'' collided with the bridge, first hitting the bulkhead and then swerving to hit the span which had been opened to let it pass. The iron structure toppled and was considered irreparable. The destroyed structure was replaced in 1927 with a

double leaf 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 ...

. In little more than a year's time, on December 15, 1928, that bridge failed when the east leaf of the bridge and its

trunnion A trunnion (from Old French "''trognon''", trunk) is a cylindrical protrusion used as a mounting or pivoting point. First associated with cannons, they are an important military development. Alternatively, a trunnion is a shaft that positions a ...

fell into the river. It was later determined that the design of the bridge was capable of bearing loads crossing the roadway but not of handling the stresses of opening and closing the bridge, which had led to

metal fatigue In materials science, fatigue is the initiation and propagation of cracks in a material due to cyclic loading. Once a fatigue crack has initiated, it grows a small amount with each loading cycle, typically producing striations on some parts o ...

Operations

Construction of the current

began in 1951. It cost approximately $8 million to build and was opened in June 1954 with a ceremony officiated by Governor

Robert B. Meyner Robert Baumle Meyner (July 3, 1908 – May 27, 1990) was an American Democratic Party politician and attorney who served as the 44th governor of New Jersey from 1954 to 1962. Before being elected governor, Meyner represented Warren County in t ...

Built of steel and concrete, it is long, tall, and wide. It carries the six-lane highway designated U.S. Route 1/9 Truck and part of the

. The bridge was rehabilitated in 2003. Repairs to steel work and repainting funded by the

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) (), nicknamed the Recovery Act, was a stimulus package enacted by the 111th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in February 2009. Developed in response to the Gr ...

were conducted in 2009-2011. The central span between dual towers of black steel is horizontally raised and lowered by engines and counterweights. The design of the structure recalls the industrial era of America. The bridge's lift span is long. It and that of the next upstream vehicular vertical bridge (the Wittpenn) are required by

federal regulations In the law of the United States, the ''Code of Federal Regulations'' (''CFR'') is the codification of the general and permanent regulations promulgated by the executive departments and agencies of the federal government of the United States ...

be raised on demand at all times. The Lower Hackensack River is channelized to MP 3.4, where there is a

turning basin A turning basin, winding basin or swinging basin is a wider body of water, either located at the end of a ship canal or in a port to allow cargo ships to turn and reverse their direction of travel, or to enable long narrow barges in a canal to tur ...

. At one time the river was major waterway for the

. It remains partially navigable for commercial maritime traffic, notably coal deliveries to the Hudson Generating Station. In 1936, the predecessor to the current bridge is reported to have opened as frequently as 48 times per day. In 2005, the Lincoln Highway Bridge opened 20-30 times per month. As of 2014, the bridge opened 1000 per year.

Accident and dedication

On December 25, 2005, two Jersey City police officers died while on duty after their rescue vehicle plunged into the river from the bridge. Shawn Carson and Robert Nguyen were summoned by colleagues to bring additional flares to the western approach to the bridge to better regulate traffic. Extreme weather conditions had caused poor visibility, and the gate that normally lowers when the bridge is in the open position had been malfunctioning for some time. The officers drove across the bridge and delivered the flares. They did not know that the lift span had then been raised, and as they were making their return trip, their vehicle went over the edge of the open bridge. While the body of Carsen was recovered approximately 90 minutes after the accident, that of Nguyen was not found until December 29. After an investigation the bridgetenders were cleared of any wrongdoing in January 2006. According to the NJDOT, the barrier was experiencing continuous problems due to an earlier accident, and the agency was waiting for replacement equipment to do repairs. Unsatisfied with the agency's findings, the Jersey City Police found that the NJDOT, knowing that there were problems, should not have relied on local police for public safety. A new barrier gate was eventually installed in June 2006. On May 9, 2007, the

New Jersey Legislature The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and the ...

adopted a joint resolution designating the crossing the "Shawn Carson and Robert Nguyen Memorial Bridge".

References

External links

{{commons category
Lincoln Highway Bridge
at Bridges & Tunnels Bridges completed in 1954 Lincoln Highway Bridges in Hudson County, New Jersey Road bridges in New Jersey U.S. Route 1 U.S. Route 9 East Coast Greenway Bridges of the United States Numbered Highway System Former toll bridges in New Jersey 1954 establishments in New Jersey Vertical lift bridges in New Jersey Bridges over the Hackensack River Kearny, New Jersey Steel bridges in the United States