Avondale Bridge (Passaic River)

Avondale Bridge
Coordinates 40°48′40″N 74°08′19″W / 40.8110°N 74.1385°W / 40.8110; -74.1385Coordinates: 40°48′40″N 74°08′19″W / 40.8110°N 74.1385°W / 40.8110; -74.1385
Carries Park Avenue to
Kingland Avenue
Crosses Passaic River
Locale Nutley and Lyndhurst,
New Jersey
Other name(s) De Jessa Memorial Bridge
Park Avenue Bridge
Kingsland Avenue Bridge
Maintained by Bergen and Essex
Characteristics
Design Swing bridge
Number of spans 3
Clearance below 7 feet (2.1 m) (high water)
12 feet (3.7 m) (low water)
History
Designer James Owen (Essex)
H.M. Watson (Bergen)
Fabrication by New Jersey Bridge Company
F.M. Stillman Company
Construction begin 1903
Opened 1905
Avondale Bridge

Avondale Bridge, also known as the De Jessa Memorial Bridge, the Park Avenue Bridge, and the Kingsland Avenue Bridge is a vehicular movable bridge over the Passaic River in northeastern New Jersey. It crosses the county line to connect the towns of Lyndhurst in Bergen and Nutley in Essex, originally taking its name from a section of the latter. The bridge is 10.7 miles (17.2 km) from the river's mouth at Newark Bay, and is required to open on four hours' notice.[1] As of 2010, there were 26,420 daily crossings of the bridge, which provides one lane in each direction..[2]

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 swing span supported on an ashlar substructure and Warren pony truss approach spans. Rededicated July 14, 1981 in memory of Joseph Carmine De Jessa,[3] a U.S. Marine and the first Lyndhurst native killed in the Vietnam War, the bridge was significantly rehabilitated in 1984.[4][5]

Planned reconstruction

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.[2] As of 2014 roadworks in the vicinity of the bridge were under way, but no funding for its repair or replacement had been identified.[6][7]

In December 2014 the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA) recommended funding for the concept development for the replacement of the bridge.[8][9][10] In September 2015, NJTPA put out a request for proposals to begin the process.[11]

See also

References

  1. "Section 117.739 - Passaic River." Check |url= value (help) (PDF). Code of Federal Regulations Title 33 - Navigation and Navigable Waters Volume: 1. Government Publishing Office. July 1, 2002. Retrieved 2012-08-21.
  2. 1 2 Grant, Meeghan (December 6, 2012). "Lyndhurst's DeJessa, bridges showing their ages". The Record. Retrieved 2012-12-12.
  3. "De Jessa Memorial Bridge". Old Nutley. Nutley Historical Society. Retrieved 2012-08-21.
  4. "Masonry and Metal The Historic Bridges of Bergen County, New Jersey" (PDF). Richard Grubb and Associates. 2008. Retrieved 2012-08-21.
  5. "Park Avenue over Passaic River" (PDF). Historic Bridge Survey (1991-1994). New Jersey Department of Transportation. 2001. Retrieved 2012-08-21.
  6. Joe Phalon. "Senate president visits Lyndhurst to jump-start Transporation Trust Fund". NorthJersey.com. Archived from the original on 2014-10-11. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
  7. Zachary Croce. "Construction begins at DeJessa Bridge intersection in Lyndhurst". NorthJersey.com.
  8. Hasime Kukaj. "Study may lead to Lyndhurst-Nutley bridge's replacement". NorthJersey.com.
  9. MELISSA HAYES. "North Jersey transportation agency targets efforts to rebuild Bergen, Essex drawbridge". NorthJersey.com.
  10. Hasime Kukaj. "N.J. transportation board OKs Lyndhurst-Nutley bridge study". NorthJersey.com.
  11. http://www.northjersey.com/news/transportation/deficient-dejessa-to-be-examined-by-the-state-1.1406601

External links

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