Dock Bridge | |
Location: | Passaic River Newark - Harrison New Jersey |
Coordinates: | 40.7358°N -74.1619°W |
Map Label: | Dock Bridge |
Label Position: | top |
Label Background: | transparent |
Built: | 1935 |
Architect: | Waddell & Hardesty |
Architecture: | Through-Truss Lift Bridge |
Added: | October 3, 1980 |
Refnum: | 80002484 |
Designated Other1 Name: | New Jersey Register of Historic Places |
Designated Other1 Abbr: | NJRHP |
Designated Other1 Link: | New Jersey Register of Historic Places |
Designated Other1 Date: | July 21, 1979 |
Designated Other1 Number: | 1227[1] |
Designated Other1 Num Position: | bottom |
Designated Other1 Color: |
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Fetchwikidata: | coordinates |
Dock Bridge | |
Carries: | Amtrak, NJ Transit (West span) and PATH and Amtrak/NJ Transit (East span) |
Crosses: | Passaic River |
Design: | pair of through-truss vertical lift bridges |
Num Track: | 3 (West span), 3 (East span) |
Clearance Below: | 242NaN2 (closed) 1352NaN2 (open) |
Dock Bridge is a pair of vertical lift bridges crossing the Passaic River at Newark, Essex County and Harrison, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, used exclusively for railroad traffic. It is the seventh crossing from the river's mouth at Newark Bay and is upstream from it.[2] Also known as the Amtrak Dock Vertical Lift, it carries Amtrak, NJ Transit, and PATH trains. It is listed on the state and federal registers of historic places.
The bridge was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) for its main line. The west span carries three tracks and opened in 1935 along with the west half of Newark Penn Station. The lift span is 230feet over bearings (clear channel 200feet), the longest three-track lift span in the world when built.[3] The east spans opened in 1937 when the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad (H&M, later called PATH) shifted its rapid transit trains from the Centre Street Bridge to the newly built station.[4] With the opening of the eastern span, the PRR closed Manhattan Transfer station in the Kearny Meadows, where previously steam and electrical trains were changed and passengers could transfer to trains to New York Penn Station on the PRR or to Hudson Terminal on the H&M.<ref name="NYT 19370620" />
The west span carries three tracks exclusively used by Amtrak and NJ Transit for Northeast Corridor intercity and commuter traffic between Newark and New York City. The east span carries two PATH tracks used by PATH's Newark-World Trade Center service and one NEC track shared by Amtrak and NJ Transit. Due partly to its use of the Dock Bridge, PATH is legally a commuter railroad under the jurisdiction of the Federal Railroad Administration even though it has long operated as a rapid transit system.[5] [6]
The lower downstream of the 90miles long Passaic River below the Dundee Dam is tidally influenced and navigable.[2] When closed the bridge has a vertical clearance of 24feet above mean high water and opens to clear 135feet.[7]