Hackensack Drawbridge
Bridge in Jersey City and Kearny
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Hackensack Drawbridge (also known as the HD Draw)[1] was a double-track railroad movable bridge across the mouth of the Hackensack River between Jersey City and Kearny, New Jersey.[1][2] It was operational until 1946, when a steamship crashed into it.[3]
Hackensack Drawbridge | |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°43′7.35″N 74°6′14.35″W |
| Carried | Newark and New York Branch |
| Crossed | Hackensack River |
| Locale | Jersey City and Kearny |
| Other name | HD Draw |
| Owner | Central Railroad of New Jersey |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | swing bridge |
| Material | Steel |
| Height | 75 feet (23 m) |
| History | |
| Opened | 1869 |
| Collapsed | 1946 |
| Location | |
 Interactive map of Hackensack Drawbridge | |
Built and maintained by the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ),[4] the bridge was part of the Newark and New York Branch, a rail line characterized as the "costliest railroad" by W. H. Schmidt Jr., a columnist for Trains.[5] Opened on July 23, 1869, the line was routed between terminals at Newark and Jersey City, where passengers could transfer to ferries to New York.[6] It also crossed the Passaic River and the Kearny Point peninsula. Freight cars regularly traversed the bridge to deliver to various industries in Harrison.[7]
Description
From the west side of the rail via tunnel, four tracks converged into three, and then into two tracks to pass over the Hackensack Drawbridge.[7] By 1913 the rail line, including the bridges across the rivers, was raised about 30 feet (9.1 m) to avoid conflicts with maritime traffic in the newly developing port[8] The draw span of the PD Draw over the Passaic had been relocated 185 feet (56 m) upstream to create another bridge on a new alignment in 1912.[9] By 1922, plans were made to improve the drawbridge's railway signal layout, increasing the number of interlocking levers, ground signals and bridge signals.[10] The drawbridge tower employed three levermen.[11]
_1945.jpg)
In 1897, a train carrying nearly 200 people derailed while crossing the bridge; there were no injuries.[12] In 1940, the Port of New York Authority (now Port Authority of New York and New Jersey) cited the bridge as a navigational menace and called for its replacement.[2] With war impending, the War Department in 1941 asked CNJ to replace the swing bridge with a vertical lift to afford better access to the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company on Kearny Point. Plans were made, but the shortage of steel prevented the project from being constructed.[13]
Steamship collision
_01.JPG)
On February 3, 1946, SS Jagger Seam, a collier, crashed into the drawbridge, shearing off two of the bridge's spans. The collision was the result of a mix-up in signals between the collier and a tug. It was later determined that mishandling on the part of the Jagger Seam was the cause of the accident.[14] Initial estimates indicated that rail service over the Hackensack would be delayed for three months,[15] with the CNJ projecting that it would take that long to procure enough steel to reconstruct the bridge.[16] After the accident, trains continued to run from Kearny to Newark.[3] Similarly, service east of the drawbridge continued to run between the West Side Avenue station and Communipaw Terminal.[16]
In October 1946, the CNJ asked the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) for permission to abandon the line.[17] Without any further funding for repair of the Hackensack Drawbridge and with the route severed in two, the railroad was deemed "half-abandoned". The ICC sympathized with the CNJ, saying "'twas a pity".[5] While the Newark Branch operated until 1967, service in Jersey City was discontinued. Ultimately, the bridge was dismantled, but remains of its piers are still visible in the Hackensack River.
