List of Crossings of The Hackensack River

List Of Crossings Of The Hackensack River

The Hackensack River courses southward for approximately 50 miles (80.47 km) through the counties of Rockland in New York and Bergen and Hudson in northeastern New Jersey, creating the border of the latter two for part of its length. Its source, as identified by the USGS (Hydrological Code Unit 02030103901), is in New City. The river empties into Newark Bay between Kearny Point and Droyer's Point (Jersey City).

At the outset of colonial era the river's watershed was home to Lenape groups now known as the Rumachenanck (or Haverstraw), Tappan, and Hackensack, the latter exonym taken from an encampment near the confluence of the tributary Overpeck Creek. European settlement began in the mid 17th century as part of New Netherland when the region was called Achter Kol, meaning rear pass or behind the ridge, to describe the valleys west of the Hudson Palisades which afforded passage to trapping grounds in the northern hinterlands. It was settled by Bergen Dutch who established regular water crossings at Douwe's Ferry and Litttle Ferry. The first bridge crossing of the Hackensack was at Demarest Landing (now Old Bridge Road), built in 1724, which was replaced by that at New Bridge Landing in 1745. The first railroad crossing was completed by the NJRR in 1834, and was soon followed by many others. By the early 1900s conflicts between rail and maritime traffic led to calls for changes in regulations giving priority to trains.

At one time, Van Buskirk Island, created in 1804, was the head of navigation, but diminished freshwater flow in the Hackensack has been altered by construction of dams, namely the Oradell (1923), the DeForet (1952), and the Tappan (1972). The river is now tidally influenced to the the island. The Hackensack has only been channelized to MP 3.5 at the Riverbend in Hudson County. The accumulation of silt has diminished the depth, and thus navigability, of the Lower Hackensack. which at one time was a major waterway for towboats and river barges in the Port of New York and New Jersey.

Since 1999, the bridge at MP 16.3 is the most upstream bridge required by the Code of Federal Regulations to open on request, though no requests have made since 1994. The Lower Hackensack remains partially in use for commercial maritime traffic, notably for coal deliveries to the Hudson Generating Station. Downstream of the plant, vehicular moveable bridges (at MP 1.8 and MP 3.4) are required at all times to open on demand. and rail crossings to open on 1-hour notice. As of 2012 there were plans to replace the vehicular bridge at MP 3.4 with a new vertical lift bridge and the rail swing bridge at MP 5.0 with through arch bridge.