The Clay Street Bridge is a

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

on the

Passaic River The Passaic River ( or ) is a river, approximately long, in North Jersey, 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 suburb ...

between Newark and East Newark,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. The

swing bridge A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that can be rotated horizontally around a vertical axis. It has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravit ...

is the 13th bridge from the river's 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 Jerse ...

and is upstream from it. Opened in 1903, the Warren through truss rim-bearing bridge was substantially rehabilitated in 1975–1976, its original working parts are now part of the collection of the Newark Museum. It is listed on the

New Jersey Register of Historic Places The New Jersey Register of Historic Places is the official list of historic resources of local, state, and national interest in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The program is administered by the New Jersey's state historic preservation office wit ...

(ID#5153) and is eligible for the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. The lower of the 90-mile (140 km) long Passaic River downstream of the Dundee Dam is tidally influenced and

navigable A body of water, such as a river, canal or lake, is navigable if it is deep, wide and calm enough for a water vessel (e.g. boats) to pass safely. Navigability is also referred to in the broader context of a body of water having sufficient under ...

. The Clay Street Bridge was built to replace an 1889

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...

structure. It is one of three functional vehicular and pedestrian swing bridges in the city, the others being the Jackson Street Bridge and the Bridge Street Bridge. Since 1998, rules regulating drawbridge operations require a four-hour notice for them to be opened, which occurs infrequently. At its eastern end Clay Street Bridge enters the Clark Thread Company Historic District, crossing the river at a point which remains in use for industry, manufacturing, and distribution. The western end enters the neighborhood of Newark sometimes known as

Lower Broadway Broadway is a major thoroughfare in the downtown area in Nashville, Tennessee. It includes Lower Broadway, a tourist and entertainment district renowned for honky tonks and live country music. The Broadway Historic District or Honky Tonk Highway ...

. The

US Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wor ...

is undertaking restoration and rehabilitation of the Lower Passaic, including oversight of

environmental remediation Environmental remediation is the cleanup of hazardous substances dealing with the removal, treatment and containment of pollution or contaminants from Natural environment, environmental media such as soil, groundwater, sediment. Remediation may be ...

and reconstruction of bulkheads. In 2012, 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 transport ...

allocated funds for the reconstruction of the bridge. As of 2014 the

North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority The North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA) is the federally authorized metropolitan planning organization (MPO) for the 13-county northern New Jersey region, one of three MPOs in the state. NJTPA's annual budget is more than $2& ...

in conjunction with the counties, is conducting Local Concept Development (LCD) Study, an earlier phase in addressing the deterioration and structural deficiencies of the bridge, which due to its age, can no longer address with routine maintenance. In 2015, it was determined that a replacement is the preferred option, which would cost approximately $70 million.

References

External links

* {{Crossings navbox , structure = Crossings , place =

, bridge = Clay Street Bridge , bridge signs = , upstream = NX Bridge (abandoned) , upstream signs = , downstream = William A. Stickel Memorial Bridge , downstream signs = Bridges completed in 1908 Bridges in Newark, New Jersey Bridges in Hudson County, New Jersey Swing bridges in the United States Bridges over the Passaic River Road bridges in New Jersey 1908 establishments in New Jersey Steel bridges in the United States Warren truss bridges in the United States East Newark, New Jersey

See also

References

External links