The Raritan Bay Drawbridge, also known as River-Draw, Raritan Bay Swing Bridge, and Raritan River Railroad Bridge, is a railroad

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 ...

crossing the

Raritan River The Raritan River is a river of the U.S. state of New Jersey. Its Drainage basin, watershed drains much of the mountainous areas in the North Jersey, northern and Central Jersey, central sections of the state, emptying into the Raritan Bay near ...

from where it empties into the

Raritan Bay Raritan Bay is a bay located at the southern portion of Lower New York Bay between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey and is part of the New York Bight. The bay is bounded on the northwest by New York's Staten Island, on the west b ...

in Middlesex County,

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 ...

, United States. It crosses the city line of Perth Amboy to the north and South Amboy to the south.

History

The bridge was built in 1908 to replace one that had been built at the crossing in 1875 to serve the New York and Long Branch Railroad, jointly operated by the

Central Railroad of New Jersey Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

(CNJ) and

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...

(PRR). Near the end of its construction, the bridge was sabotaged by a dynamite blast. A few years after completion, the bridge was damaged in a severe winter storm. The bridge has been owned by several different parties since the CNJ/PRR era:

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals, the Pennsylvania, New York Central and the ...

(1968–1971), 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 ...

(to 1983), and

New Jersey Transit New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit or NJTransit and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey and portions of the states of New York and Pennsylvania. It ...

(NJT).

Operations

The bridge is used by NJT commuter rail on its

North Jersey Coast Line The North Jersey Coast Line is a Commuter rail in North America, commuter rail line running from Rahway, New Jersey, Rahway to Bay Head, New Jersey, traversing through the Jersey Shore region. Operated by New Jersey Transit, the line is electr ...

and for

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busine ...

Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...

rail freight operations. Federal regulations require the bridge to be open on signal except during

rush hour A rush hour (American English, British English) or peak hour (Australian English, Indian English) is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice e ...

or when a train has passed the home signal for it.

Replacement

The bridge was scheduled to be replaced after suffering structural damage from

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as Superstorm Sandy) was an extremely large and devastating tropical cyclone which ravaged the Caribbean and the coastal Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States in late ...

in 2012. The bridge was overwashed by the storm surge, struck by two tugboats, and had to be realigned before low-speed service could resume a month later. A $446 million federal grant, announced in 2014, will fund construction of a new bridge while trains continue using the existing bridge. A groundbreaking ceremony was held September 15, 2020, with completion projected for 2026.

References

External links

Photograph of Raritan Bay Drawbridge
from RailPictures.net
Photograph of Raritan Bay Drawbridge
from RailPictures.net
Photograph of Raritan Bay Drawbridge
from RailPictures.net
Video of towboat and barge transiting the Raritan River Railroad Bridge (pilothouse perspective)
Railroad bridges in New Jersey Bridges over the Raritan River Pennsylvania Railroad bridges Perth Amboy, New Jersey South Amboy, New Jersey Swing bridges in the United States Bridges in Middlesex County, New Jersey Bridges in Monmouth County, New Jersey Bridges completed in 1908 1908 establishments in New Jersey NJ Transit bridges Steel bridges in the United States {{NewJersey-bridge-struct-stub

History

Operations

Replacement

See also

References

External links