The Court Street Bridge, also known as the Harold J. Dillard Memorial Bridge, is a vehicular

movable bridge A moveable bridge, or movable bridge, is a bridge that moves to allow passage for boats or barges. In American English, the term is synonymous with , and the latter is the common term, but drawbridge can be limited to the narrower, historical ...

crossing the

Hackensack River The Hackensack River is a river, about 45 miles (72 km) long, in the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, emptying into Newark Bay, a back chamber of New York Harbor. The watershed of the river includes part of the suburban ar ...

between Hackensack and Bogota in

Bergen County, New Jersey Bergen County is the List of counties in New Jersey, most populous County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.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 ...

, 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 ...

, which opened in 1908 and underwent major rehabilitation in 2010–2012, is the most-upstream bridge on the river required by federal regulations to open on request.

Background and environs

Originally the territory of the

Hackensack tribe Hackensack was the exonym given by the Dutch colonists to a band of the Lenape, or ''Lenni-Lenape'' ("original men"), a Native American tribe. The name is a Dutch derivation of the Lenape word for what is now the region of northeastern New Jer ...

, the earliest European settlement near the site of the bridge was in 1641 at

Achter Col Achter Kol (or Achter Col) was the name given to the region around the Newark Bay and Hackensack River in northeastern New Jersey by the first European settlers to it and was part of the 17th century province of New Netherland, administered by ...

, a short lived

factorij Factory was the common name during the medieval and early modern eras for an entrepôt – which was essentially an early form of free-trade zone or transshipment point. At a factory, local inhabitants could interact with foreign merchants, of ...

(trading post) in what is now Bogota. Hackensack became the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

of Bergen in the early 1700s. A bridge at Old Bridge and later at

New Bridge Landing New Bridge was a prosperous mill hamlet, centered upon a bridge strategically placed at the narrows of the Hackensack River. In the American Revolution, New Bridge Landing was the site of a strategic bridge crossing the Hackensack River, where Ge ...

and a ferry at Little Ferry were crossings created during the

colonial era Colonial period (a period in a country's history where it was subject to management by a colonial power) may refer to: Continents *European colonization of the Americas * Colonisation of Africa * Western imperialism in Asia Countries * Col ...

. The river later was at one time a major commercial waterway within the

Port of New York and New Jersey The Port of New York and New Jersey is the port district of the New York metropolitan area, New York-Newark metropolitan area, encompassing the region within approximately a radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. It includes the sy ...

. The historic center of the town at the Green, site of the First Dutch Reformed Church is near the west end of the bridge. Government and administrative offices, including the

Bergen County Court House Bergen County, the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Jersey, has had a series of courthouses. The current one stands in Hackensack. History The current Bergen County Courthouse is not the first courthouse but actually the sixth cour ...

, are also nearby. The

New Jersey Naval Museum The New Jersey Naval Museum (NJNM) was a museum located along the Hackensack River in Hackensack in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. Its mission was dedicated to the state's naval heritage and naval history in general. The prominent el ...

, home of the submarine USS ''Ling'', is located on the west bank just upstream of the bridge. Court Street Bridge is one of several bridges over the river in Hackensack, including Anderson Street Bridge, Midtown Bridge and those that carry

Interstate 80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one of the ori ...

and

Route 4 Route 4, or Highway 4, may refer to several highways in the following countries: International * Asian Highway 4 * European route E04 * European route E004 * Cairo – Cape Town Highway Albania * SH-4 road in Albania from Durrës to Kakavi ...

Design and historical significance

The Court Street Bridge is a center-bearing swing span

Warren Warren most commonly refers to: * Warren (burrow), a network dug by rabbits * Warren (name), a given name and a surname, including lists of persons so named Warren may also refer to: Places Australia * Warren (biogeographic region) * War ...

through truss A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements, typically straight, may be stressed from tension, compression, or s ...

bridge with two steel deck girder approach spans supported on a concrete substructure. A 1991–94

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 ...

statewide survey of bridges states: "The riveted through truss bridge is one of several swing-span crossings of the Hackensack River, an important navigable waterway instrumental in the growth and industrial development of Bergen County. Constructed in 1907, the span replaced an earlier swing-span bridge. The builder, F.R. Long Company, was a New York firm that was a prolific bridge contractor in Bergen County, and it incorporated in New Jersey in 1899 moving its major operations to Hackensack at a site adjacent to the bridge. Although the span has undergone some alterations, it is a well-preserved and operational example of the swing-span trusses over the Hackensack River built by a prominent contractor in Bergen County". In 1998, the New Jersey State Historic Preservation Office identified the bridge (ID#4555) as eligible for listing on the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

and federal registers of historic places.

Dedication

Harold J. "Duke" Dillard had been a

Hackensack High School Hackensack High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Hackensack, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as part of the Hackensack Public Schools. Hackensack High School serves students from the Bergen County, ...

star athlete. At the age of 20, the decorated lance corporal became the city’s first casualty in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

when he was killed by artillery fire in battle on May 25, 1967. The bridge was named in his honor a few years later. At re-dedication ceremonies held in 2011, a new plaque placed in his memory was unveiled on the newly reconstructed bridge.

Rehabilitation and operations

Major repairs to the bridge were conducted in 1950 and 1974. The timber fenders at the swing-span piers have been reconstructed several times. In 1950 the original concrete

jack arch A jack arch is a structural element in masonry construction that provides support at openings in the masonry. Alternate names are lintel arch, flat arch and straight arch. Unlike regular arches, jack arches are not curved in form. Instead, they ...

deck was replaced with a reinforced slab and the stringers were encased. In 1974 the truss lower chord was reinforced for its full length, plates were added at the bottom flanges of the end floor beams, and new stringer seat angle connections were added at the floor beams. While the original decorative metal railings were left intact on the approach spans, chain-link fences were placed along the sidewalks on the swing span. While the bridge once had a load-carrying capacity of 20 tons, it was later limited to 3 tons because of rust and corrosion. As of 2010, approximately 9,000 motor vehicles crossed the Court Street Bridge annually. The bridge was closed for 26 months for rehabilitation in 2010–2012, and has almost entirely been reconstructed. Its substructure, including

abutment An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end that provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...

s and

piers Piers may refer to: * Pier, a raised structure over a body of water * Pier (architecture), an architectural support * Piers (name), a given name and surname (including lists of people with the name) * Piers baronets, two titles, in the baronetages ...

, as well as electric mechanisms for the swing span, were replaced. The original trusses were restored to maintain the bridge's historic appearance. The project was largely funded through the

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) (), nicknamed the Recovery Act, was a Stimulus (economics), stimulus package enacted by the 111th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in February 2009. Developed ...

. which provided $17.2 million for the $19.8 million project. Court Street Bridge is the most upstream bridge over the Hackensack River required by federal regulations to open on request. In 1999, the

Code of Federal Regulations In the law of the United States, the ''Code of Federal Regulations'' (''CFR'') is the codification of the general and permanent regulatory law, regulations promulgated by the executive departments and agencies of the federal government of the ...

regarding bridge openings were changed at the request of Bergen County to require the bridge to open within four hours of a request, which had not occurred since 1994. The decision to re-build the bridge was a matter of controversy since it is unlikely that a request will be forthcoming. Freshwater flow in the Hackensack has been considerably altered by the Oradell Dam. The river has only been channelized to a point at the Riverbend in

Hudson County Hudson County is a List of counties in New Jersey, county in the U.S. state of New Jersey, its smallest and most densely populated. Lying in the northeast of the state and on the west bank of the North River (Hudson River), Hudson River, the No ...

. The accumulation of

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension (chemistry), suspension with water. Silt usually ...

near the bridge affords navigation only for small boats. The fate of USS ''Ling'' may ultimately be connected to the ability for it to be moved from its location just north, or upstream, of the bridge.

References

External links