The Pulaski Skyway is a four-lane

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 ...

causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet T ...

in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of

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 ...

, carrying a

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

designated U.S. Route 1/9 (US 1/9) for most of its length. The structure has a total length of . Its longest bridge spans . Traveling between Newark and

Jersey City Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

, the roadway crosses the

Passaic Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city was the state's 16th-most-populous municipality,Hackensack rivers, Kearny Point, the peninsula between them, and the

New Jersey Meadowlands New Jersey Meadowlands, also known as the Hackensack Meadowlands after the Hackensack River, primary river flowing through it, is a general name for a large ecosystem of wetlands in northeastern New Jersey in the United States, a few miles to th ...

. Designed by

Sigvald Johannesson Sigvald Johannesson (1877–1953) was a civil engineer best known for his design of the Pulaski Skyway. Johannesson was a graduate of the University of Copenhagen who later worked on the London Underground. He emigrated to the United States and w ...

, the General Casimir Pulaski Skyway opened in 1932 as the last part of the Route 1 Extension, one of the first

s or "super-highways" in the United States, to provide a connection to the

Holland Tunnel The Holland Tunnel is a vehicular tunnel under the Hudson River that connects Hudson Square and Lower Manhattan in New York City in the east to Jersey City, New Jersey, in the west. The tunnel is operated by the Port Authority of New York an ...

. One of several major projects built during the reign of

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 ...

political boss

Frank Hague Francis Hague (January 17, 1876 – January 1, 1956), known as Frank Hague, was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey, from 1917 to 1947, and vice-chairman of the Democratic National Comm ...

, its construction was a source of political and labor disputes. The viaduct is listed in 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. Unpredictable traffic congestion and its

functionally obsolete The National Bridge Inventory (NBI) is a database, compiled by the Federal Highway Administration, with information on all bridges and tunnels in the United States that have roads passing above or below them. That is similar to the grade-crossing ...

design make the Skyway one of the most unreliable roads in the United States. , the bridges handle about 74,000 crossings per day, none of which were by trucks since they had been barred from the road in 1934. The bridges have been altered little since opening. In 2007, 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 ...

(NJDOT) began a rehabilitation program, which it estimated would cost more than $1 billion and required intermittent closures. The Skyway was closed to eastbound traffic from 2014 to 2018.

Description

Pulaski Skyway Jersey City October 2020 panorama 2

Sources differ on the length and terminal points of the skyway, which was built as part of the long Route 1 Extension. The

National Bridge Inventory The National Bridge Inventory (NBI) is a database, compiled by the Federal Highway Administration, with information on all bridges and tunnels in the United States that have roads passing above or below them. That is similar to the grade-crossing ...

identifies the

section as long and the Essex County section as . In a historic roadway and bridge study for NJDOT, it was described as long. NJDOT has indicated the overall length of the bridge structures to be and identified the Hudson County section as long. Other sources, along with 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 New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', and ''

The Star-Ledger ''The Star-Ledger'' was the largest circulation newspaper in New Jersey. It is based in Newark, New Jersey. The newspaper ceased print publication on February 2, 2025, but continues to publish a digital edition. In 2007, ''The Star-Ledger''s ...

'', describe it as being long. The four-lane skyway carries the US 1/9

concurrency Concurrent means happening at the same time. Concurrency, concurrent, or concurrence may refer to: Law * Concurrence, in jurisprudence, the need to prove both ''actus reus'' and ''mens rea'' * Concurring opinion (also called a "concurrence"), a ...

for most its length, and a short section of Route 139 for the rest. While the skyway generally runs east–west between Newark and Jersey City, US 1 and US 9 are generally north–south routes. The west end of the skyway begins as US 1/9 roadway ascends and passes over

Raymond Boulevard Raymond Boulevard is a major thoroughfare in Newark, New Jersey. The eastern portion of the road acts as the westbound member of a one-way pair; eastbound traffic uses Market Street and Ferry Street (Newark), Ferry Street. Raymond Boulevard car ...

in Newark's

Ironbound The Ironbound is a neighborhood in the city of Newark in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a large working-class multi-ethnic community, covering about . Historically, the area was called "Dutch Neck," "Down Neck," or simp ...

neighborhood. At

Tonnele Circle The Tonnele Circle is an intersection in Jersey City, New Jersey, United States. It is named after Tonnele TUN-uh-lee"Avenue, the north–south road that runs through it. Entrances and exits Entrances to and exits from Tonnele Circle are liste ...

, US 1/9 exits to grade and follows Tonnele Avenue north towards the

Lincoln Tunnel The Lincoln Tunnel is an approximately tunnel under the Hudson River, connecting Weehawken, New Jersey, to the west with Midtown Manhattan in New York City to the east. It carries New Jersey Route 495 on the New Jersey side and the unsigned N ...

and

George Washington Bridge The George Washington Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting Fort Lee in Bergen County, New Jersey, with the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It is named after George W ...

as Route 139 begins on the skyway, over the traffic circle. While the road continues to the

, the skyway soon comes to its eastern end at a

cut Cut or CUT may refer to: Common uses * The act of cutting, the separation of an object into two through acutely directed force ** A type of wound ** Cut (archaeology), a hole dug in the past ** Cut (clothing), the style or shape of a garment ** ...

Bergen Hill Bergen Hill refers to the lower Hudson Palisades in New Jersey, where they emerge on Bergen Neck, which in turn is the peninsula between the Hackensack and Hudson Rivers, and their bays. In Hudson County, it reaches a height of 260 feet. Rai ...

, just west of John F. Kennedy Boulevard, where Route 139 runs under the viaduct of Route 139U (the upper level). In addition to crossing the Hackensack and the Passaic, the skyway also passes over, not under, the Chaplain Washington-Harry Laderman Bridges and the

New Jersey Turnpike The New Jersey Turnpike (NJTP) is a system of controlled-access highway, controlled-access toll roads in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The turnpike is maintained by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA).The Garden State Parkway, although ma ...

(

I-95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, north to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the ...

), with which it has no interchange. Under most of the skyway in Newark is other vehicular, rail, maritime, and industrial infrastructure built on landfilled

wetlands A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

of the

. Some maps, including one of Newark (1938) and one of Elizabeth (1967), labeled the US 1/9 southern approach starting north of

Newark Airport Newark Liberty International Airport is a major international airport serving the New York metropolitan area. The airport straddles the boundary between the cities of Newark in Essex County and Elizabeth in Union County, in the U.S. stat ...

as the Pulaski Skyway. An NJDOT single line diagram (2010) shows the General Pulaski Skyway starting at mile post 49.00 of U.S. 1/9, which is just north of the renamed

Newark Liberty International Airport Newark Liberty International Airport is a major international airport serving the New York metropolitan area. The airport straddles the boundary between the cities of Newark, New Jersey, Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and E ...

Google Maps Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panorama, interactive panoramic views of streets (Google Street View, Street View ...

includes the Route 139 eastern approach. There is limited intermediate access to the skyway: two single-lane ramps rise to the inner lanes of the elevated structure, requiring traffic to enter or exit from the left providing access at the

Marion Section Marion is a section of Jersey City in Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. History The Marion Section was laid out in the 1870s and was developed in the early 20th century. The name is speculated to have come from either the old Mar ...

(southbound entrance and northbound exit only) of Jersey City and South Kearny (northbound entrance and southbound exit only). Trucks have been prohibited for the "safety and welfare of the public" since 1934 because of the state's approval of a local ordinance that was championed by

, mayor of Jersey City. They are detoured to use U.S. Route 1/9 Truck, along the

route of the Lincoln Highway As the Lincoln Highway was one of the earliest transcontinental highways for automobiles across the United States and was widely publicized since its inception, the route of the Lincoln Highway was determined not only by civil engineering consid ...

that carried traffic before the skyway's construction. Pedestrians and cyclists cannot use the road as there are no dedicated bicycle lanes or

sidewalk A sidewalk (North American English), pavement (British English, South African English), or footpath (Hiberno-English, Irish English, Indian English, Australian English, New Zealand English) is a path along the side of a road. Usually constr ...

s. The speed limit on the skyway is , but is generally not enforceable as there is nowhere for police to pull over speeders because of the absence of shoulders. In 2011, the

Texas Transportation Institute The Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) in Bryan/College Station, Texas is a transportation research agency in the United States. The institute was created in 1950, primarily in response to the needs of the Texas Highway Department (now t ...

determined that the Skyway was the sixth-most unreliable road in the United States because of the unpredictability of traffic congestion and therefore travel times.

Design and construction

Except for crossings over Jersey City rail lines and the Hackensack and the

Passaic Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city was the state's 16th-most-populous municipality,deck 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 ...

cantilever bridge A cantilever bridge is a bridge built using structures that project horizontally into space, supported on only one end (called cantilevers). For small footbridges, the cantilevers may be simple beam (structure), beams; however, large cantilever ...

, supported by concrete

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 ...

. Each of the two river crossings is a combination of a subdivided (K-shaped) through

Pratt 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 ...

between the supports and a basic Pratt truss structure connecting each end to the deck truss part of the skyway. Spanning the rivers, they reach a clearance height of . In Jersey City, three short Pratt through truss spans take the roadway over rail lines, the westernmost passing over the

Port Authority Trans-Hudson The Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) is a rapid transit system in the northeastern New Jersey cities of Newark, Harrison, Jersey City, and Hoboken, as well as Lower and Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is operated as a wholly owne ...

(PATH)

rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT) or heavy rail, commonly referred to as metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport that is generally built in urban areas. A grade separation, grade separated rapid transit line below ground su ...

line and the

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 ...

Passaic and Harsimus Line The Passaic and Harsimus Line, part of Conrail Shared Assets Operations, serves freight in Gateway Region, northeastern New Jersey. It takes trains from the Northeast Corridor and Lehigh Line (Conrail), Lehigh Line near Newark Liberty Interna ...

. The two easternmost Pratt through truss spans are in the vicinity of Marion Junction, one of which passes over the Marion Running Track, to the east of which the skyway is low enough to use simple vertical supports. Design began in 1919 for the

, the first fixed roadway connection between New Jersey and New York City; construction began in 1922, and the tunnel opened in late 1927. To provide for a continuous highway connection on the New Jersey side, the

New Jersey Legislature The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and ...

passed a bill in 1922 authorizing the extension of Route 1 from its end at

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Empress Elisabeth (disambiguation), lists various empresses named ''Elisabeth'' or ''Elizabeth'' * Princess Elizabeth ...

through Newark and Jersey City to the proposed tunnel. It was conceived as the nation's first "super-highway".. State highway engineer Hugh L. Sloan appointed old acquaintance

Fred Lavis Fred or FRED may refer to: People * Fred (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Mononym * Fred (cartoonist) (1931–2013), pen name of Fred Othon Aristidès, French * Fred (footballer, born 1949) (1949–2022), Fred ...

, a consulting engineer who had worked on foreign rail lines and the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...

and written four books on locating and designing rail lines, to design this Route 1 Extension.. Sigvald Johannesson designed the Skyway portion.

, mayor of Jersey City and boss of the state's

political machine In the politics of representative democracies, a political machine is a party organization that recruits its members by the use of tangible incentives (such as money or political jobs) and that is characterized by a high degree of leadership c ...

, directed the state to avoid the open cuts that were already common where the railroads crossed

, and to include an access ramp in Kearny to spur industrial development. Construction of the highway, which was mostly raised on embankments and passed through Bergen Hill in a cut, began in mid-1925. The two major eastern and western sections in Jersey City and Newark—including the

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide ...

leading to the "covered roadway" ( Route 139) and the embankments in eastern Newark—were opened on December 16, 1928, about a year after the tunnel opened. Traffic was still required to use the

Lincoln Highway The Lincoln Highway is one of the first transcontinental highways in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated Octob ...

to cross the Hackensack and the

Passaic Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city was the state's 16th-most-populous municipality,drawbridges A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of moveable bridge typically at the entrance to a castle or tower surrounded by a moat. In some forms of English, including American English, the word ''drawbridge'' commonly refers to all types of moveable b ...

that frequently stopped traffic to allow ships to pass. Northbound approaching Pulaski Skyway

Lavis's design for the final viaduct passageway, which would be raised on concrete piers across the Meadowlands, included two

vertical-lift bridge A vertical-lift bridge or just lift bridge is a type of movable bridge in which a span rises vertically while remaining parallel with the deck. The vertical lift offers several benefits over other movable bridges such as the bascule and swi ...

s above the Passaic and Hackensack rivers, sufficient for the majority of ships to pass underneath. He resigned in 1928, believing his task was complete, but in January 1929 the

War Department War Department may refer to: * War Department (United Kingdom) * United States Department of War The United States Department of War, also called the War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet ...

objected to the continued existence of the Lincoln Highway bridges once the skyway was complete. Since the Route 1 Extension was not intended for local traffic, and replacing the vertical-lift bridges with tunnels would have been expensive, a compromise was worked out by late 1929 to raise the river bridges to while allowing the Lincoln Highway drawbridges to remain in place. The concrete jacketing of the steel was removed from the plans since it would make the taller fixed bridges heavier. This resulted in more maintenance. Four companies—the

American Bridge Company The American Bridge Company is a heavy/civil construction firm that specializes in building and renovating bridges and other large, complex structures. Founded in 1900, the company is headquartered in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsb ...

, McClintic-Marshall Company,

Phoenix Bridge Company The Phoenix Iron Works (1855: Phoenix Iron Company; 1949: Phoenix Iron & Steel Company; 1955: Phoenix Steel Corporation), located in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, was a manufacturer of iron and related products during the 19th and 20th centuries. ...

, and Taylor-Fichter Steel Construction Company—were awarded contracts for the so-called "Diagonal Highway", with construction to start in April 1930. The two river bridges, McClintic-Marshall's portion, were completed first, and the $21 million road was opened at 8:00 a.m. on November 24, 1932, after an official ceremony the previous day on the Kearny ramp. Owing to the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

and problems with funding, Governor A. Harry Moore directed the Highway Commission on October 25, 1932 to make a formal request to the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads to charge tolls on the Diagonal Highway. It was thought that tolls would be illegal because of the use of $600,000 of federal aid to build the road, but that it might be possible to transfer this funding to other projects. A bill was introduced into the state legislature on May 1, 1933, to add tolls to the road (then known as the "sky way"), at a rate of 10 cents for cars and 20 cents for trucks. The legal obstacle to federal aid was resolved by gaining approval to transfer the funds. Pulaski Skyway northbound plaque

During planning and construction, and for about half a year after opening, the road had no official name and was known as the Diagonal Highway, Newark–Jersey City Viaduct, or High-Level Viaduct. On May 3, 1933, the

passed a bill sponsored by Assemblyman Eugene W. Hejke of Jersey City naming the road the General Casimir Pulaski Memorial Skyway after

Casimir Pulaski Kazimierz Michał Władysław Wiktor Pułaski (; March 4 or 6, 1745 October 11, 1779), anglicised as Casimir Pulaski ( ), was a Polish nobleman, soldier, and military commander who has been called "The Father of American cavalry" or "The So ...

, the Polish military leader who helped train and lead

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...

troops in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

. An official ceremony was held on October 11, 1933, including the unveiling of signs with an abbreviated designation, Gen. Pulaski Skyway. Surveys taken during 1932 and 1933 proved that the skyway saved time on the new and old routes. Not only was the distance shortened by , but it took at least six minutes less to travel the new route during regular traffic. Trucks gained even more time, saving anywhere from five to eleven minutes. During times of previous traffic congestion on weekends on the old route, the viaduct saved around 25 minutes or more from the elimination of traffic congestion. In addition, the new route did not have the much longer delays and traffic back-ups that were caused whenever the bridges on the old highway were opened. It was found that the skyway also diverted a good deal of traffic from other routes.

Labor issues

Pulaski Skyway construction ended up causing a dispute between

Mayor of Jersey City The Mayor of the City of Jersey City is the head of the executive branch of the government of Jersey City, New Jersey, United States. The mayor has the duty to enforce the municipal charter and ordinances; prepare the annual budget; appoint dep ...

, who ran a statewide political machine, and Theodore M. Brandle, a " labor czar" allied with Hague. Brandle and Hague had become friends through Hague's efforts to get approval of unions. Brandle helped organize Branleygran Company, a

construction bond Construction are processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life. It typically starts with planning, financing, and design that continues until the a ...

underwriter Underwriting (UW) services are provided by some large financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies and investment houses, whereby they guarantee payment in case of damage or financial loss and accept the financial risk for liability ...

, which Hague channeled construction projects towards. During the mid-1920s redevelopment of

Journal Square Journal Square is a business district, residential area, and transportation hub in Jersey City, New Jersey. It is named for the newspaper ''Jersey Journal'', whose headquarters were located there from 1911 to 2013. The "square" itself is at the ...

, Brandle's Labor National Bank, founded in June 1926, acquired a new 15-story headquarters, the Labor Bank Building. Essentially Brandle controlled any construction projects in northern New Jersey, and any strikes he might call would be backed by Hague's police. The relationship between Hague and Brandle started to go bad in late 1931, during construction of

Jersey City Medical Center The Jersey City Medical Center is a hospital in Jersey City, New Jersey. The hospital has had different facilities in the city. It is currently located on a 15-acre campus at Grand Street and Jersey Avenue overlooking New York Harbor and Libe ...

, an important project to Hague. Leo Brennan, a contractor approved by Hague without consulting Brandle, who was building a backup power station for the hospital, refused to work with Brandle's card-file system, by which he kept track of union members and blacklisted those whom he disliked. The annoyed Brandle called a strike, but Brennan's workers refused; the police shut down the site after a brawl, but Brennan got court approval to continue. To placate Brandle, who threatened a strike that would stop all construction work on the center, Hague paid off Brennan and hired another contractor that Brandle had approved. For the construction of the Pulaski Skyway, which began in April 1930, Hague chose four members of the

National Erectors' Association National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

, an organization of "

open shop An open shop is a place of employment at which one is not required to join or financially support a union ( closed shop) as a condition of hiring or continued employment. Open shop vs closed shop The major difference between an open and closed ...

" (non-union) steel contractors. Performance bonds were paid in cash, bypassing Branleygran, and the companies hired Foster's Industrial and Detective Bureau to guard the site against Brandle's threat to "unionize this job or else". Brandle organized

picket line A picket line is a horizontal rope A rope is a group of yarns, Plying, plies, fibres, or strands that are plying, twisted or braided together into a larger and stronger form. Ropes have high tensile strength and can be used for dragging and ...

s of loyal union men, and the two sides frequently fought in the streets or in the work area. Brandle's sole victory was a five-day stoppage in July 1931 by 165 non-union workers, who were interested in higher pay and afraid of the ongoing fights, but decided against joining the union. During the La Follette Civil Liberties Committee hearings, it was discovered that, in order to save about $50,000 in salary, the

, one of the four contractors, spent almost $300,000 on keeping its "open shop". The first casualty of the labor battle was a picketer, shot and temporarily paralyzed by a perimeter guard on November 14, 1931, for throwing stones at workers. Several months later, on February 27, 1932, a car carrying six workers to the construction site was surrounded by union men, who began to beat them with iron bars. One of the workers, William T. Harrison, was dead by the next morning; Hague broke all ties with Brandle and ordered the police to "wage relentless war against the Brandle gang-rioters". In April 1932, 21 ironworkers were indicted as suspects in the Harrison murder. The trial was held on December 6, 1932, two weeks after the completion of the skyway. Every defendant was found not guilty, since county prosecutor John Drewen was unable to place any of them at the scene of the crime, and witnesses and defendants testified that they had been forced under torture or the threat of prosecution to sign

affidavit An ( ; Medieval Latin for "he has declared under oath") is a written statement voluntarily made by an ''affiant'' or ''deposition (law), deponent'' under an oath or affirmation which is administered by a person who is authorized to do so by la ...

s and confessions. In addition to William T. Harrison's death, 14 lives were claimed by work-related accidents during construction. Hague refused to allow Brandle and the unions to win, and began to force unions to

foreclose Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan. Formally, a mort ...

through his control of the courts. On the public side, Hague attacked the "labor racketeers" with words, and the local newspapers gladly went along. In 1937 and 1938, Hague turned Jersey City into a

police state A police state describes a state whose government institutions exercise an extreme level of control over civil society and liberties. There is typically little or no distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the exec ...

to fight the

Congress of Industrial Organizations The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of Labor unions in the United States, unions that organized workers in industrial unionism, industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in ...

(CIO), which was trying to inform workers of their rights under the 1935

National Labor Relations Act The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, also known as the Wagner Act, is a foundational statute of United States labor law that guarantees the right of private sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining, an ...

. Socialist

Norman Thomas Norman Mattoon Thomas (November 20, 1884 – December 19, 1968) was an American Presbyterian religious minister, minister, political activist, and perennial candidate for president. He achieved fame as a socialism, socialist and pacifism, pacifis ...

was prevented from speaking in Jersey City and Newark by Hague and his friends. This and other similar cases turned the national spotlight on Hague, and he was attacked by the ''

New Yorker New Yorker may refer to: * A resident of New York: ** A resident of New York City and its suburbs *** List of people from New York City ** A resident of the New York (state), State of New York *** Demographics of New York (state) * ''The New Yor ...

'' and ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

'' in early 1938. Finally, in 1947, Governor Alfred E. Driscoll cut off Hague's judicial power, and the mayor retired.

Truck and other safety issues

The slippery concrete surfacing, steep left-side ramps, center

breakdown lane A shoulder (American English), hard shoulder (British English) or breakdown lane (Australian English) is an emergency stopping lane by the verge on the outer side of a road or motorway. Many wider freeways, or expressways elsewhere have should ...

, and wide-open alignment built for high speeds all contributed to a high number of crashes. Jersey City Mayor

passed an ordinance in November 1933 banning trucks from its section of the skyway, which effectively banned them from the whole road. Enforcement began on January 15, 1934, when Jersey City police began arresting truck drivers using the skyway. The New Jersey State Highway Commission approved the ban on January 23.. As a result of controversy caused by the ban, 300,000 ballots were distributed on February 6 to motorists on the skyway, asking whether trucks should be banned. Mayor Hague promised to go with the majority, which agreed with the ban. The matter was also taken to court, with one of the convicted truck drivers arguing that the ban was an unreasonable restraint of

interstate commerce The Commerce Clause describes an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution ( Article I, Section 8, Clause 3). The clause states that the United States Congress shall have power "to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and amon ...

, and that since the federal government contributed money towards the road, Jersey City lacked the power to ban trucks. On August 14, Justice Thomas W. Trenchard of the

New Jersey Supreme Court The Supreme Court of New Jersey is the supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, the Supreme Court of New Jersey is the final judicial authority on all cases in the state court system, including cases cha ...

upheld the ban, stating that "the court is not at liberty to substitute its judgment for that of the municipality's as to the best and most feasible manner of curing traffic evils and traffic congestion where such regulation bears a direct relationship to public safety and is reasonable and not arbitrary." The Tonnele Circle Viaduct, a new offramp allowing westbound trucks from the Holland Tunnel to bypass

to southbound US 1/9 Truck, which now also leads to Interstate 280 (I-280), opened on September 14, 1938. The Newark Bay Extension of the New Jersey Turnpike ( I-78) opened in September 1956, allowing trucks to bypass the old surface road, US 1/9 Truck. On May 21, 1952, large numbers of trucks were spotted by Jersey City police entering the city on the skyway. Upon pulling over the drivers, they were told that the exit in Newark for the truck route was closed for construction. A call to Newark police confirmed the situation.

police refused to force trucks to exit before Jersey City, since there was no state law banning trucks from the skyway. Jersey City Police Chief James McNamara gave in, and trucks were temporarily allowed to use the skyway, though only in one direction. Pulaski Skyway undivided

When the skyway first opened, it carried five lanes; the center one was intended as a breakdown lane, but was used as a "suicide lane" for passing slower traffic. By the 1950s, the skyway was seeing over 400 crashes per year; an aluminum

median barrier A Jersey barrier, Jersey wall, or Jersey bump is a modular concrete or plastic barrier employed to separate lanes of traffic. It is designed to minimize vehicle damage in cases of incidental contact while still preventing vehicle crossovers resu ...

was added in mid-1956, in addition to a new pavement coating designed to make the road less slippery. Southbound New Jersey Turnpike under Pulaski Skyway

Southbound New Jersey Turnpike under Pulaski Skyway

The skyway was a constraint in the building of the

in 1951. The turnpike had to be built low enough to provide enough clearance underneath the skyway, but high enough to then provide sufficient clearance over the nearby

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 ...

. Turnpike engineers could have built over the skyway (at a much higher cost) or under the skyway's trusses; the latter option was chosen. As part of a 2005

seismic retrofit Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes (or generally, quakes) and the generation and propagation of elastic ...

project, the

New Jersey Turnpike Authority The New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA) is a state agency responsible for maintaining the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway, which are two toll roads in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The agency is headquartered in Woodbridge Town ...

lowered the Passaic River Viaduct Bridge on its easterly alignment to increase vertical clearance and allow for full-width

shoulders The human shoulder is made up of three bones: the clavicle (collarbone), the scapula (shoulder blade), and the humerus (upper arm bone) as well as associated muscles, ligaments and tendons. The articulations between the bones of the shoulder m ...

underneath the Pulaski Skyway. Engineers replaced the bearings and lowered the turnpike bridge by , without shutting it to traffic.

Rehabilitation

By the 2000s, the Pulaski Skyway was considered

since its design did not meet highway bridge standards. In 2007, it was rated

structurally deficient The National Bridge Inventory (NBI) is a database, compiled by the Federal Highway Administration, with information on all bridges and tunnels in the United States that have roads passing above or below them. That is similar to the grade-crossing ...

. The 2007 collapse of the

I-35W Mississippi River bridge The I-35W Mississippi River bridge (officially known as Bridge 9340) was an eight-lane, steel truss arch bridge that carried Interstate 35W across the Mississippi River one-half mile (875 m) downstream from the Saint Anthony Falls in Minneap ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

raised concerns about the stability of the skyway, which was one of eight New Jersey bridges with similar design features. Within days of the collapse,

NJDOT 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 ...

announced that it would start a previously planned one-year, $10-million project to make critical repairs. The work was the first phase of a planned 10-year, $200-million interim renovation project, and marked the skyway's first significant repairs since 1984. After work began, it was determined that the repairs needed were more extensive, costly, and time-consuming than expected, and NJDOT estimated that rehabilitation could cost more than $1.2 billion. In 2009, NJDOT estimated that it would take a decade before the state could afford to rehabilitate or replace the structure. In a controversial move in 2011, Governor

Chris Christie Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician and former United States Attorney, federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. A member of the Republican Party (United States) ...

directed the

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, (PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ) is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York (state), New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate c ...

(PANYNJ) to divert money originally earmarked for the

Access to the Region's Core Access to the Region's Core (ARC) was a proposed commuter-rail project to increase passenger service capacity on New Jersey Transit (NJT) between Secaucus Junction in New Jersey and Manhattan in New York City. New infrastructure would have ...

rail project to highway projects. The agency agreed to pay $1.8 billion to partially fund efforts to rehabilitate the skyway and Route 139, replace

Wittpenn Bridge The Wittpenn Bridge is a vertical-lift bridge that carries New Jersey Route 7 over the Hackensack River in Jersey City and Kearny, in Hudson County, New Jersey. It is named after H. Otto Wittpenn, a former mayor of Jersey City. The bridge has ...

, and extend US 1/9 Truck, all part of the larger distribution network in 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 ...

. In January 2013, NJDOT announced that work on the $335 million projects for repaving and restoration of the roadway would begin at the end of 2013 by the state owned

China Construction America China Construction America () Founded in 1985, China Construction America (CCA) is a subsidiary of China State Construction Engineering Corporation Ltd. (CSCEC) — the world's largest construction and real estate conglomerate and the biggest g ...

Company. To facilitate the work, the eastbound lanes (northbound US 1/9) would close for two years after the

Super Bowl XLVIII Super Bowl XLVIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 2013 Denver Broncos season, Denver Broncos and National Football Conference (NFC) champion 2013 Seattle Seahawks season, Seattle Seahawks to ...

in February 2014 at the nearby

Meadowlands Sports Complex The Meadowlands Sports Complex is a sports complex located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States. The facility is owned and operated by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA). It is named for the New Jersey Meadowlands ...

. The proposal was opposed by local politicians, who contended that it did not satisfactorily address the effect on local traffic and called for more thorough investigation into alternatives. The closure date was postponed by NJDOT to more completely work out comprehensive traffic and travel options. The roadway remained open through the use of alternate lane closures during the work until April 12, 2014, affecting the 74,000 daily crossings. The rehabilitation project, with an estimated cost of $1.2–1.5 billion, is being done in phases and spread out over ten contracts, the first of which began in 2012, and the last, for final painting of the steel structure, planned for completion in 2020. The improvements are expected to extend the life of the bridge until at least 2095. The skyway was closed for eastbound (northbound US 1/9) traffic on April 12, 2014, for two years in order to replace the entire bridge deck. The midway access ramps in South Kearny and Jersey City were closed to regular traffic, but would be available to emergency responders. In April 2015, NJDOT said that unforeseen additional repairs would be made, extending the scheduled April 2016 completion date to sometime later that year and adding $14 million in costs. In March 2018, after several construction delays, it was announced that the Pulaski Skyway was set to be reopened to all traffic that spring. The skyway reopened to all traffic on June 30, 2018, two days earlier than NJDOT had originally announced. Auxiliary projects, such as rehabilitation of ramps onto the skyway and reconstruction of Route 139, are expected to continue at least through 2026. As of 2024, construction on 6 out of 13 contracts had been completed, with 3 more under construction and 4 in the preparatory phase.

Travel alternatives

NJDOT worked with

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) to bolster public transportation, encouraged car and van pooling, worked with local community officials, employers, truckers, local port employees, and the public to alleviate problems and address flexible working hours, and publicized alternate transportation options through television, radio,

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

news media The news media or news industry are forms of mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public. These include News agency, news agencies, newspapers, news magazines, News broadcasting, news channels etc. History Some of the fir ...

, and its skyway website. To ease congestion, the Turnpike Authority converted a

shoulder The human shoulder is made up of three bones: the clavicle (collarbone), the scapula (shoulder blade), and the humerus (upper arm bone) as well as associated muscles, ligaments and tendons. The articulations between the bones of the shoulder m ...

of the Newark Bay-Hudson County Extension of the New Jersey Turnpike to a traveling lane. Temporary

lane control lights Lane control lights are a specific type of traffic light used to manage traffic on a multi-way road or highway. Typically they allow or forbid traffic to use one or more of the available lanes by the use of Green lights or arrows (to permit) or ...

on of the extension would indicate that extra lane is open during peak hours, at which time the speed limit would be reduced. This set-up would be able to handle 1,900 vehicles an hour in addition to the slightly more than 4,000 vehicles per hour on the existing lanes during peak periods. To reduce delays,

variable message signs A variable- (also changeable-, electronic-, or dynamic-) message sign or message board, often abbreviated VMS, VMB, CMS, or DMS, and in the UK known as a matrix sign, is an electronic traffic sign often used on roadways to give travelers info ...

would provide motorists with daily traffic alerts and an adaptive traffic signal system would be installed and monitored by the Meadowlands Commission to synchronize traffic lights at 15 intersections along US 1/9 Truck and Route 440 in Kearny Point and

Jersey City Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

. They are part of a larger "

intelligent transportation system An intelligent transportation system (ITS) is an advanced application that aims to provide services relating to different modes of transport and traffic management and enable users to be better informed and make safer, more coordinated, and 's ...

", the Meadowlands Adaptive Signal System, a network of traffic-controlled intersections with vehicle detectors in the Meadowlands. In anticipation of traffic overflow onto local Jersey City streets, off-duty police officers would be hired to direct traffic heading to the Holland Tunnel during rush hours. To promote public transportation, NJT and

PATH A path is a route for physical travel – see Trail. Path or PATH may also refer to: Physical paths of different types * Bicycle path * Bridle path, used by people on horseback * Course (navigation), the intended path of a vehicle * Desir ...

offered more frequent peak hour train services to Newark,

Hoboken Hoboken ( ; ) is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Hoboken is part of the New York metropolitan area and is the site of Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's popula ...

and Jersey City on the

Hudson Waterfront The Hudson Waterfront is an urban area of northeastern New Jersey along the lower reaches of the Hudson River, the Upper New York Bay and the Kill van Kull. Though the term can specifically mean the shoreline, it is often used to mean the contig ...

, and

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. NJT added a new bus route for peak hour service between Watchung and

Newark Penn Station Newark Penn Station is an intermodal passenger station in Newark, New Jersey. One of the New York metropolitan area's major transportation hubs, Newark Penn Station is served by multiple rail and bus carriers, making it the seventh busiest rai ...

, along the US 22 corridor, and their bus schedules accommodated additional passengers on existing routes.

Funding controversy

On June 12, 2014, the PANYNJ acknowledged that the

Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market m ...

New York County District Attorney The New York County District Attorney, also known as the Manhattan District Attorney, is the elected district attorney for New York County, New York. The office is responsible for the prosecution of violations of New York state laws (federal l ...

, and

United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey The U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey is the chief federal law enforcement officer in New Jersey. Since March 24, 2025, Alina Habba has served as acting U.S. attorney. The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey has jurisd ...

were investigating its diversion of $1.8 billion to fund the Pulaski Skyway and other New Jersey roadway rehabilitation projects. These inquiries were related to how this funding, which was made at the urging of the Christie administration, was potentially misrepresented in documents related to bond sales. State laws require the PANYNJ to spend money only related to its own facilities, unless it gets approval from lawmakers in New Jersey and New York. The PANYNJ documents state that the Pulaski Skyway was designated as also providing access to the Lincoln Tunnel, even though it is miles from the tunnel and does not connect to it directly. In December 2014,

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois that operates an extensive domestic and international route network across the United States and six ...

filed a complaint with the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

that claims that since 2004 the PANYNJ has diverted more than $2 billion from the metro area airports to non-airport uses and that in 2014 alone it spent $181 million to repair the Pulaski Skyway and $60 million on the Wittpenn Bridge, NJDOT-owned and -operated structures.

In popular culture

The Pulaski Skyway is the subject of ''The Last Three Miles'', a book written by Steven Hart published in 2007. The Skyway has been used in radio, film, television, and at least one video game. In the 1938 radio drama ''

The War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells. It was written between 1895 and 1897, and serialised in '' Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US in 1897. The full novel was ...

'', one of the Martian machines straddles the skyway (a scene replicated in the

2005 film 2005 in film is an overview of events, including the highest-grossing films, award ceremonies, festivals, a list of country-specific lists of films released, notable deaths and film debuts. Highest-grossing films The top 10 films released i ...

wherein the first machine appears in the shadow of the bridge). It was featured in the 1979 film ''

Hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and ...

''.

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

's 1943 film ''

Shadow of a Doubt ''Shadow of a Doubt'' is a 1943 American psychological thriller film noir directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten. Written by Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson, and Alma Reville, the film was nominated for an A ...

'' and the 1999–2007 television drama ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The series follows Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey American Mafia, Mafia boss who suffers from panic attacks. He reluct ...

'' include shots of the bridge in the opening montages.

Clutch A clutch is a mechanical device that allows an output shaft to be disconnected from a rotating input shaft. The clutch's input shaft is typically attached to a motor, while the clutch's output shaft is connected to the mechanism that does th ...

included the track "Pulaski Skyway" on its 2005 release '' Robot Hive/Exodus.''

References

Footnotes Works cited *

External links

Pulaski Skyway
at Bridges & Tunnels
Pulaski Skyway
at

Pulaski Skyway
at ''NYCRoads'' * * {{featured article Bridges completed in 1932 Bridges over the Hackensack River Bridges over the Passaic River U.S. Route 1 U.S. Route 9 Bridges of the United States Numbered Highway System Bridges in Hudson County, New Jersey Bridges in Newark, New Jersey Transportation in Newark, New Jersey Transportation in Jersey City, New Jersey

Jersey City Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey Historic districts in Hudson County, New Jersey Historic American Engineering Record in New Jersey New Jersey Register of Historic Places Historic district contributing properties in New Jersey Historic district contributing properties in Newark, New Jersey National Register of Historic Places in Essex County, New Jersey National Register of Historic Places in Hudson County, New Jersey National Register of Historic Places in Newark, New Jersey Causeways in the United States Kearny, New Jersey Steel bridges in the United States Cantilever bridges in the United States Pratt truss bridges in the United States

Description

Design and construction

Labor issues

Truck and other safety issues

Rehabilitation

Travel alternatives

Funding controversy

In popular culture

See also

References

External links