Paterson Plank Road
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Paterson Plank Road is a road in northern New Jersey, with a history dating back two hundred years, that was the main road connecting Paterson and the Hudson River waterfront. Paterson Plank Road has largely been superseded by Route 3.
The road is so named because when originally constructed in the 18th century, the portion through the New Jersey Meadowlands consisted of planks laid side-to-side to prevent coach wheels from getting stuck in the swamp. Over time it was upgraded and even had a trolley line on its entire length at one point. The Passaic County and most of the Bergen County sections of the route have since been renamed; this article will discuss the historical route.
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[edit] Passaic County
In Passaic County, Paterson Plank Road travels southeast through Paterson where it is known as Main Street, Clifton, Passaic, (where it is known as Main Avenue). The section in Passaic is coincident with the former Main Line of the Erie Railroad; the extra width of the street has been converted into a parking lot. (In fact the Clifton and Paterson sections of the road are never more than 2-3 blocks from the former railroad route.) This area is the heavy density commercial center or downtown of the three cities. The original bridge over the Passaic River is gone, but the replacement bridge on a slightly different alignment (Gregory Avenue Bridge) is easily accessible.
[edit] Bergen County
After crossing into Bergen County, the road is called Paterson Avenue and designated as County Route 120, through Wallington, residential and light density commercial. The road becomes the border between Wallington to the north and East Rutherford to the south. Shortly the end of Wallington is reached and Paterson Ave is then the border between Carlstadt and East Rutherford for a short distance but then the road dips into East Rutherford to avoid a hill (the bypass, which goes over the hill, is called Hoboken Road).
The road returns to its path along the Carlstadt-East Rutherford border at Route 17 which it crosses over via an overpass, and is then designated as Route 120 and Paterson Plank Road for a distance. This section of the highway is in the low-lying area known as the New Jersey Meadowlands, part of the floodplain of the Hackensack River. Originally this section consisted of planks laid side-to-side to form a makeshift road to prevent carriage wheels from getting stuck in the swamp, but it has since been reclaimed. This part of the highway has been slated for redevelopment, angering the owners of the auto body shops and warehouses on this stretch, but several new hotels have already been built, and there are also several restaurants and nightclubs. The road passes to the north of the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The main road, Route 120, curves to the south to follow the eastern edge of the Sports Complex southward to NJ 3, but Paterson Plank Road continues eastward via an exit ramp. Shortly after crossing under the Western Spur of the New Jersey Turnpike it reaches the Hackensack River. The original bridge over the Hackensack River is gone. Currently there is a conceptual plan to possibly rebuild the bridge as part of an extension of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail to the Meadowlands Sports Complex.[citation needed]
[edit] Hudson County
The road picks up again in Hudson County in Secaucus. There is a bus park-and-ride at the road's northern end. The road travels mostly southward through a residential area until it crosses over NJ 3, and then turns southeast, forming the main street of Secaucus's (medium density commercial) Downtown area. The road crosses over Route 3 again, near another park-and-ride. It crosses over U.S. Route 1/9 in North Bergen and turns sharply southward to parallel it and is even heading south-southwest as it climbs the New Jersey Palisades. It then travels southeast through Jersey City, but curves to south-southwest as it descends the eastern side of the Palisades into Hoboken where it ends.
[edit] External links
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