Upper Hack Lift

Upper Hack Lift

Upper Hack Lift from Secaucus bank of Hackensack River
Coordinates 40°46′41″N 74°05′24″W / 40.778015°N 74.089906°WCoordinates: 40°46′41″N 74°05′24″W / 40.778015°N 74.089906°W
Carries One track of NJ Transit Main Line
Crosses Hackensack River
Locale Secaucus and Lyndhurst, New Jersey
Official name Upper Hack Bridge
Other name(s) Upper Hackensack Lift, Erie Lift, West Secaucus Bridge
Maintained by NJ Transit
Characteristics
Design Lift bridge
Longest span 127 feet
Clearance below 8 ft (lowered); 110 ft (raised)
History
Opened March 1959
Upper Hack Lift

Upper Hack Lift is a lift bridge carrying the New Jersey Transit Main Line across the Hackensack River at mile 6.9 between Secaucus, New Jersey and Lyndhurst.

It was built by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad in 1958 and completed in March 1959 to serve the Boonton Line and replaced an older swing span from 1901 on the site, which had been damaged by shifting currents. The new single-track lift bridge cost $5,500,000 [1]

Following a 1963 route realignment, Erie Main Line service began using the bridge. It was repainted in 1994 to its current turquoise blue color.

Upper Hack is the only single-track lift bridge in New Jersey. It is visible to motorists on the New Jersey Turnpike's western spur between Interchanges 15W and 16W.

Remnants of the older swing span are visible just to the north of the current lift span, as concrete abutments and piers remain.[2]

The current drawbridge schedule at Upper Hack (as stated by US Coast Guard, 33 CFR 117.723) allows the bridge to open on signal unless the bridge tender is at the nearby HX Draw on the Bergen County Line upstream.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Taber, Thomas Townsend Townsend and Thomas Townsend Taber III. The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad in the Twentieth Century (two volumes) Muncy PA, 1981. 139
  2. ↑ Wong, Kevin (1999). "Abutment for former Lackawanna swing span by Upper Hack." Photograph.
  3. ↑ (2)

External links