PATH Lift Bridge

Bridge in Connecting Kearny and Jersey City, New Jersey

40°44′24″N 74°04′59″W / 40.740108°N 74.083048°W / 40.740108; -74.083048CarriesPATHCrossesHackensack RiverLocaleConnecting Kearny and Jersey City, New JerseyOwnerPort Authority of New York and New JerseyCharacteristicsDesignLift bridgeMaterialSteelHistoryOpened1900; 124 years ago (1900)Location Map

The PATH Lift is a lift bridge carrying the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) rapid transit line across the Hackensack River between Kearny and Jersey City, New Jersey. It is used by PATH trains going to and from Newark.

History

The bridge was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) in 1900.^[1] It was part of the PRR main line that terminated at Exchange Place in Jersey City. Upon the opening of the PRR North River Tunnels to Manhattan's Penn Station in 1910, the main line traffic was routed on a new alignment to the tunnels, and the Exchange Place line tracks were made available to the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad, a rapid transit line to lower Manhattan (later called PATH). Service on a new H&M line between the Manhattan Transfer station in Harrison, New Jersey and lower Manhattan began on October 1, 1911.^[2] The service was later extended southward to Newark.

Use of the bridge was shared by the PRR and H&M until PRR closed Exchange Place in 1961. Since that time, it has been used solely by H&M/PATH trains on the Newark–World Trade Center line (known as Newark-Hudson Terminal before 1971).^[3]

References

^ Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society. "PRR Chronology, 1900." March 2005 Edition.
^ "Improved Transit Facilities by Newark High Speed Line" (PDF). New York Times. October 1, 1911.
^ Cudahy, Brian J. (2002), Rails Under the Mighty Hudson (2nd ed.), New York: Fordham University Press, pp. 62–63, ISBN 978-0-82890-257-1, OCLC 911046235

External links

Media related to PATH Lift Bridge at Wikimedia Commons
Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. NJ-44, "PATH Transit System Bridge"
PATH Bridge at Structurae