Rating:
2 votes

Wittpenn Bridge (1930)

Hudson County, New Jersey

Photos 

Photo taken by Doug Kerr in February 2011

Enlarge

BH Photo #195615

Map 

Street Views 

Description 

One of 3 adjacent Hackensack River lift bridges; includes former PRR freight bridge (now Conrail) and PRR passenger (now PATH).

Facts 

Overview
Lost vertical lift bridge over Hackensack River on NJ 7 in Jersey City
Location
Hudson County, New Jersey
Future prospects
Demolition started in October 2021.
History
Built 1930; rehabilitated 1957; demolished in 2022
Builders
- Harrington, Howard & Ash of Kansas City, Kansas & New York, New York
- Sigvald Johannesson
- Strobel Steel Construction Co. of Chicago, Illinois
Design
Vertical lift through truss
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 206.0 ft.
Total length: 2,126.1 ft. (0.4 mi.)
Deck width: 40.0 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 14.0 ft.
Recognition
Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places
Approximate latitude, longitude
+40.74051, -74.08159   (decimal degrees)
40°44'26" N, 74°04'54" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
18/577542/4510357 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Jersey City
Average daily traffic (as of 2018)
50,490
Inventory numbers
NJ 0909150 (New Jersey bridge number)
BH 25232 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection report (as of May 2018)
Overall condition: Poor
Superstructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 32 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com

Categories 

Built 1930 (1,837)
Built during 1930s (12,170)
Curved (490)
Hackensack River (21)
Harrington, Howard & Ash (25)
Have street view (28,918)
Hudson County, New Jersey (111)
Lost (28,538)
Lost 2022 (25)
Lost during 2020s (288)
Movable (3,116)
NR-eligible (4,109)
Navigable waterway (2,204)
 New Jersey (1,693)
Owned by state (16,564)
Replaced by new bridge (19,411)
Sigvald Johannesson (2)
Skewed (5,012)
Span length 175-250 feet (2,058)
Steel grate deck (467)
Strobel Steel Construction Co. (27)
Through truss (16,819)
Total length 1000-2500 feet (1,997)
Tower Drive Vertical Lift (64)
Truss (35,505)
Vertical lift (428)

Update Log 

  • March 24, 2022: New photos from Geoff Hubbs
  • December 20, 2021: Updated by Geoff Hubbs: Updated status
  • November 27, 2021: New photo from Patrick Gurwell
  • August 2, 2020: New photo from Patrick Gurwell
  • October 11, 2019: New photo from Geoff Hubbs
  • July 12, 2019: New Street View added by Geoff Hubbs
  • May 6, 2019: New photo from Geoff Hubbs
  • October 22, 2013: Updated by Nathan Holth: This bridge is now doomed. (Confirmed By Field Visit)
  • August 28, 2013: New photo from Douglas Butler
  • July 13, 2013: Photo imported by Dave King
  • March 21, 2011: New photo from Doug Kerr
  • May 28, 2010: New Street View added by James Baughn

Related Bridges 

Sources 

  • Doug Kerr
  • Wikipedia
  • Douglas Butler
  • Nathan Holth
  • Geoff Hubbs
  • Patrick Gurwell - pgurwell [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Flickr - Russ Sullivan photo- old and new Wittpenn Bridges
Post a comment here

Comments 

Hackensack River Bridge
Posted August 28, 2007, by Kevin Wong (R36Redbird [at] yahoo [dot] com)

More views (in the eastbound directio)

Wittpenn (NJ Route 7) Bridge
Posted August 25, 2007, by Kevin Wong (R36Redbird [at] yahoo [dot] com)

The Wittpenn Bridge was built beginning in 1927 and opened November 5, 1930. It has been the site of several fatal accidents and has been the location of some hauntings (perhaps linked to the crashes). This deficent and obsolete span will be replaced by 2012 with a modern lift bridge with sholders.

Hackensack River Bridge
Posted July 13, 2007, by Mike

This bridge is properly known as the Wittpenn Bridge, named after the mayor of Jersey City at the time of its construction, Otto Wittpenn. Now that I know this site exists I will be happy to try to provide photos of some of the bridges in the NJ/NY area. I assume the more famous ones are covered, but I know and appreciate them all, even the more obscure ones.