The Route 46 Passaic River Bridge can refer to a number of bridges that carry U.S. Route 46 (US 46) over the Passaic River in Northern New Jersey. US 46 was originally developed as Route 6 under the direction of Morris Goodkind who was chief engineer of the New Jersey Highway Department (predecessor to the New Jersey Department of Transportation) from 1922 until 1955.
In the 1927 New Jersey state highway renumbering Route 6 was assigned to the route across northern New Jersey, using the old Route 5 from Delaware to Netcong, Route 12 from Hackettstown to Paterson, and a generally new alignment parallel to Route 10 from Paterson to the proposed George Washington Bridge. In Paterson, Route 6 was marked along city streets including McBride Avenue, Spruce Street and Market Street.[4][5]
In 1929, Route 6 was redefined to use none of the old road east of Paterson (it had formerly been planned to use Market Street west of roughly where Route 17 now crosses it), and Route 5 was cut back to run only east from Ridgefield.[6] Route 6 was redefined to bypass Paterson to the south. The new highway would enter Paterson just south of Market Street, but then turn south and southwest before heading west to rejoin the route at the Little Falls bypass at the Union Boulevard crossing. The old road along Union Boulevard towards Paterson was assigned Route S6, as a spur of Route 6.[6] Route S6 became Route 62 in the 1953 New Jersey state highway renumbering, and has since been truncated to a short distance between US 46 and I-80 in Totowa.[7] By 1937, most of Route 6 had been completed with the exception of the Paterson bypass.[8] A realignment at the Passaic River crossing near Pine Brook was built in the 1940s, along with a new road for a short distance west from Pine Brook.[9][10]
The Route 6 designation was dropped in favor of US 46 in the 1953 renumbering.[7]
Bridges
Bridge aesthetics and the use of concrete for its moldable qualities characterized 1920-1930s New Jersey State Highway Department bridge design. The NJ 6 bridges use motifs seen on other bridges in the state. The encased steel stringer spans have Moderne-style concrete pilasters and balustrades establishing coherent design to the route. The bridges that carried NJ 6 over the Passaic River were given special attention. and are among the most distinguished and elaborate bridges in the state in their use of reinforced concreteopen spandrel arches creating graceful and elegant forms which displays both structural efficiency and architectural style. The three NJ 6 open spandrel arch bridges (two over the river and another built 1939, NBI#1607163, over Lakeview Avenue in Clifton) are embellished with tile mosaics of the state seal, battered light standards, and stepped pilasters.[11]
The Passaic River Bridge at Paterson and Passaic River Bridge at Totowa are significant sophisticated examples of an open spandrel arch, reinforced concrete highway bridge and are representative of approximately ten of the type designed and built by the New Jersey State Highway Department between 1929 and 1939 as part the expansion of the state highway system. In the 1990s, the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) Historic Bridge Survey recommended the New Jersey State Historic Preservation Officer determine that they were eligible for inclusion on the state and federal registers of historic places[11][12]
^ abA. G. Lichtenstein & Associates, Inc. for NJDOT and FHWA (2001). "Historic Bridge Survey (1991–1994)". New Jersey Department of Transportation. Retrieved January 20, 2017. By the time construction was underway in 1936-1940, State Highway Department engineers were using well-tried highway and bridge engineering designs already in use on such routes as the Route 1 Extension in Hudson County. The survey evaluated 22 bridges constructed as part of the NJ 6 project including 18 encased steel stringers, three open spandrel arches, and one thru girder. The encased steel stringer spans, which carry the highway over or under city streets, other state highways, and railroads, have Moderne-style concrete pilasters and balustrades that lend a sense of coherent design to the route, but are not in and of themselves technologically or architecturally significant. The emphasis on bridge aesthetics and the moldable qualities of concrete was a hallmark of 1920s and 1930s New Jersey State Highway Department bridges, and the NJ 6 bridges mirror motifs seen on bridges in other parts of the state. The bridges that carried NJ 6 over the Passaic River and adjacent highways received special attention from the State Highway Department Bridge Division. The Passaic River crossings were among the most distinguished and elaborate bridges in the state due to the decision of former State Bridge Engineer Morris Goodkind to build reinforced concrete open spandrel arch bridges over the river. The graceful and elegant bridge form displays both structural efficiency and architectural style. The three NJ 6 open spandrel arch bridges (1606158, US 46 over Passaic River and Riverview Drive, 1939, Little Falls Township; 1607168, US 46 over Passaic River, 1937, Paterson City; and, 1607163, US 46 over Lakeview Avenue, 1939, Clifton City) have such embellishments as tile mosaics of the State seal, battered light standards, and stepped pilasters. Goodkind served as State Bridge Engineer from 1922 to 1955 and had first used the open spandrel arch form in his 1929-30 US 1 bridge over the Raritan River (1204150, New Brunswick City, Middlesex County). In the 1930s he repeated the bridge form several times for major river crossings in the northern half of the state, and received numerous awards from his peers for his designs and leadership. The NJ 6 bridges marked the last major pre- World War II development in Passaic County's bridge history.
^"The Capture of John Cadmus". The Bulletin of the Passaic County Historical Society. Passaic County Historical Society. November 1956. Retrieved November 10, 2016.
^ abcdeNew Jersey Department of Transportation (September 5, 2008). "Route 46 Corridor Project". New Jersey Department of Transportation. Retrieved October 30, 2016.
^Nassif, Hani; Ertekin, A. Oguz; Davis, Joe (March 2002). Evaluation of Bridge Scour Monitoring Methods(PDF). New Brunswick, NJ: Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering Center for Advanced Infrastructure & Transportation, Rutgers University. FHWA-NJ-2003-009. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
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