Newark Plank Road

The Newark Plank Road was a major 19th century artery between New Jersey's Hudson Waterfront and the burgeoning city of Newark, further inland across the New Jersey Meadows. As its name suggests, a plank road was constructed of wooden planks laid side-to-side on a roadbed. A charter to construct the Newark Plank Road and Ferry was granted on February 24, 1849.^[1] Similar roads, the Bergen Point Plank Road, the Hackensack Plank Road and Paterson Plank Road, travelled to the locales for which they are named. The name is no longer used, the route having been absorbed into other streets and freeways. By 1869 Central Railroad of New Jersey's Newark and New York Railroad was running trains that mirrored the route. (The right of way through Bergen Hill is now used by Hudson-Bergen Light Rail West Side Branch). Public Service Railway Lines #1 ran along much of route until bustitution was implemented, keeping the old number now used by New Jersey Transit as part of the #1 bus route.

Jersey City

Newark Avenue in Jersey City begins at Grove Street,^[2] the stretch connecting it to the waterfront at Exchange Place/Paulus Hook called Railroad Avenue, after the Jersey City Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad. This commercial thoroughfare in Historic Downtown borders the neighborhoods of Van Vorst Park, The Village, and Harsimus Cove.^[3] Once crossing under the Newark Bay Extension of the New Jersey Turnpike it ascends Bergen Hill, between the landmarks Jersey City High School and the Harsimus and Jersey City Cemetery. The avenue enters the Five Corners district, which is the county seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, and passes Hudson County Courthouse and Administration Building. Though not called such, the area becomes a "Little Manila", due to the concentration of Filipino American businesses located there. As crosses Kennedy Boulevard, Newark Avenue descends and becomes the heart the of India Square neighborhood. It passes through the Marion Section running parallel to the PATH rail lines and under the Marion Junction lines. Here Newark Avenue diverges from the colonial route and crosses the Wittpenn Bridge and soon thereafter splits into the Belleville Turnpike and the Newark-Jersey City Turnpike.^[2][4] The Newark Plank Road followed the route of U.S. Route 1/9 Truck (that now passes Holy Name Cemetery and Lincoln Park) turning onto Communipaw Avenue. After 1913 it became part of the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental automobile route across the United States.

Public Service Railway Lines #3 and #9 ran along the avenue until bustitution was implemented.

Kearny Point

After crossing the Hackensack River the road traverses Kearny Point, the southern tip of New Barbadoes Neck where the Hackensack and Passaic River meet. It ran parallel to the Morris Canal. This section was part the transcontinental Lincoln Highway and retains that name.^[2]

Modern bridge over Passaic River

Newark

Ferry Street in the Ironbound section of Newark was part of the plank road, named after the ferry that would travel between Newark and points east. In 1849, "The Newark Plank Road Company" was hired to fix the road with planks for smoother travel. Ferry Street was then changed to "Plank Road." It was not completed within the fifty year charter that it was given to accomplish the work. A legal dispute arose and the Hudson County section changed "Plank Road" to the Lincoln Highway while the Essex County section was changed back to "Ferry Street." ^[5]

Hoboken

A related road is Newark Street in Hoboken which begins close to the Hoboken Terminal. For most of distance it is a narrow one way street after which it becomes a busy thoroughfare in the southwestern corner of town. It originally travelled to Five Corners near Journal Square. Subsequent rail and vehicular infrastructure have divided the route into several sections. A detour is created at the intersection of Observer Highway, close to which begins Paterson Plank Road. It crosses under New Jersey Transit rail operations at the city line, where again the route is diverted to accommodate the Hudson Bergen Light Rail junction. Becoming Hoboken Ave it ascends Bergen Hill where the route is interrupted by the Divided Highway, the Long Dock Tunnel and Bergen Arches. It resumes on the other side of the "cuts" for a short stretch before becoming one the streets that creates the Five Corners.

See also

• U.S. Roads portal
• New Jersey portal
• List of turnpikes in New Jersey
• List of county routes in Hudson County, New Jersey
• Bergen Point Plank Road

References

1. ^ *Laws of the State of New Jersey, 1811, pp. 337-340
2. ^ ^{a b c} Hudson County New Jersey Street Map. Hagstrom Map Company, Inc. 2008. ISBN 0-88097-763-9. 
3. ^ Map of the Newark Avenue Neighborhood and Redevelopment Zone
4. ^ Alps Roads
5. ^ *"Ferry Street." Newarkology! September 29. 14 October 2007.

Coordinates: 40°44′02″N 74°08′41″W / 40.73393°N 74.14462°W / 40.73393; -74.14462