General Pulaski Skyway

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Coordinates: 40 ° 44 ′ 9 ″  N , 74 ° 5 ′ 19 ″  W.

General Pulaski Skyway
General Pulaski Skyway
Convicted 4 stripes of US 1/9
Subjugated Passaic River and Hackensack River
place Jersey City and Newark , New Jersey , USA
Entertained by New Jersey Department of Transportation
Building number 0704150/0901150
overall length 5635.7 m
width 17.2 m
Longest span 167.6 m
Headroom 4.4 m
Clear height 41.1 m
opening November 24, 1932
location
General Pulaski Skyway, New Jersey
General Pulaski Skyway
Pulaski Skyway.svg
p1

The Pulaski Skyway is a series of Gerber beam - truss bridges in the northeastern part of the US state of New Jersey . This elevated road runs four lanes of US Highway 1/9 for five and a half kilometers between the east end of Newark and Tonnele Circle in Jersey City via Kearny . This section got its name skyway - something like path in the clouds - because of its location high above the surrounding terrain, which served to avoid the construction of drawbridges over both the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers , which each bridge at a height of 40 m become. The elevated road also crosses the New Jersey Turnpike , numerous local roads, and several railroad lines. The Hochstraße is named after the Polish general Kazimierz Pułaski , who assisted in the training and command of troops of the Continental Army during the American War of Independence .

Due to its outdated design, large trucks are prohibited from public use of the Pulaski Skyway for safety reasons. These must use a branch line that, as a US Highway 1/9 Truck , includes a number of eastern roads in Jersey City, Kearny and Newark. Traffic flowed on these roads before the elevated road was built. Pedestrians and cyclists are also not allowed to use it, as the road is a motorway and there are no sidewalks .

The Pulaski Skyway opened in 1932 and was the last section of the Route 1 Extension , one of the first "superhighways" in the United States, the forerunner of today's interstate highway network. The structure has only changed slightly since then and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 12, 2005 as part of the Route 1 Extension . The building was also of major importance due to the labor dispute between organized workers and Jersey City's Mayor Frank Hague , who turned against the unions .

description

Today the overlapping highways US 1/9 lead over the elevated road, which leads east from Newark to Jersey City, but is signposted as north and south because both US Highway 1 and US Highway 9 as a whole are north-south Connections are, US 1/9 continues southwest to the Newark Airport Interchange , but traffic to Downtown Newark typically branches off at the Raymond Boulevard exit . The east end is at Tonnele Circle , where US 1/9 hits the surface of the earth and then follow Tonnele Avenue towards the Lincoln Tunnel and George Washington Bridge . The four-lane covered Route 139 leads east over Tonnele Circle and through the New Jersey Palisades to the Holland Tunnel . A speed limit of 45 mph (72 km / h) applies on the skyway . However, it is often exceeded because there is no suitable place for the police to stop speeders.

There are four entrances to the Skyway, two at the ends and two in between. At the two middle junctions, entry and exit is only possible in one direction; they consist of a single ramp in the middle of the route that threads the traffic in or out on the left, which means that it has to cut the faster traffic in the passing lane. Such construction methods are avoided on new motorways and motorway-like roads for safety reasons. The connection points in detail are:

county location mile Direction (s) Remarks
Essex Newark 51.43 South end of the Pulaski Skyway; US 1/9 continue south on an eight-lane route
Raymond Boulevard - Newark south exit to Raymond Boulevard; north entrance from Roanoke Avenue
51.85 Bridge over the Passaic River
Hudson Kearny
52.33 South Kearny Exit to the south and entrance to the north; the ramp between the lanes leads to and from Adams Street
53.04 Bridge over the Hackensack River
Jersey City
54.00 Broadway ( US 1/9 Truck ) northward exit and southward entrance; the ramp between the lanes connects to Halleck Avenue and Broadway
54.61
US Route 1/9 truck south to I-280 - Jersey City , Kearny 		south exit and north entry (the latter via the Tonnele Circle)
US Route 1/9 northbound (Tonnele Avenue) - Meadowlands Sports Complex , Lincoln Tunnel Tonnele Circle ; North entrance on the left
North end of the Pulaski Skyway; NJ 139 heads east to the Holland Tunnel and Hoboken , New Jersey

While the Skyway doesn't appear frequently in popular culture, it has made some prominent appearances. In the radio play The War of the Worlds , first broadcast in 1938, one of the Martians' spaceships landed on it. Alfred Hitchcock's film Shadow of a Doubt (1943) and the television series The Sopranos (1999–2007) each began with recordings of the bridge.

Design and construction

With the exception of the crossings of the two rivers, the bulk of the elevated road that begins west of Raymond Boulevard is a tannery bridge supported by concrete piers. Both river crossings are a 1250 foot (377 m) long combination of two 350 foot (105 m) long continuous, parallel belted Pratt girders and a K-shaped 550 m (166 m) long parallel belted continuous Pratt beam between. At the Jersey City end there are three short Pratt girder spans that lead the road over railroad lines. The westernmost is the route on which the Port Authority Trans-Hudson rapid-transit railway and the Passaic and Harsimus Line of Conrail operate. The two most easterly girder spans are directly adjacent, then the elevated road is already low enough to allow a construction with simple vertical supports. A pair of adjacent full-length girder bridges cross Conrail's Northern Branch and a now empty space next to it. Eventually, after the highway crosses Tonnele Circle , the street level drops to the ground and the elevated road turns into Route 139 .

Planning for the Holland Tunnel , the first permanent link between New Jersey and New York City , began in 1919; construction began in 1922, and the tunnel was opened in late 1927. In order to create a thoroughfare on the New Jersey side so that motorists would not have to wind their way through the narrow streets of Jersey City and Newark, the New Jersey Legislature passed a law in 1922 that allowed Route 1 to be extended from theirs at that time end in Elizabeth through Newark and Jersey City to the portal of the future tunnel was approved. The chief engineer for the state's highways selected his long-time friend, Fred Lavis , a civil engineer who was primarily involved in the construction of foreign railways and the Panama Canal and who had written four books on the layout and planning of railways, to design this Route 1 extension .

In his design, Lavis drew on principles that he had developed over the years when building railway lines, taking into account the need to connect not only the Holland Tunnel but also the planned crossing of the George Washington Bridge at Fort Lee . Frank Hague , the mayor of Jersey City and head of the Political Machine he controls , had instructed the state to avoid open cuts , as was the custom when the railroad crossed Bergen Hill , and that a connection at Kearny was to be built to connect an industrial area. Construction of the road, which ran largely on an embankment and crossed Bergen Hill in a gully covered by a local road, began in mid-1925. Most of the route in Jersey City and Newark - including the covered Route 139 and the causeway in eastern Newark - was opened in late 1928, about a year after the tunnel opened. Traffic was still forced to cross the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers on the old Lincoln Highway , making use of the two drawbridges , where traffic was frequently stopped to allow ships to pass.

The US 1/9 runs raised to the east of Newark. The Pulaski Skyway in the background rises even higher to cross the two rivers

Lavis' design for this section of the New Jersey Meadowlands , which was to run on concrete piers, called for two drawbridges at 35 feet (10.5 m) above the water's surface, which was high enough for most of the ships passing underneath . In 1928 he resigned believing his job was done, but in January 1929 the War Department appealed against the continuation of the drawbridges on the Lincoln Highway after the new highway link was completed. Because the planning of the Route 1 Extension did not include local traffic and replacing the drawbridges with tunnels would have been expensive, a compromise was reached in late 1929 in which the bridges were raised to a height of 135 feet (40.5 m) were. This significantly increased the incline of the driveways. The concrete covering of the steel parts was removed from the plans because the higher bridges were heavier; this led to more entertainment in the future.

Four construction companies - American Bridge Company , McClintic-Marshall Company , Phoenix Bridge Company, and Taylor-Fichter Steel Construction Company - received contracts to build the so-called Diagonal Highway and construction began in April 1930. The two river bridges in the McClintic-Marshall section were completed first. The for 21 million US dollars built section was on 24 November 1932 the Thanksgiving Day , released at 8:00 am for the market after just one day a ceremony was held on the driveway in Kearny before. Because of the Great Depression and problems with funding, Governor of Mew Jerseys, A. Harry Moore , instructed the Highway Commission on October 25, 1932, to make a formal request to the US Bureau of Public Roads to have a toll calculated on the Diagonal To introduce Highway. While it was believed that a toll was illegal because federal funds were being used, the $ 600,000 budgeted federal funds could be used for another project. On May 1, 1933, a state bill was launched to introduce a toll on the highway now known as the Sky way , which would be 10 cents for cars and 20 cents for trucks. The legal obstacle to federal funds was also circumvented by getting permission to use the funds for another project, but tolls were never introduced.

In addition to belonging to US 1/9 , the elevated road was also part of Route 25 before the renumbering in 1953 ; this is why this term appears in contemporary documents. The original numbering as part of the Route 1 Extension referred to the routing of Route 1, valid before 1927, which was largely absorbed into Route 25 when the State Routes in New Jersey were renumbered in 1927 . US 1/9 was moved from the old Lincoln Highway to the Skyway upon completion, and the previous route became the US 1/9 Truck .

A plaque in honor of Pulaski

During the planning and construction, as well as six months after the opening, the elevated road had no official name; it was given names such as Diagonal Highway , Newark-Jersey City Viaduct or High-Level Viaduct . On May 3, 1933, the New Jersey Legislature passed a law introduced by Eugene W. Hejke, with which the elevated road was named after Kazimierz Pułaski . The street was finally dedicated with the new name on October 11, 1933 in a ceremony that also saw the unveiling of new road signs.

In 1933, an investigation showed that the road would save time. Apart from the fact that the bypass was around 800 m shorter than on the old route through the city, the new route also turned out to be six minutes faster. Trucks saved between five and eleven minutes. It was also found that the new road picked up traffic from other roads.

Labor dispute

The construction of the Pulaski Skyway sparked a dispute between Jersey City Mayor Frank Hague, who led an influential New Jersey political machine , and Theodore M. Brandle , a union leader who was friends with Hague. Brandle and Hague had become friends through Hague's efforts to win union support. Brandle helped organize the Branleygran Company , a construction bailiff that Hague sponsored construction projects. As part of the rebuilding of Journal Square in the mid-1920s, Brandles bought the Labor National Bank , a 15-story building founded in June 1926 , as its new headquarters (this Labor Bank Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984). Ultimately, Brandle controlled all construction activity in northern New Jersey and the strikes he called were covered by the Hague-controlled police.

Relations between Hague and Brandle began to deteriorate in late 1931, during the construction of the Jersey City Medical Center , a major construction project for Hague. Leo Brennan, a contractor who was hired by Hague to build an emergency power station for the hospital without consulting Brandle, refused to use Brandle's index card system, which he used to monitor union members and blacklist workers he did not would like to. Angry Brandle called for a strike, but Brennan's workers refused to take part; the police, called after the clashes, closed the construction site, but Brennan obtained permission from the court to allow work to continue. To please Brandle, who had threatened to suspend all construction on the hospital, Hague paid Brennan off and hired another contractor approved by Brandle.

For the construction of the Pulaski Skyway, which began in April 1930, Hague elected four members of the National Erectors' Association , an organization of non-union steel construction companies. Payments for the construction were made in cash, Branleygran was bypassed, and the contractors hired the Foster Industrial and Detective Agency to protect the site from Brandle's threats to "unionize the job or otherwise". Brandle organized picket lines by loyal unionized workers, and the two sides fought regularly in the streets or at the construction site. But Brandle's only triumph was a five-day walkout in July 1931, in which 165 non-union workers took part, whose interest was a wage increase and who were intimidated by the ongoing street fighting but strongly opposed to joining the union. During the LaFollette Civil Liberties Committee hearings , it was found that the American Bridge Company , one of the four construction companies involved, had spent nearly $ 300,000 in an attempt to save $ 50,000 to keep the construction sites unionized.

The first victim of the labor dispute was a picket who was shot by a construction site guard on November 14, 1931 for throwing stones at workers. Several months later, on February 27, 1932, a vehicle carrying six workers to the construction site was surrounded by union men who then began beating the workers with iron bars. One of the workers, William T. Harrison, died the next morning; Hague broke off all contact with Brandle and ordered the police to "wage a never-ending war against the troublemaker gangs of Brandle". In April 1932, 21 steel workers were charged as suspects of Harrison's murder. The trial took place on December 6, 1932, two weeks after the project was completed. None of the defendants were found guilty, as County Attorney John Drewen was unable to produce evidence that any of the defendants were at the scene, and witnesses and defendants testified that they were compelled under torture or threats of persecution, affidavits Signing assurances and confessions . In addition to Harrison, 14 workers died in work accidents during the construction work.

Hague refused to give in to Brandle and the unions, and expelled the unions through the courts he controlled. In public, Hague attacked the "union crooks" and the local newspapers agreed. In 1937 and 1938, Hague turned Jersey City into a sort of police state to combat the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), which in turn was trying to educate workers about their rights under the National Labor Relations Act , passed in 1935 . Hague and his helpers prevented the socialist Norman Thomas from speaking in Jersey City and Newark. This and similar cases eventually led to public awareness of Hague nationwide. In early 1938, in turn, he was attacked by The New Yorker and Life magazines . But it was not until 1947 that Governor Alfred E. Driscoll put an end to Hague's power over the city, and the mayor resigned.

Heavy traffic and other safety issues

The driveway in Kearny, NJ was built to encourage industrial development but proved too dangerous for heavy trucks

The slippery concrete pavement of the road, the steep access ramps leading from the left, the centrally arranged breakdown lane and the widely open route designed for high speeds all contributed to a high number of traffic accidents. Frank Hague , the Mayor of Jersey City, issued an ordinance in November 1933 banning the skyway within Jersey City; Ultimately, the heavy goods traffic was completely banned from the route. Enforcement of the ordinance began on January 15, 1934 when city police arrested the first truck drivers using the bridge. The New Jersey State Highway Commission approved the action on Jan. 23. Due to the controversy that followed, on February 6, 300,000 questionnaires were distributed among motorists on the Skyway to see if they agreed to the ban on heavy goods vehicles. Mayor Hague promised to follow the majority. This decided in favor of the ban. The matter has also been taken to court. One of the convicted truck drivers objected that the ban was an unlawful restriction of the Commerce Clause and that the city of Jersey City had no right to ban trucks on this section of the route because federal funds were used to finance it. Judge Thomas W. Trenchard ruled the lawfulness of the ban in the New Jersey Supreme Court on August 14, basing his judgment on the fact that “the court is not at liberty to use its judgment over that of local government, whichever is the best and most feasible have chosen to remove the traffic nuisances and traffic jams, especially since these regulations have a direct relationship with public safety and are reasonable and not arbitrary ”. In September 1938 the Tonnele Circle Viaduct was opened. This new access ramp enabled truck traffic from the Holland Tunnel to bypass Tonnele Circle .

On May 21, 1952, Jersey City Police observed large numbers of trucks on the elevated road into the city. When they stopped the drivers, they said the truck route exit in Newark was closed for construction. A call to the Newark Police Department confirmed the situation. Hudson County Police Department refused to force trucks off the elevated road before Jersey City because there was no state law prohibiting the use of the elevated road. Jersey City Police Chief James McNamara relented and for a time unidirectional trucking was allowed.

Photo from 1941 before the central barrier was installed

When the line opened, it had five lanes, the middle one being intended as a hard shoulder. In fact, however, it was used as an additional lane to overtake the slower traffic. In the late 1950s, there were more than 400 accidents a year on the Skyway. In the middle of 1956, a central guardrail made of aluminum was built, and a new road surface was applied to make the road less slippery.

The New Jersey Turnpike passes under the Skyway; the photo is from 2004 and shows the state before the lowering of the roadway

The skyway near its western end was an obstacle in the construction of the New Jersey Turnpike in 1951 . The turnpike had to be built low enough to allow vehicles passing under the turnpike a sufficient clearance profile, but at the same time to remain high enough above the Passaic River . As an alternative, the engineers could have built the turnpike over the skyway at significantly higher costs; the first option was finally chosen. As part of construction work to increase seismic insensitivity, the Turnpike Authority lowered the carriageway in 2005 in order to increase the clear height under the skyway and to create full-width hard shoulders for the two directional carriageways; these were previously restricted by the position of the pillars of the skyway. The Newark Bay Extension of the New Jersey Turnpike ( I-78 ) opened in September 1956, allowing trucks heading towards the Holland Tunnel to bypass the old city road.

After the collapse of the Interstate 35W Mississippi River Bridge in Minneapolis , Minnesota in August 2007, local authorities requested a renovation of the overpass and the non- redundant trusses. The renovation is estimated to cost ten million US dollars and the work is expected to take one year. They are designed to prevent fatigue and other structural problems that are believed to have caused the Minneapolis disaster. The New Jersey Department of Transportation tops the flyover on a list of eight bridges that are "top priority" renovation.

In popular culture

The General Pulaski Skyway appears in the following films and TV series:

literature

Web links

Commons : Pulaski Skyway  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Traffic Regulations: Route 1 and 9, The Pulaski Skyway ( English ) New Jersey Department of Transportation . October 29, 2003. Retrieved July 19, 2011.
  2. ↑ Hart, pp. 1-5
  3. ↑ a b c Straight Line Diagrams 2007: US 1 (PDF) New Jersey Department of Transportation . 2007. Retrieved July 19, 2011.
  4. ↑ Hart, p. 55.
  5. ↑ Hart, pp. 51-52
  6. ^ Carl W. Condit , American Building Art: The Twentieth Century , quoted in: Hart, pp. 50–51
  7. ↑ Hart, pp. 10, 22
  8. ↑ Public Law 1922, Chapter 253 ( Memento of the original dated December 9, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.jimmyandsharonwilliams.com
  9. ↑ a b c Hart, pp. 57-73
  10. ↑ Hart, p. 188.
  11. ↑ Jersey's Super Road to Be Opened Today (English) , The New York Times . December 16, 1928, p. XX12. 
  12. ↑ Hart, p. 103.
  13. ↑ Hart, p. 123.
  14. ↑ Hart, p. 4.
  15. ↑ Auto Express Route Dedicated in Jersey (English) , The New York Times . November 24, 1932, p. 27. 
  16. ↑ Hart, pp. 132-136
  17. ↑ Jersey Toll Forces Issue (English) , The New York Times . October 26, 1932, p. 4. 
  18. ↑ Tolls on Viaduct Set by Bill Jersey (English) , The New York Times . May 2, 1933, p. 7. 
  19. ^ Rand McNally Road Atlas, 1946, p. 42: New York and Vicinity
  20. ^ Rand McNally Auto Road Atlas, 1926, p. 86: New York and Vicinity
  21. ↑ Jersey Honors Pulaski (English) , The New York Times . May 4, 1933, p. 19. 
  22. ↑ Hart, pp. 155-159
  23. ^ Raised Way Saves Time (English) , The New York Times . March 18, 1934, p. XX8. 
  24. ↑ Hart, p. 175.
  25. ↑ Hart, pp. 87-92.
  26. ↑ Hart, pp. 89, 92-95.
  27. ↑ Hart, pp. 101-113.
  28. ↑ Hart, pp. 151-153
  29. ↑ Hart, pp. 116-121
  30. ↑ Hart, pp. 137-143
  31. ↑ Hart, p. 112.
  32. ↑ Hart, pp. 143-151
  33. ↑ Hart, pp. 169-172, 175-176
  34. ↑ bars Trucks on Skyway (English) , The New York Times . January 9, 1934, p. 17. 
  35. ↑ 10 Held in Skyway Ban (English) , The New York Times . January 16, 1934, p. 12. 
  36. ↑ Skyway Truck Ban Approved by State (English) , The New York Times . January 24, 1934, p. 19. 
  37. ↑ a b Hart, pp. 160-163
  38. ↑ Skyway Ban Up for Vote (English) , The New York Times . February 7, 1934, p. 10. 
  39. ↑ Skyway Truck Ban Upheld in Jersey (English) , The New York Times . August 15, 1934, p. 7. 
  40. ↑ New Viaduct Opened in Jersey (English) , The New York Times . September 15, 1938, p. 25. 
  41. ↑ Banned Trucks Roll Along Pulaski Skyway While Jersey City Police Fume All in Vain (English) , The New York Times . May 22, 1952, p. 29. 
  42. ↑ Pulaski Skyway to Get New and Safer Surface (English) , The New York Times . September 13, 1955, p. 26. 
  43. ↑ Skyway Job to Cause Detour (English) , The New York Times . June 4, 1956, p. 23. 
  44. ↑ Hart, pp. 166-167
  45. ↑ Armand Schwab, Jr: City Linked to Super Highway (English) , The New York Times . January 20, 1952, p. X17. 
  46. ↑ Hart, pp. 173-174
  47. ↑ 35th Annual Engineering Excellence Awards Dinner program ( English , PDF) American Council of Engineering Companies of New Jersey. S. 28 March 6, 2006. Archived from the original on March 4, 2009. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved July 19, 2011. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.acecnj.org
  48. ^ Joseph C. Ingraham: Bypass in Bayonne (English) , The New York Times . September 9, 1956, p. X21. 
  49. ↑ Tom Davis: Pulaski Skyway, at 75, to get first wave of critical repairs , The Record . August 20, 2007. Retrieved July 19, 2011. 
  50. ^ Russ Buettner: After Minneapolis Disaster, Concerns About the Pulaski Skyway (English) , New York Times . August 11, 2007. Retrieved June 10, 2009.