Route 4's Passaic River Bridge

A few miles west of its cloverleaf intersection with Route 17, New Jersey Route 4 reverts from eight lanes feeding shopping centers to its original four lanes lined with storefronts. Known here as Broadway, the highway crosses from Elmwood Park to Paterson on a multi-span bridge over the Passaic River, NJ Route 20, and River Drive.

The Pasaic River bridge, which dates to 1931, is an original element of the stretch of Route 4 built to connect Paterson and its once-thriving textile mills to Manhattan and its garment district via the newly-constructed George Washington Bridge. Today the bridge reflects an unharmonized mixture of original and modernized features. Its original rough aggregate balustrade sidewalls, undoubtefly identical to those on the south side of Route 17's Mahwah Bridge, have long since been replaced by a blank barricade of square, smooth-finished concrete blocks topped with a metal railing. However, the original deco pilars and oblisk light towers still stand in relatively good condition. The oblisks bear lantern-style luminaries, although they are likely smaller than the originals.

Click here to return to Route 17's highway deco.

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