Monroe Street Bridge is bridge over the Passaic River in Passaic and Garfield, New Jersey.[1][2] The 3-span reinforced concrete elliptical deck arch bridge was built in 1908. It was designed by Colin Wise and built by C.W. Dean and Company. It is 306 feet long and 30.2 feet wide.[3]
^"Historic Bridge Survey (1991-1994)". NJDOT. 2001. Retrieved 8 December 2016. The bridge carries a 2-lane collector road and sidewalks over a major river in a mixed commercial/industrial and urban residential area...The river forms the boundary between Bergen and Passaic counties. Post-World War II apartment buildings are located at the Passaic side of the bridge. At the Garfield side is a factory constructed in 1892 by the Fritze Bros., a German chemical company, that appears to have been renovated in the 1970s...The 3-span deck arch bridge supported on a concrete and stone substructure has decorative balustrades with vase-shaped balusters. The span has lost its visual integrity through deterioration and gunite repairs, and it is neither technologically innovative nor historically distinguished. Large sections of the balustrades are missing or damaged, and the fascia and intrados are spalled. A spall at the downstream end of one pier exposes stones covered with mesh reinforcement and unite...The 3-span 306' long bridge supported on a concrete substructure is composed of 3 equal elliptical reinforced concrete arch spans each with a ' clear span and a ' rise. The span supports a 30.2' width 2-lane road and 2 sidewalks bounded by concrete balustrades with vase-shaped balusters. Several balusters have been repaired or replaced. In 1947 guide rail was added along the curbline, and in 1948 new concrete curbs were placed. The substructure was rehabilitated in 1949. Gunite was placed at the abutments, wire mesh reinforcement covered with gunite was added to repair the face of the piers, and the north end of the piers were repaired with steel angles and anchor bolts...The elliptical arch bridge is a well-preserved and long example of its type. A plaque on the bridge indicates it was built by CW Dean Company, a NY firm, in 1908. F.R. Long Company Engineers and Contractors prepared the plans for the bridge dated Aug. 1907. Another set of plans for a 3-span arch bridge dated May 1907 was prepared by Schwiers & Sutton Co. of NY but was not used for construction. F.R. Long Company, was a NY firm that was a prolific bridge builder in Bergen County, and it incorporated in NJ in 1899 moving its major operations to Hackensack, where the founder, Frank R. Long had a residence. The bridge spans the Passaic River, an important navigable NJ waterway, between 2 urban centers, Passaic and Garfield. On the Garfield side of the bridge stands the circa 1890s factory buildings of Fritzch Brothers, a German chemical company, that was one of the first modern manufacturing concerns to have a factory in Garfield. In 1903 the Heyden Chemical Company took over the plant and remained in operation until the company was seized by the U.S. Government in 1918. The bridge is significant as one of several crossings over the Passaic River that were important in the development of a major industrial and commercial area. The only pre-WW II multi-span concrete deck arch bridge in the county, the well-documented span is distinguished as an early and architectonic example of a multi-span deck arch bridge.
