Skip to main content

Bridges of the Lackawanna Railroad: Paulinskill Viaduct (Hainesburg, NJ)

Image
By

The early 1900s was a period of great expansion and construction when it comes to America’s railroads. During the period of 1909-1915, the Delaware, Lackawanna, & Western Railroad (or DL&W, or Lackawanna for short) oversaw the construction of four monstrous reinforced concrete bridges across northwest New Jersey and northeast Pennsylvania to serve its new Lackawanna Cut Off and Summit Cut Off tracks along the New York to Binghamton freight rail service. In due course, we’re going to discuss these four landmark structures, their local/regional significance, and how you can view & experience them up close (legally) for yourself.

We’ll begin near the town of Hainesburg, NJ and the Paulinskill Viaduct, located a short distance from NJ Route 94 a few miles east of Columbia. Built in 1910, this bridge spans the Paulins Kill Valley with an overall length of about 1,100 ft with a height of up to 115 ft above the valley floor. To help span the valley, it features seven concrete arch spans of 120 ft each. It was the largest reinforced concrete bridge in the world when built, surpassing its nearby counterpart on the Delaware River. Since reinforced concrete was not yet a widespread building material, this bridge’s construction made headlines within the global engineering community for its groundbreaking widespread use of the material. It has proven to be an extremely durable and strong structure that continues to stand the test of time over a century after being built.

The Paulinskill Viaduct carried rail traffic into the 1970s, when the line was finally abandoned and the bridge fell into disrepair. The train tracks and rail bed were removed in the 1980s and no other modifications have been made to the structure since. Plans are currently in the works to restore this bridge to its former glory be reinstating passenger rail service along the Lackawanna Cut Off as part of a proposed commuter rail line extension toward Stroudsburg and Scranton, however nothing appears to be imminent on that front at this time.

Long popular with urban explorers since its abandonment in the 1980s, this bridge is difficult to view in full from ground level – it requires legal aerial photography methods in order to fully take in the scale of this structure. Even so, mother nature has gradually overtaken this bridge in the past century with much of the structure now shrouded or hidden by the surrounding wilderness, which makes it difficult to appreciate the size of the structure in its expansive location. In response to the long-time problems in the area with trespassers, the New Jersey State Police is said to patrol the area on a regular basis. The most legal and straight-forward way to explore this bridge is to view it from Station Road a short distance south of NJ 94 in Hainesburg. The road passes beneath the structure and is home to multiple roadside interpretive signs outlining the history of the area and its signature bridge.

The photos you're about to look through below were all taken legally with the use of a quadcopter drone. Always remember to explore your favorite landmarks in a safe, legal, and responsible manner.



How to Get There:

Paulinskill Viaduct - historicbridges.org
Paulinskill Viaduct - bridgehunter.com

Labels:
Location: Hainesburg, NJ 07832, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

By
In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l...
4 comments
Read more

Massena Center Suspension Bridge

By
The Massena Center Bridge, also known as the Holton D. Robinson Bridge, has had quite the tumultuous history. Situated on the Grasse River just east of Massena, New York in the hamlet of Massena Center, the Massena Center Bridge is a reminder of the efforts the community has made in order to connect over the river. The first and only other known bridge to be built at Massena Center was built in 1832, but that bridge was never long for this world. During the spring of 1833, the Grasse River dammed itself due to an ice dam, flooded and lifted the bridge off its foundation, destroying the bridge in the process.  The floods were frequent in the river during the spring, often backing up the river from Hogansburg and past Massena Center, but not to nearby Massena. After the first bridge disappeared, local residents had to resort to traveling seven miles west to Massena to cross the next closest bridge, and that was no easy task for a horse and buggy. However, it was many decades befo...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Dead Man's Curve of Interstate 90 and Innerbelt Freeway in Cleveland

By
"Dead Man's Curve" refers to the transition ramp Interstate 90 takes between Cleveland Memorial Shoreway onto the Innerbelt Freeway in downtown Cleveland, Ohio.  Said curve includes a sharp transition between the two freeways which is known for a high rate of accidents.  Currently the curve (not officially named) has a 35 MPH advisory speed and numerous safety features intended to mitigate crashes.  When the Interstate System was first conceived during 1956, Interstate 90 was intended to use the entirety Cleveland Memorial Shoreway and connect to the Northwest Freeway through Lakewood.  The Innerbelt Freeway was initially planned as the northernmost segment of Interstate 71.  The extension of Cleveland Memorial Shoreway west of Edgewater Park was never constructed which led to Interstate 90 being routed through the Innerbelt Freeway.   Part 1; the history of Cleveland's Innerbelt Freeway and Deadman's Curve The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 was signe...
Post a Comment
Read more