Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1910-02-02
NEW PLANK ROAD
To Be A REALITY
IN NEAR FUTURE
Work on ong-Dreamed-0f Im-
provements Will Start in
Few Weeks.
VAST TRACTS OF LAND
WILL BE RECLAIMED
Factories, Warehouses and
Business Buildings to Rise
on Meadows.

Preparations are being made for
starting work on widening n I'M
proving the Newark Plank road from a
point where the planking abuts the
Belgian block pavement in Jersey City
to where the Belgian block pavement
begins in Newark. The work viii re-
claim a vast territory of meadow LAND,
and win make 1t suitable for the ac~
c~ommodation of Industrial buildings,
factories and warehouses.
The plan of improvement adopted
provides for the construction of a new
roadway above the present road level
at an elevation ranging from six feet
at the centre point, between the Hack
ensack and Passaic bridges, to ten
feet at the approaches of the bridges.
The roadway will be of some substan7
tial paving material, either creosote,
blocks or granite blocks, as the joint
committee of Essex and Hudson coun-
ties decide. Perfect drainage from the
roadway centre to the Passaic river on
one end of the stretch of road and
the Hackensack on the other will be
installed.
Since away Jack in 1877 the Plank
road has been the subject of considera-
ton in the Legislature, county councils
and courts, and for years the Essex
County Board of Freeholders has been
trying to bring about the improvement.
Amos Pierce. supervisor of county
roads, sketched the history of the road
today to a reporter for the STAR, the
main facts being as follows:
In 1877 ohm l.. Arm ltage, being
elected to the Legislature, introduced a
bill providing for the reduction of tolls
or the Plank road. then owned and
operated by a joint stock company in
which the Pennsylvania Railroad Com
pany was the principal stakeholder. For
seventy-fve years the has been in
use by the residents of Essex n adj
joining counties in taking their produce
to New York and for general traffic.
Succeeding in having the tolls reduced,
Armitage started an inquiry into the
rights and charter of the Plank road
and found that within eleven
years the charter would expire.
During his agitation a bill was in
troduced, ~ostensibly for the relief of a
road in South Jersey, where a small
horse-car line was in operation, allow
ing plank road companies to renew their
charter for fifty years. Immediately on
the passage of this bill the Newark
Plank road company filed an applica-
ton for the renewal Of its charter for
the fifty-year period.
The Board of Trade investigated the
application of the new law to h New
ark Plank road and took the matter to
the courts. The courts decided that
the new legislation did not apply to
the Essex Plank road, and by that
time the original charter had expired,
and in accordance with the law the
road reverted to the counties of Hudson
and Essex.
This was in 1902, and the Hudson
county freeholders refused to ave any
thing to do with the road, its opera
ton or maintenance. though three
quarters of its length is within their
Jurisdiction. AS a reason for their
action they claimed that the road was
of no consequence to them or their
people,
Essex county carried the matter into
the Chancery Court and the chancellor
save it the benefit of the contention
that the road, being built with planks
on a bog foundation, was a bridge