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KenR, December 2004: Newark to GWB over Rt 46 bridge

Overview

On a mid-week day I skated from Pennsylvania train station in Newark on the west side of the Passaic River to Passaic, east across into Wallington, past Teterboro airport to Little Ferry, to Ridgefield, then north to Fort Lee.

I liked it overall. I actually liked the views in Branch Brook Park of Newark and the river road up the west side of the Passaic River better than the more obvious river road along the east side of the Passaic River.

Maybe sometime I'll try putting both sides together into a little loop tour between Newark and Wallington, or try using the west side as a way go north to Wallington and then Rochelle Park and the Bergen county Park trailway to the duck pound.

Lots of decently pleasant skating with reasonably streets and moderate traffic. The climb up onto the Palisades ridge on Shaler Blvd was nice, though connecting it to Edgewater Av was not so nice on Broad Av in weekday traffic (? might be nicer early in the morning on a quieter weekend ?), and I surely did not find the best connection to Fort Lee.

Bridges:  I did not take the Rt 46 bridge over Overpeck Creek, instead the Edgewater Av - Bergen Turnpike bridge over Overpeck Creek had little traffic. The south sidewalk on the Rt 46 bridge across the Hackensack River was fairly rough and somewhat dirty (and missing on part of the west approach), but I could have walked that section. Crossing the Passaic River was easy.

Maps: I used the Hagstom Essex County and Hagstrom Bergen County maps.

Details

From the NJ Transit train at Newark Penn station, headed roughly west and a little north, to go west on Central Ave, then angle right onto Sussex Av and Nesbitt St, over Rt 280 and into the southeast corner of Branch Brook Park. Tried the off-street paths closer the creek, but they were not really paved. So instead I skated on the road thru the park that starts on the west side of the creek, which I found pleasant with some views of the creek -- maybe I later crossed the creek.

Turned east on Mill St, which was wide well-paved gentle-to-moderate descent. Then found my way onto the river road alongside highway Rt 21 and the west side of the Passaic River. A bit tricky to find the best start, and the road is one-way south-bound at first. The good thing is that traffic was pretty light because most of the vehicles use Rt 21. At first I missed the right turn after going under highway Rt 3, and found myself at Delawanna train station, then I backtracked and took the correct turn to stay on the river road. Or maybe it was the "old" river road, since it later took me into the north-bound shoulder of Rt 21 -- somewhat rough + coarse in places. I suspect I could have avoided that by finding a road further west along the other side of Rt 21 -- but I didn't see how to get to it.

I tried the Union Av bridge east into Rutherford, which worked fine, but I decided to go back and explore further on the west side of the Passaic River, so I then crossed the Gregory Av / Main Av bridge into Wallingford.

Then immediately turned right to get onto Patterson Av, which turned out to have moderate traffic which seemed to come in big bunches -- so I could enjoy some pleasant skating in between the bunches. I stopped for a snack along the way, then went straight onto Hoboken Rd where most of the vehicle traffic angled right onto Patterson Av.

Steep downhill east-bound on Hoboken Rd, I think I walked part of it. I went all the way to the bottom by highway Rt 17 (but next time I think I would stop partway instead and turn north on 8th St (opposite Jane St) and use that to connect to Jefferson St. This time I tried crossing Rt 17 onto Patterson Plank Rd, but neither the crossing nor the road and its traffic seemed very inviting. So I went back and found my way up north on some streets to Jefferson St, took that to its end.

Turned right onto Moonachie, decent bridge over highway Rt 17, and manageable traffic along the south side of Teterboro airport. Then north on Red Neck Av to its end (nice skating, stopped to watch a corporate take off from Teterboro airport), north a block or so, then east on Main St of Little Ferry (with a snack stop) to almost its end. North a little to the roundabout for highway Rt 46.

Took Rt 46 bridge east-bound across the Hackensack River. Unpaved dirt path alongside road, with no paved sidewalk and no shoulder for a section of the west approach (I could have walked this section on the dirt path, though actually I skated "narrow" in the far right side of the roadway). Sidewalk on bridge was rather rough and dirty, but reasonably wide.

Next I did not want to go thru all the entrance-exit ramps and complicated traffic of the intersection of Rt 46 with the NJ Turnpike -- even though from advance inspections driving my car I remember having seen a sidewalk on the Rt 46 bridge across Overpeck Creek. So instead . . .

Took first right turn off bridge, gentle downhill into unexpected intersection where I had to make a quick stop to avoid going into vehicle traffic on another street which was coming from underneath the Rt 46 bridge. Joined this street (Bergen Turnpike?) southeast, climb over the NJ Turnpike, moderate down with curve south to narrow but pleasant bridge across Overpeck Creek. Left on Edgewater Av, which was interrupted by railroad tracks. (Next time I would try continuing straight onto Hendricks Causeway).

When I reached Grand Av / Broad Av I didn't like the looks of the steep hill for going east on Edgewater Av (my avoidance instinct was confirmed when I later saw that Edgewater Av further east came down the other side of that steep hill, so it would have been a waste). So instead I tried turning south on what I guess from the map is Broad Av / Rt 1 / Rt 9. This road had two lanes in each direction with no shoulders, and a sizable amount of vehicle traffic. So I decided to skate in the sidewalk along its east side, which was rather nice at first, but then turned narrow and rough, with some dirt sections.

Turned sharp left onto Shaler Blvd, and find that rather nice, smooth pavement and a long gentle-to-moderate climb, not much traffic. At its north end I found my way thru some streets onto 8th St (in Palisades Park). The moderate climb continued all the way to Edsall Blvd (but there was some coarse stone before the end, and Edsall didn't work out, so I think next time I might try something different, like maybe turning east onto Palisades Blvd). Edsall Blvd east across Rt 63 came to an end, so I turned north which I went down into a low spot, so then I climb steep up Stillwell Av to get out of the "hole".

Next time of course I'd want to find a way to avoid this low spot. (? Rt 5 looks like the gentlest east/west path, but I have no idea what the traffic or lane+shoulder width is like ?)

Then north on 15th St, and some other streets to Main St to the south sidewalk of the George Washington Bridge. (East-bound on Main St runs into a tricky combination of one-way streets and traffic lights and a steep downhill at its end, so next time I'd like to find a different and better way to the GWB.)

Skating the GWB sidewalk on a crisp December afternoon with blue skies, smooth concrete, and almost no bicyclists or pedestrians was delightful.

Maps: Hagstrom Essex county + Bergen county

KenR, November 2004: Linden to Perth Amboy

On a mid-week day I skated from Linden to Rahway to Carteret to Perth Amboy. The variation from back in June was that I visited Carteret along the way (instead of Blair Rd). The variation was mostly OK for skating, but didn't add much interesting.

After passing by Blair Rd, east on Roosevelt was OK, but some of the quieter streets parallel on the north were better. The key was to find Pennsylvania Av to get thru to Post Rd.

The bridge east over the NJ Turnpike was OK, but coming down the other side was problematic with traffic. Then I tried some quieter streets to the southeast, which got complicated, and then I got onto Louis and Washington Av to its end. Then Right on Port Reading Av going southwest. Just after bridge up over railroad tracks, bear Left onto State St, which was mostly pretty smooth and wide.

But then after going underneath the Outerbridge Crossing Bridge, there was lots of parked cars. But not so much traffic that there were a big problem for me. I had a snack at a bakery in Perth Amboy.

Then skated up to the middle of the Rt 35 bridge over Raritan River (on its sidewalk), then came back down the same way and skated to the Perth Amboy train station.

KenR, October 2004: Newark - Harrison to Elizabeth to Linden

I started at Newark Penn Station (NJ Transit railroad) on a weekday afternoon and skated into the "Ironbound" section on Market St, then turned north at Jackson and took the bridge over the Passaic River.  West on Central Av to Passaic Av near the river by the Clay St bridge, so I met my previous route from the GWB from back in September.

South on Passaic Av to Harrison Av and the Bridge St bridge from Newark. I skated across the bridge into Newark. Seemed better than then Clay St - Central Av bridge, but there's still some construction work being done on McCarter Highway, so not sure what the bridge will be connecting with, but what was finished looked promising. I skated back across the bridge east to Harrison.

Then worked south and east on streets like Dey and Railroad to 4th St, and south on 4th St to the bridge across the Passaic south into the Ironbound section of Newark. The bridge had nice sidewalks, but 4th St wasn't much fun with traffic and parked cars -- and rough where it goes underneath railroad tracks.

Did the obvious straight continuation off the bridge onto Jackson St, which was somewhat rough -- I'd try something else next time. Found a bakery with toilet on Ferry St -- seems like Ferry St is where the most interesting food shops are in this area. Then tried various streets south and a bit west, then took South St west underneath the railroad tracks, and across McCarter Highway - Rt 21.

Continued further south and a bit west on streets like Austin St and Pennsylvania Av and Sherman Av. At the end of Sherman Av, turned East (left) for a block and took Frelinghuysen Av - Rt 27 underneath Interstate 78.

But before also going underneath Rt 22, I turned right onto Empire St, west and then curving south, then across Meeker Av into Weeqahic Park. Found out that the road on the west side of the lake does not go all the way around it (the jogging trail does go all the way around the lake, but skating and bicycling are not permitted on that). So instead I did the "bear left" to go on the road along the east side of the lake, which was prettier.

Exited from Weeqahic Park onto Dayton St (significant roughness), then continued onto Ludlow St which took me to Frelinghuysen Av - Rt 27 which was coarse-stone here with lots of traffic, so I got off it and went west to Cross Av. Next time I think I would rather skip Ludlow and instead take Dayton St to Cross Av. (another possibility, which I did not check at all, would be to try going east on McClellan St to near the north end of Madison Av).

East (left) on North Av -- lots of traffic for two or three blocks, which I avoided by going onto the sidewalk, but then the sidewalk got narrow for a block. Then it was better for another couple of blocks.

South on Madison Av to Bridge St was a straightforward way to get thru the northern half of Elizabeth (though sometimes a bit coarse-stone). Then I tried going left on Pearl St to Clarkson Av, but that was a mistake, so I explored some alternatives that stayed all on the west side of Rt 1 - Rt 9. I think next time I would try going west (right) on Pearl St, then use some combination of Broad or Liberty or South or Grier or Grove to get to Washington Av.

South on Washington Av, bear Right onto Lidgerwood Av. This continuous south across Bayway Av - Rt 439, and when it crosses Park Av it changes name to Linden Av, and I found nice pavement with a very wide traffic lane and few parked cars. The last few blocks in the city of Linden to Wood Av got narrow and with more parked cars, so I got off onto a side streets -- and thus reached the Linden railroad station (NJ Transit).

Maps: Hagstrom Union county + Essex county

Ken, September 2004: GWB west down the hill, then to Wallington + Newark

GWB West down the hill to Broad Av

Skating across the George Washington Bridge is a great way to get out of Manhattan, but the New Jersey end of the GWB is up on a big hill. So to get to other places in New Jersey (like to the Duck Pond skate at Rochelle Park + Ridgewood, or to Newark or south), you must get down off that hill, and most of the ways are kinda steep and scary.

I found a way that was new for me and seemed more moderate than the alternatives, and it felt pretty good to me on a weekday afternoon. I'm not saying that it's the "right" way or even a good way for every skillful skater. It still requires good downhill skills and good street-traffic-handling skills and judgment. I hope it'll provide some ideas for some possible roads to consider using. I'd like to hear other ideas for how to skate in that area.

Here's what I skated: From the west end of the bridge in Fort Lee NJ, I started by choosing a way to get onto

Then about a block before going underneath Rt 46 highway,

(For expert downhill skaters looking for a steep road with little traffic and wide smooth pavement that does not end at an intersection, there's one around here -- but the point of this route is to avoid that).

Then just after crossing above Rt 4 highway,

Broad Av now is below the steep-hill problem, and can be taken north or south to get to various faraway places in New Jersey (such as north and then west to Rochelle Park and the Ridgewood Duck Pond). But on this day I took it south and west to Hackensack, then Wallington. From there I go on the road along the east side of the Passaic River (starts as Bergen county Rt 507) and skated south on that for like 10 miles all the way to Newark, then took a bridge across to finish at the Newark train station.

Broad Av to Wallington

Starting at the intersection of Broad Av and Walton St around the towns of Englewood and Leonia:

Then just after going underneath the I-95 highway,

Then just after crossing over I-95 highway,

Then where it meets Fort Lee Rd, look for

view submarine from the bridge, and see other naval exhibits after crossing bridge

Then just as big hill climb starts, turn

Wallington to Newark

The obvious way into the city of Newark is to go to the downtown area by crossing west over the Passaic River on Clay St (which is continuation of Central Av). But we did not find that bridge or the streets into downtown Newark much fun at this time. Perhaps wait for more development work, or try again when traffic is very light.

Next time I might prefer to continue south thru Kearny and Harrison, and straight south on the bridge over the Passaic River into the "Ironbound" section of Newark.

Maps: Hagstrom Essex county + Bergen county

Ken, June 2004: GWB to Linden to Long Branch

I skated from Manhattan to Long Branch in two parts on two separate days.  Another day I checked out some alternate roads around South Amboy - Matawan - Keyport by driving my car.  Lots of good pavement on my route, but a few bad parts.  Lots of typical city-skating traffic, but some difficult uncomfortable vehicle traffic. 

Highlights:  sea views from Morgan Beach (and optionally Sandy Hook) and crossing marshes near the shore, colorful shopping streets in Union City and Jersey City, tree-shaded houses thru Rumson, the big cranes in the Elizabeth seaport.

Tough parts: Bridge over the Hackensack River on Truck Rt 1-9, and the sidewalk on the nearby bridge across the Passaic River was pretty bad too.  Traffic on a couple of miles of Rt 36.  Mid-week heavy-truck traffic thru Elizabeth seaport (but possibly some of that could have been avoided by skating thru there on a weekend instead).

GWB - Union City - Jersey City - Elizabeth - Linden

Distance from the GWB to the NJ Transit train station in Linden is around 30 miles.  I skated it on a mid-week day.

After enjoying yet another pretty and pleasant crossing of the River on the south sidewalk of the George Washington Bridge, then headed west a little on Main St.  After lunch at a Starbucks I found in Fort Lee, I headed south on various streets like Anderson Av and Inwood Terr, and then I liked much of Bergen Blvd.  I tried JFK Blvd as I crossed into Hudson County, but it had too many parked cars around there, so I shifted east a little onto other lower-traffic streets and continued south.  Then I found and liked much of Bergenline Av with all the colorful shops going thru West New York, and stopped for a snack at a hispanic bakery. Continued skating into Union City, then shifted west a little onto Central Av, with more retail shops  south into Jersey City, and I made some more snack stops, and made sure I had enough water for the next section.

I turned west onto Duncan Av, then south thru the park, then east onto Truck Rt 1 - Rt 9 with lots of vehicle traffic on this mid-week afternoon.  The bridge across the Hackensack River had two sidewalks and a section of steel-grating roadway in the middle, so I tried skating in the north-side sidewalk next to the west-bound traffic.  Lots of sand on the sidewalk going up onto the bridge, so I had to skate very narrow, and even "walk" my skates in a few places.  Fortunately the sidewalk coming down off the bridge had much less sand.

A week before I had checked out the Rt 7 bridge across the Hackensack River while driving my car, and the sidewalks on that one looked to me like they were even worse than either of the Truck Rt 1 - Rt 9 bridges.

Then the bridge across the Passaic River had two sidewalks but I think no steel-grating roadway section.  But there was so much vehicle traffic that I decided to use the north-side sidewalk next to the west-bound traffic.  Lots of sand and debris on the sidewalk going up onto the bridge, so I had to skate very narrow, and even "walk" my skates in a few places.  Fortunately the sidewalk coming down off the bridge had much less sand and obstacles.

Immediately after that second bridge I exited onto Doremus Ave and went south on that into Port Newark, then west on Port St, south on Corbin St into Port Elizabeth, east on Fleet St, south on McClester St to its end. 

There were sections thru here with significant truck traffic and no shoulders -- though usually two traffic lanes in each direction where there was no shoulder. Possibly some of this traffic volume could have been avoided by skating thru here on a weekend instead.  The truck drivers generally tried to be helpful to me, and I tried to be polite to them.  But a couple of the car drivers went by me close -- in order to pass on the right of a truck which had moved over left to help me.

Then west on North Av a short ways and south on Kapkowski Rd past some shopping malls -- and connected with Trumbull St (even though my road map did not show that connection).

Skated southwest on 2nd St past a cathedral next to the park, then southwest on Front St, northwest on Bayway Ave and a bridge over the New Jersey Turnpike.  Navigated thru the Turnpike exit complexity and south on Brunswick Av a short ways, then northwest on Park Av, much of which was nicely paved until the traffic light to cross Rt 1 - Rt 9.  Turned southeast onto Linden Ave, much of which had a wide traffic lane, and that took me to the Linden train station.

Maps: Hagstrom Essex county + Bergen county

Linden - Perth Amboy - Keyport - Rumson - Long Branch

Distance from the NJ Transit train station in Linden to the shore at Long Branch is around 40 miles.  I skated it together with Sharon riding on her bicycle on a Saturday, and when we finished at Max's Famous hot dogs we met Michele and lots of others  who had skated north along the shore up from the NJ Transit train station at Bay Head Junction.

In Linden we got onto Elm St going southwest, left on high-traffic Stiles St, right on Amon Terrace to its end, right on Blancke St going southwest, which becomes Whittier and goes into Rahway.  Cross Grand Av onto Irving St going south under the train tracks to its end next to the Rahway train station.  Left on Milton Av, quick Right onto Main St, Left onto Hazelwood Av, going east alongside the Rahway River and underneath Rt 1 and cross Rt 514.  Then Right on Hart St to its end, Left on Randolph Av into Middlesex County. 

Instead of going all the way to Carteret, we turned Right onto Blair Rd and went south a long way to its end.  We got onto Port Reading Av to go East over the NJ Turnpike, then immediately turned off Right on to Old Rd, south a ways to join West Av, which becomes State St and continued south into Perth Amboy.  We took Smith St going west thru the business district of Perth Amboy -- plenty of traffic, but we liked seeing all the retail shops, including a couple of bakeries.

Left on Rt 35 South and across the new bridge over the wide mouth of the Raritan River.  The bridge had both a shoulder and a sidewalk on the south-bound side.  Sizable climb to get up to the middle, than a sizable downhill to get to the other side.  Rt 35 goes into a big traffic circle under Rt 9, and there was construction which made the traffic pattern kinda tricky.  We exited the traffic circle southeast onto Main St of South Amboy.  This had coarse-stone pavement, not much fun.

A few days later I checked for alternatives while driving my car.  I think I remember turning Right onto Laurel St (or Scott St?) being OK and south to its end to turn Left onto Ridgeway Av, then southeast thru a dark narrow tunnel underneath some train tracks, and continuing straight on Stevens Av.

We turned onto Stevens Av and at some point shifted to Pine Av and went southeast all the way to its end, where it merges with the south-bound lanes of Rt 35.  This is a tricky merge, since we came in from the left and had to cross high-speed traffic lanes to get over to the right side.  Then we went a long ways east and southeast on Rt 35.

A few days later I found that I could turn Left off Pine Av before its end onto something like Morris St, then Right on Midland Ave to its end at Rt 35 where there is a median barrier that prevents making a left turn.  But looked like could go a short ways east on the sidewalk to the traffic-light intersection of Tyler St with Rt 35, and there get over to the Rt 35 South-bound lanes.

After crossing the Cheesequake River and a little before reaching Laurence Parkway we ran into some pretty bad shoulder and pavement on Rt 35 for a short ways.

A few days later I found that this could be avoided by turning Right immediately after the gas station east from the Cheesequake River bridge, then east on quieter streets (some one-way), then Left on Laurence Parkway to get back to Rt 35.

A more scenic alternative is to walk up a big set of concrete stairs on the north side of Rt 35 roughly opposite that gas station east of the Cheesequake River bridge.  At the top of these stairs, walk thru a historic park to a road and go left on the road (Shore Circle?) to continue east along Morgan Beach with great views over the water of Raritan Bay until reaching a parking lot at the end of Laurence Parkway, and could then rejoin Rt 35.

The boardwalk for Morgan Beach starts near the Cheesequake River bridge and goes to the same parking lot, but the boardwalk is closed to bicycling and skating.

Dealing with the high-speed traffic of Rt 35 was not fun, but at least the traffic lanes are mostly reasonably wide.  We finally got off Rt 35 (at the traffic-light intersection with Cliffwood Av) onto Amboy Av, which bears Left to go east into Keyport, which was rather pleasant, and we stopped for a snack at a bakery in Keyport.

It might also be possible to get from Morgan Beach to the Matawan train station by going south on Laurance Parkway, across the Garden State Parkway, then east on Aberdeen Rd.

We got on the Rail Trail somewhere in Keyport, and went east on this paved trailway through Union Beach into Keansburg.

A few days later I found that the Rail Trail can be reached from the Matawan train station, by going northeast on Main St, then just after going over the Garden State Parkway, bear Right onto Gerard Ave, and then I found the west end of the Rail Trail at the intersection with Lloyd Rd, Broadway, Clark St (just north of GS Parkway exit 17).

We tried the shore road thru Keansburg, but much of it had rather coarse-stone pavement and not much view of the water.  We later got on Port Monmouth Rd going east, which had a bike lane.  But when we followed the bike lane all the way, it reached a dead end, so we had to turn around and go back a ways, then turn south onto a road (Church St? Main St?) which was rather nice for skating and bicycling.

We found the Rail Trail again and took it east to its end at Avenue D in Atlantic Highlands.  We got on Rt 36 going east a ways, then saw something about the Locust Av bridge being closed, and we found ourselves going south on Grand Av to Locust Point Rd, and found a little food store where we had a snack -- but sections thru there had rough pavement and more car and truck traffic than I would have liked (perhaps because the bridge was closed? -- we saw construction equipment at the Locust Ave Bridge).

Crossing the Navesink River on Rt 8A (Oceanic Bridge?) was rather pretty.  In Rumson we soon turned Left onto East River Rd, Left on either Maplewood or Meadowbrook for a block to Avenue of Two Rivers, checked out the water view, then headed southeast.  Left onto Black Point Rd, Right on Navesink Av, and I think we then turned Left onto Hartshorne Lane and Right on Ward Av, then had to deal with some vehicle traffic on Rumson Rd - Rt 520 to get to the sidewalk to the bridge to east across the channel into Sea Bright.

Then south Rt 36 a few miles to Long Branch -- which had some sections with coarse-stone pavement.  And met Michele and the other skaters at Max's famous hot dogs for a some fun stories and eating.  Finally we skated and biked to the Long Branch train station and went home on the NJ Transit train.

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