It has a 19th-century appearance and is 80 feet long by 12 feet broad.
At Rindlaub Park, the Borough of Saddle River has erected a covered pedestrian bridge across the Saddle River. According to the mayor of the town in Bergen County, it will be open to the public in October after the associated park upgrades are finished.
In order to accentuate Saddle River’s old-world charm, I wanted it to have a historical feel, Mayor Albert Kurpis told NJ Advance Media.
According to Kurpis, the restoration will cost about $2 million in total, which includes a $750,000 donation from a local family for whom the bridge is named and $450,000 in open space funds from Bergen County.
The bridge, which was built in Texas and transported to the borough, received an allocation of approximately $1.45 million.
Although covered bridges, which are timber-truss spans with a roof, decking, and siding, were historically widely used in the United States, the Saddle River bridge will only be the third in New Jersey to be in operation at the moment.
Built in 1872 and devastated by Tropical Storm Ida, Hunterdon County’s Green Sergeant’s Covered Bridge is the oldest. It was restored in 2023.
The Saddle River covered bridge will span the Saddle River, which passes through around a dozen municipalities in Bergen County, and connect two areas of Rindlaub Park.
Although barricaded off, it is already there while related upgrades including a boardwalk, gardens, and a bird sanctuary are being built, according to Kurpis.
According to Kurpis, construction is still ongoing.
According to the National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges, just 860 of the more than 14,000 covered bridges that were constructed in the United States, mostly in the 1800s, are still in service today.
Before spans were made of metal, covered bridges were developed to shield wooden timbers from the weather’s damaging effects.
According to the group’s president, Bill Caswell, about seven out of ten that are still standing are historic, while the remainder—like the Saddle River bridge—are regarded as modern.
Over the previous few decades, a few new ones have been constructed in Ohio, and more recently, new ones have been constructed in New York and Indiana. According to Caswell, a new replica covered bridge is currently being built in Pennsylvania to replace a covered bridge that was devastated by floodwaters.
Vehicles can visit the other two covered bridges in New Jersey.
As it spans Wickecheoke Creek in Delaware Township, Rosemont-Ringoes Road, also known as Route 604, uses Green Sergeant’s Covered Bridge as its westbound lane.
Opened in 1959, the Scarborough Bridge spans a tributary of the Cooper River near Cherry Hill, Camden County, with two lanes in each direction.
The $2 million cost of the bridge and associated construction has caused debate in Saddle River. According to the Record of Bergen County, the bridge section of the project was initially estimated to cost $700,000 but ended up costing $1.45 million. In 2023, the council president resigned in protest.
Francis Walsh, a resident of Saddle River and the chairman and CEO of NRS Inc., donated $750,000, which is why the bridge is being called the Walsh Family Bridge, Kurpis said.
Until the October 11 opening ceremony, it will be closed.
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