Ferdinand NYC

I did this yesterday! (Sorry for not waiting for your reply! But I took the day off because of the glorious weather; and I had to try this out.)


> Let me explain in more detail. When going from Jersey City to Newark, you'll cross two bridges. The first Bridge is easy once leaving Lincoln Park.

I saw that fence from Lincoln Park. However, I didn't enter the first bridge from the park; I entered from Communipaw Avenue. I lifted my bike over the rail onto the sidewalk right at the beginning of the bridge (right next to the entry from the park). It is true that that first bridge is very nice.


> The second Bridge has issues becuase the floor has litter and much smaller.

Right! The sidewalk area is very thin! Also, there is some tree/vine overgrowth right at the beginning of it.


> After you cross the second bridge, you'll see a ramp that will lead you down to Doremus Avenue. About fifty feet before you reach this ramp are the stairs! These stairs are dangerous and look like they haven't been repaired in decades! I am concerned about going down the ramp because it's a blind curve and the cars go fast through that turn! I will start a letter writing campaign to get the city of Newark to repair those stairs. It's up to you on taking either ramp or stairs. If you take the ramp, try to go down it as quck as possible.

To be honest, I didn't see those stairs. I just went down the circular ramp, hewing to the right side. I found it no more/less problematic than most big streets.


>> Also: is it not possible to go north on Doremus, to get to Raymond Blvd., rather than going south to Wilson

> No. Raymond Blvd at that point is very dangerous because of the Turnpike entrance.

Right; I saw that. Indeed, at that point, that east-west road isn't really so much "Raymond Blvd." as much as it is Truck 1 & 9!


>> The most important question: does the fact that I'd be lifting my bike over a rail mean that this is someplace where bikes are not allowed? (I really don't want to get a ticket!)

> You won't get a ticket because it's not against the law. This bridge had stairs for people to walk on when it opened decades ago. It was never used except for homeless individuals and poor dock workers ever since. DOT foolishly built a guard rail seeing that very few if any people used the stairs in decades. It's not against the law and the intent of restoring the entire walk way was so that people can once again use those stairs. Lets start calling and writing to get the city to fix them!!

Good thought! It would be good to have the stairs as an option at times when the traffic is hairier than what I experienced yesterday. Also, if one is going in the other direction (from Newark to Jersey City), then using the stairs is a must, assuming that one would be going east on the westbound side. (Ah, this brings up another question: is there a bike / pedestrian lane on the Jersey City-bound side of these two bridges?)


>> My hope was to go north after Newark, and then to come back to the George Washington Bridge via another route. Some of the other crossings of the Hackensack River seem doable. (I imagine that it might be sensible to start a northbound leg within Harrison, via the 4th St. Bridge from Newark, so as not to have to deal with the Passaic River.)

> You can't cross the 4th St Bridge from Newark.

Really? I am surprised to read this. Since when is it not possible to bike across that bridge? I am pretty sure that this was doable in 2002. On the day the Bears won their first Atlantic League championship, I believe I got off the PATH at Harrison and took the 4th St. Bridge down into Newark.

Anyway, yesterday I took the Bridge St. / Harrison Ave. bridge into Harrison, and picked up 4th St. from there.


>> But the obstacle seems to be that creek that's an offshoot of the Hackensack River, the one in Fort Lee. (Google Maps does not label it; but I now see in Bing Maps that it is called Overpeck Creek.) The Street View shows that there is no shoulder DeGraw St. / Ft. Lee Rd.; so that's out. I guess the only way would be to go up and around that darn thing, right?

> You really have to go pretty far up to get past Overpeck Creek. If you're not going to take U.S. 1-9 Truck, the only other way to get to the GW Bridge from Newark is the Hendricks Causway! I would ride the path and not the street because it's narrow. Here's the problem with the Hendreicks Causway. Once you get past it, there is a HUGE climb to the GW bridge! I don't think you'll make it so it's more like a 30 minute walk up the mountain.

Actually, I didn't have to go very far out of the way at all! Here is what I did:

I picked up Hackensack St. in E. Rutherford, and I took that north through Carlstadt and Wood-Ridge. (Incidentally, the hills in Carlstadt were ridiculous! Those hills scared me off of making a side trip to the Meadowlands down Moonachie Ave. then Washington Ave., as I had originally intended to do. However, I figured that there would be a long downhill down to the low-lying swamps, and then a crazy climb back up to Hackensack St. So I decided to forego that bit of the plan.)

Hackensack St. becomes Terrace Ave. in Hasbrouck Heights; in Hackensack it becomes Polifly Rd. and later 1st St. I took this street up to Anderson St. (Well, almost; 1st St. becomes a one-way against you a couple of blocks before Anderson; so I had to ziggety-zag a bit in order to actually get to Anderson.)

I then took Anderson east; it becomes Cedar Lane in Teaneck. I then went north on Teaneck Road, to hit Forest Ave. And Forest Ave. crosses Overpeck Creek easily; the creek is very narrow at that point.

I eventually picked up Grand Ave. in Englewood, and took that down to Ft. Lee Rd. in Leonia. (Ft. Lee Rd. was another big hill!) And Ft. Lee Rd. becomes Main St. in Ft. Lee.

And then, finally, back onto the George Washington Bridge. (I say "back", because I came in over that bridge as well. Of course, I could have gone to Communipaw Ave. in Jersey City via Bayonne. From my starting point in Woodhaven, Queens, that would have been closer; but doing it that way would have meant taking the Staten Island Ferry. And, as we all know, sitting on a boat for a half hour ain't the same thing as bike-riding!)

So the trip was great fun! I did 87 miles in all, including a little exploring in Newark (my mother's hometown), and a little unintentional exploring in Rutherford and E. Rutherford after I had made a few wrong turns.

Thanks a lot for inspiring me to do this with your initial info about the connection!