Paterson Plank Road - Bergen County

Bergen County

After crossing into Bergen County, the road is called Paterson Avenue and designated as County Route 120, through Wallington, residential and light density commercial. The road becomes the border between Wallington to the north and East Rutherford to the south. Shortly the end of Wallington is reached and Paterson Ave is then the border between Carlstadt and East Rutherford for a short distance but then the road dips into East Rutherford to avoid a hill (the bypass, which goes over the hill, is called Hoboken Road).

The road returns to its path along the Carlstadt-East Rutherford border at Route 17 which it crosses over via an overpass, and is then designated as Route 120 and Paterson Plank Road for a distance. This section of the highway is in the low-lying area known as the New Jersey Meadowlands, part of the floodplain of the Hackensack River. Originally this section consisted of planks laid side-to-side to form a makeshift road to prevent carriage wheels from getting stuck in the swamp, but it has since been reclaimed.

This part of the highway has been slated for redevelopment which is to start in November 2008; angering the owners of the auto body shops and warehouses on this stretch of the highway since they will be forced to sell their land. Several new hotels, restaurants and nightclubs have been built in anticipation of the increase in traffic from Xanadu. The road passes to the north of the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The main road, Route 120, curves to the south to follow the eastern edge of the Sports Complex southward to NJ 3, but Paterson Plank Road continues eastward via an exit ramp. Shortly after crossing over the Western Spur of the New Jersey Turnpike it reaches the Hackensack River. The original bridge over the Hackensack River is gone. There was a proposal to possibly rebuild the bridge as part of an extension to the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail but this has been superseded by the new Meadowlands Rail Line, which traverses the Hackensack River via the Berrys Creek railroad bridge.

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