There were other routes considered. Let's be honest about this, the current route is too far south and has improper interchanges.
There is no direct interchange for River Street, instead users have to get off WEST of Hudson Street and make their way over. It brings traffic deep into the neighborhood setting. This is because there isn't enough land between River Street and the river and because they made the bridge way too tall. Choosing which parts of the First Ward were to be torn down was a very controversial and politicized event, and it put mayors and councilpersons into office. Someone named Bosshard on Water Street became a Councilman, and both of our Polish mayors came out of this controversy. Most of this controversy has been lost to history, not preserved and documented.
Opposition in Bogota and Ridgefield Park to the project far stronger than in Hackensack because so many more houses would be affected, and those towns refused to be chopped in half. It was decided to run Route 80 along the border of Ridgefield Park and Bogota, and not to chop through the Hillers neighborhood in Hackensack. That neighborhood also refused to be chopped in half and there were additional costs that would have resulted from blasting through a major hill. Those decisions, and federal guidelines on how much a highway can BEND limited the options on where the highway would come through Hackensack and South Hackensack.
There was a big push for Route 80 to come about 2 blocks north of where it does now. Water Street and Pink Street would have been affected. That lined up with the border of Bogota and Ridgefield Park. There could have been a cloverleaf on River Street and it would have been closer to serve downtown Hackensack.
Just as many houses would have been torn down for that plan instead of what was actually built. But since those houses on Washington and Jackson and the other streets haven't been around for a good 50 years, nobody misses them now. How dare I suggest that other houses should have been torn down instead. When it came to this project, they really blew it.
