Author Topic: Lance Corporal Harold J. Dillard Memorial Bridge  (Read 23965 times)

Offline Editor

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Lance Corporal Harold J. Dillard Memorial Bridge
« on: July 25, 2012, 12:28:30 PM »
I understand the Court Street Bridge will be rededicated in memory of Harold J. Dillard.

Here's the February 17, 1981 resolution for the original dedication:
 
20. OFFERED BY: Councilwoman Pavlick
SECONDED BY: Councilman Trammell

WHEREAS, the Mayor and Council of the City of Hackensack is desirous of naming the Court Street Bridge in the City of Hackensack in honor of one of its citizens who was killed in action in Vietnam; and

WHEREAS, Harold J. Dillard, a graduate of the Hackensack High School, in June 1965, enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in February, 1966; and

WHEREAS, Harold J. Dillard held the rank of Lance Corporaland had received the Medal of Gallantry and the Purple Heart; and

WHEREAS, Lance Corporal Dillard was sent to Vietnam in 1966 and while fighting in the area of Conthien Hill #117, Corporal Dillard was killed on May 25, 1967;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Mayor and Council of the City of Hackensack that the Court Street Bridge be renamed the "Lance Corporal Harold J. Dillard" Bridge, in honor of one of our own young men who gave his life while fighting in Vietnam to protect the lives of his fellow Americans; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders requesting their concurrence in honoring this great Vietnam Veteran of Hackensack by dedicating the Court Street Bridge in memory of Corporal Dillard.

Roll Call: Ayes - Councilmen Trammell, Fleming, Councilwoman Pavlick, Deputy Mayor Bosshard and Mayor Zisa.

See also:
Hackensack High School Tribute

Two Soilders Die in Battle




Offline Skipx219

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Re: Lance Corporal Harold J. Dillard Memorial Bridge
« Reply #1 on: July 25, 2012, 01:08:52 PM »
Thank you Mr. Editor!  Susan from the Hackensack Veterans just called to let me know. She asked that I spread the word to all...that  the Court Street Bridge will be rededicated in August. She also asked that I spread the news with friends & HHS 1965 Classmates or anyone else who wants to help Her get to know " The Duke " better. If anyone knows of any of his relatives to give her a call'

Her name is Susan at the Hackensack Veterans @ ( 201 ) 366-6329

Offline Skipx219

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Re: Lance Corporal Harold J. Dillard Memorial Bridge
« Reply #2 on: July 25, 2012, 03:13:44 PM »
Correction. Susan's tele # is 336-6329

Offline Editor

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Re: Lance Corporal Harold J. Dillard Memorial Bridge
« Reply #3 on: August 06, 2012, 10:58:46 AM »
Hackensack bridge set to reopen by September
Monday, August 6, 2012    Last updated: Monday August 6, 2012, 3:53 AM
BY  STEPHANIE AKIN
STAFF WRITER
The Record

HACKENSACK — The county has set a new target date at the end of August or beginning of September for the reopening of the Court Street Bridge, a century-old swing span over the Hackensack River that has been under construction for more than two years.


DON SMITH/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER 
Workers making final adjustments to the electronics and mechanics of Hackensack's Court Street Bridge, which has been closed since June 2010.

Recently, workers have been hard to spot from the street because they are repairing the electrical and mechanical systems under the bridge, leading to several inquiries from passers-by, County Engineer Joseph A. Femia said.

"People are wondering what's going on over there because they don't see any activity," he said. "But the activity is going on under the bridge."

The work, the last step in the project, requires fine-tuning all the systems that allow the swing span to balance from the center bearing when it opens and ensure that it returns to exactly the same position, Femia said.

"It's a pretty complex operation and pretty complex thing to finalize," he said. "We need to make sure all those systems are operating properly."

Unexpected delays have forced the county to push back the bridge's reopening date several times since it closed for repairs in June 2010. It was originally supposed to be completed by Christmas 2011.

The final cost for the project is expected to be about 3 percent over the initial $19.2 million estimate, Femia said.

"There should be no more surprises," he said. "The work is almost done."

The county paid for more than $17 million of the project with money from the 2010 federal stimulus package. Any cost overruns will be covered by a bridge bond that was paid for by the state, county officials have said.

The 89-foot Court Street Bridge opened in 1908 and connects Hackensack and Bogota. Though the properties north of the bridge no longer use barges, the Hackensack River is still a navigable waterway, which necessitated that the refurbished bridge be movable.

The county was required by the state Historic Preservation Office to reuse parts of the truss and the traffic gates from the original bridge. Everything else was replaced, Femia said.

The project entailed carting the old bridge away in pieces, X-raying each part for flaws, and adding replacement parts so the span can once again support 40-ton trucks. Trusses were refurbished, fenders added to protect the bridge from passing vessels, and 4 more feet was tacked on to its 43-foot width, including a foot more for each lane.

The bridge is considered one of the only remaining operable through truss swing spans in New Jersey, but its swinging mechanism has not been operable since 1994.

Email: akin@northjersey.com

Offline Editor

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Re: Lance Corporal Harold J. Dillard Memorial Bridge
« Reply #4 on: August 27, 2012, 03:07:39 PM »
The rededication of the Court Street Bridge will be on Friday, September 7, 2012 at 11:00 AM. Parking will be available at the NJ Naval Museum/USS Ling on River Street.

(Thanks Skip.)

Offline BLeafe

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Re: Lance Corporal Harold J. Dillard Memorial Bridge
« Reply #5 on: September 06, 2012, 09:05:23 PM »
Tonight.....

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« Last Edit: September 07, 2012, 12:54:45 AM by Editor »

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Re: Lance Corporal Harold J. Dillard Memorial Bridge
« Reply #7 on: September 07, 2012, 09:22:34 AM »
Bergen County to reopen Court Street Bridge after $19.8M re-construction
Friday, September 7, 2012
BY  JOHN C. ENSSLIN
STAFF WRITER
The Record

Noel Dunn never passes the bridge over the Hackensack River at Court Street without thinking of his old friend Harold J. Dillard.


THOMAS E. FRANKLIN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Walter Satos adding finishing touches to the Court Street bridge between Bogota and Hackensack, which reopens today.



Harold Dillard

As a kid, Dunn looked up to Dillard, who was a star athlete at Hackensack High School when they were growing up together in the 1960s. Dillard joined the Marines and served in Vietnam, where he rose to the rank of lance corporal and won the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Palm.

Dunn was hoping to learn how to run track from his older friend. But Dillard never came home. He was killed by artillery fire on May 25, 1967, during a battle in Quang Tri province. He was 20 years old.

Several years later, Bergen County officials renamed the two-lane bridge that connects Bogota to Hackensack after Dillard and put up a plaque in his memory.

Dunn, a 62-year-old New Milford resident, worried about the plaque when the county shut down the bridge for replacement in June 2010. Would people remember his friend's name when the new bridge reopened?

They did. Several members of Dillard's family were expected to be present this morning when county officials rededicate the Harold J. Dillard Bridge, which has been widened and rebuilt at a cost of $19.8 million.

Federal stimulus funds paid for $17.8 million of that total, with nearly all of the balance coming from state bridge funds, said Joe Crifasi, director of the county public works department.

The bridge was originally built in 1908. It had not undergone a major renovation since 1970, said County Engineer Joe Femia. It had the lowest structural rating of all of Bergen County's 195 bridges — a score of 1 out of a possible 100. When it is re-inspected later this year, Femia expects it will score closer to 100.

Because of its historic nature, the county incorporated about one-third of the truss steel from the old bridge into the new one, Femia said.

It is scheduled to reopen to traffic around 4 p.m. Femia expects it will soon be handling its previous average volume of 9,000 vehicles a day.

The new bridge has its critics. Because the Hackensack River is designated by the federal government as a commercial waterway, the county was required to build a bridge that swings open for large boats. But residents say it has been a long time since a barge or large boat passed by, because of all the silt at the river's bottom.

On Thursday morning, Dunn stopped by to see the bridge, as he has done frequently throughout the reconstruction. Workmen showed Dunn the plaque with Dillard's name.

Dillard, known to his friends as "Duke," was a three-letter athlete at Hackensack High School. He won honorable mention on the 1965 All-County track team on the strength of a 6-foot-4-inch leap.

Dunn remembered that he had been looking forward to Dillard's return from Vietnam.

"He was going to teach me how to run track and field," Dunn said. "I thought he would be here forever.

"I patterned my life a little after him," said Dunn, who served 18 months in Vietnam with the Army. "He was just one of those people who stuck with you."

"The bridge is beautiful. It's magnificent," Dunn declared after taking a brief walk across the span. He plans to attend the rededication.

"It's overwhelming that when you make a sacrifice, people remember," he said of his friend. "That means a hell of a lot to me."

Email: ensslin@northjersey.com
___________________________________

Related Topic: Court Street Bridge Work on Schedule
« Last Edit: September 07, 2012, 09:24:56 AM by Editor »

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Re: Lance Corporal Harold J. Dillard Memorial Bridge
« Reply #8 on: September 07, 2012, 02:09:41 PM »
Included in Pastor Jackson's remarks was The Bridge Builder poem.

His closing remarks included this quote from James Dean:
"If a man can bridge the gap between life and death, if he can live on after he's dead, then maybe he was a great man."

Some snapshots from today's event:
« Last Edit: September 07, 2012, 02:25:35 PM by Editor »

Offline Editor

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Re: Lance Corporal Harold J. Dillard Memorial Bridge
« Reply #9 on: September 07, 2012, 02:14:44 PM »
Video of the cermonial "first crossing" in a 1910 Ford Model T with Hackensack's Mayor Michael Melfi and Bogota's Mayor Patrick McHale:



The event program handout:
« Last Edit: September 07, 2012, 02:16:40 PM by Editor »

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Re: Lance Corporal Harold J. Dillard Memorial Bridge
« Reply #10 on: September 09, 2012, 09:41:38 PM »
Court Street bridge in Hackensack reopens after $19.8M makeover
Friday, September 7, 2012    Last updated: Friday September 7, 2012, 6:07 PM
BY  JOHN C. ENSSLIN
STAFF WRITER
The Record

One of Bergen County’s oldest bridges, the Dillard Memorial Bridge over the Hackensack River on Court Street, reopened to traffic Friday after a 26-month, $19.8 million makeover.


THOMAS E. FRANKLIN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
David Gaige, right, and Gene Puntasecca were classmates of Harold Dillard at Hackensack High School for whom the bridge is named for, walk across the newly refinished bridge.

At a re-dedication ceremony, Hackensack Mayor Michael Melfi and Bogota Mayor Patrick McHale rode across the historic span in the back seat of a 1910 Ford Model T.

It was an emotional morning for the family of the late Harold J. “Duke” Dillard, the Hackensack High star athlete who was the city’s first casualty in the Vietnam War when he was killed by artillery in a battle on May 25, 1967. He was a 20-year-old decorated lance corporal. County officials named the bridge in his honor a few years later.



“It’s really special,” said Adriene Berry, who was three years old when her cousin died in combat. “It’s very exciting for me and my family.”

Berry helped unveil a plaque bearing her cousin’s name that will be fixed to one of the parapets on the bridge.

The bridge was built with $17.8 million in federal economic stimulus money with most of the balance coming from state bridge funds.

Although originally built in 1908, the Dillard is not the oldest vehicular bridge in the county. That distinction goes to The Cleveland Bridge on Bear Swamp Road in Mahwah which dates back to 1888. But the Dillard is unique because it is a swing span that can open to allow large boats to pass.

Critics, however, say that expensive feature is meaningless in an era when silt has filled in the bottom of the river and large boats and barges no longer navigate that section of the Hackensack. Even if they did, they could only go a short distance further upstream before reaching a fixed span bridge that does not swing open.

“Obviously, it’s a beautiful bridge and well constructed,” said Freeholder Maura DeNicola. “My issue is with the scope of the project.”

“The cost of this project is way more than it would have been if it had been constructed as a fixed bridge,” she added.

That said, DeNicola added she was glad that the bridge continues to honor Dillard’s memory.

About 100 people attended the re-dedication ceremony, where they heard Pastor Gregory Jackson of the Mount Olive Baptist Church, read a poem titled “The Bridge Builder” by Will Allen Dromgoole. The poem is about an old man who builds a bridge for the next generation.

“We’re here to honor a great man,” Jackson said. “He lives on in the memories of his family and his classmates.”

One of those classmates, Barbara Kessler of Hackensack, remembers how scared she was when she first attended middle school in Hackensack after starting in a much smaller Catholic elementary school. “Duke” Dillard was one of the first people she met and he was always protective of her, she said.

“He deserves every bit of this recognition,” she said.

When the ceremony was over and work crews began clearing the bridge, Dillard’s family piled into a sport utility vehicle and without fanfare, drove the short distance from Hackensack to Bogota.

Email: ensslin@northjersey.com

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Re: Lance Corporal Harold J. Dillard Memorial Bridge
« Reply #11 on: April 21, 2013, 12:19:49 AM »
Hackensack River Crossing Closed 'Indefinitely'
Travelers advised to seek other routes.
Teaneck Patch
April 20, 2013 

The Court Street Bridge linking Bogota and Hackensack is closed indefinitely, Bogota Police announced Friday.



Travelers were advised to use other routes. It was not immediately clear why the bridge crossing was shut down.

The bridge reopened in February after being closed to repair damage caused by Hurricane Sandy. However, a $1 million repair project was expected to continue through March.

Much of the bridge structure was replaced as part of a 26-month upgrade project, northjersey.com reported.

Another nearby river crossing, the Anderson Street Bridge linking Teaneck and Hackensack, was restricted to one lane in each direction after an inspection last year found the structure needed major repairs.

Eleven bus routes carrying 2,000 riders were also rerouted off the busy link.
« Last Edit: April 21, 2013, 12:21:27 AM by Editor »

Offline BLeafe

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Re: Lance Corporal Harold J. Dillard Memorial Bridge
« Reply #12 on: April 26, 2013, 11:55:25 AM »

Road Warrior: Court St. bridge to open but delays linger

Friday, April 26, 2013
By JOHN CICHOWSKI
ROAD WARRIOR COLUMNIST

You probably haven't given this much thought, but if part of your car's mission today is to cross a river or climb over another highway, the ordeal you face seems to be getting harder and harder.

This can happen in a crowded state with more than 6,500 bridges over highways, rivers, streams, creeks, inlets, reservoirs, bays, lakes and ponds that need constant repair. Take the poor folks who travel River Street, an aptly named thoroughfare in Hackensack that takes jurors, lawyers and judges to the Bergen County Courthouse — assuming they can get across the mighty Hackensack River.

Of course, the ordeal of crossing the Hackensack can't compare with the hardships of crossing the Delaware back in Washington's day, but it's not as easy as it once was, especially on the star-crossed Court Street Bridge that links Bogota to Hackensack. This pothole-pocked swing span stopped opening and closing for passing vessels long ago.

Although it's named for the old courthouse, a more 21st-century name for Court Street might be the Good News-Bad News bridge.

Good News: The bridge was rebuilt for $19 million, mostly with funds from the Obama stimulus package.

Bad News: That meant it was closed for two years, requiring thousands to use other crossings, such as the overcrowded Anderson Street and Salem Street bridges.

Good News: The Court Street span finally opened last year.

Bad News: It accepted traffic for only a few short weeks before superstorm Sandy tore up some of the sophisticated machinery that had been installed beneath its deck only months before.

Really Good News: Bergen County Public Works Director Joseph Crisafi announced that the Court Street Bridge was expected to open today after $1.2 million in repairs — also federally funded — restored it to its pre-Sandy glory.

Really Bad News: If you must cross the Hackensack, don't get used to all three spans operating in concert.

"Hackensack is a bustling city," Crisafi noted, "and all its bridges take a daily beating."

The wheezing Anderson Street span, for example, is one of 651 New Jersey bridges that the American Society of Civil Engineers rates structurally deficient, which is why only one lane — not two — is open to traffic in each direction. Jersey barriers block the two outer lanes and big vehicles such as trucks and tractor-trailers are banned. (An exception is made for school buses and NJ Transit buses.)

Traffic there will likely get worse before it gets better as the county battles with the state Department of Transportation over the extent of improvements necessary to restore full capacity. Based on its consultant's report last September, the DOT wants a full-scale rehabilitation and updating of the span. But the county believes more modest "spot repairs" are sufficient to remove the bridge from the structurally deficient list, Crisafi said.

At Bergen's insistence, the DOT agreed to a second opinion from a consultant hired by the county.

"It's a matter of spending millions to repair this bridge or hundreds of thousands," said the public works director. "Our engineers believe we can convince DOT that our method will maintain safety without burdening our taxpayers."

How long before work shuts the Anderson Street Bridge?

Crisafi estimated that testing and design work could take a year, and financing and rehabilitating the span could last at least another year. Meanwhile, traffic will continue to be restricted to one lane in either direction.

That leaves the rickety Salem Street bridge, located between Court and Anderson.

"We're in the middle of a rehabilitation plan now," Crisafi said. "But for the moment, we're not doing anything. No restrictions. We're doing our best not to affect commerce."

Eventually, bridge work always affects commerce and much more. Its effects can be seen all over North Jersey: at the rebuilding of the helix leading into the Lincoln Tunnel beneath the Hudson at Weehawken. At the new entrance and exit ramps on Route 3 near Route 21 and the Passaic River in the Lyndhurst-Hasbrouck Heights area. At more modest replacements of the Central Avenue and Island Road overpasses above Route 17 in Mahwah and the Route 1&9-Broad Street overpass above Route 46 in Palisades Park.

Some of this work will be finished this year — but just in time for the massive expansion of the Route 3-Valley Road-Route 46 intersection in the Clifton area next year.

The good news: DOT says it will cut the number of structurally deficient spans in half by 2021.

The bad news: Eight more years of creeping over bridges and overpasses will likely double the impatience of road warriors and other taxpayers alike.


Email: cichowski@northjersey.com Blog: northjersey.com/roadblog
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Offline Editor

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Re: Lance Corporal Harold J. Dillard Memorial Bridge
« Reply #13 on: May 08, 2013, 08:57:34 PM »
I shot this yesterday.  We were passing by when we noticed the bridge was swung open. The video shows the bridge "closing".  For anyone who wants to see a video of the bridge "opening", I suppose you could play it in reverse. 

This is a long video because the bridge moves very slowly at one point and then the operators discuss the test they were apparently conducting. You may want to fast-forward. 

« Last Edit: May 08, 2013, 09:00:19 PM by Editor »

Offline BLeafe

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Name-Dropper: Lance Corporal Harold J. Dillard Memorial Bridge
« Reply #14 on: April 16, 2015, 11:10:10 AM »
This is in today's Record and features hackensacknow.org member Gene Puntasecca (Skipx219):

Span Memorializes a Vietnam Veteran

by Jeffrey Page
Special to The Record


Harold Dillard was not the president. He didn't find the cure for an unforgiving disease, and he didn't sign the Declaration of Independence. He was just a guy from the neighborhood, well-liked by the people on his block and by classmates and teammates at Hackensack High School.

Nevertheless, his name came to grace the century-old Court Street Bridge, an important crossing of the Hackensack River that joins Bogota and Hackensack.

In 1981, the Hackensack City Council approved a measure to rename the crossing as the Harold J. Dillard Memorial Bridge in tribute to a nice guy killed in Vietnam 14 years earlier.

More recently the bridge, built in 1908 and in pitiful condition, underwent a rebuilding. Again, the city dedicated it to Dillard's memory – to the relief of some of his friends who feared his name might be lost.


(continue: http://www.northjersey.com/news/education/the-name-dropper-span-memorializes-a-vietnam-veteran-1.1310537?page=all)

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