Proposed tunnel plan
After several failed proposals over the decades, the modern vision of the Passaic River Flood Tunnel took shape in the mid 1980s as the State of New Jersey selected a modified Army Corps of Engineers preferred alternative: The Pompton/Passaic Dual Inlet Tunnel Diversion Plan. The major elements of the proposed project were a 40-foot-diameter (12 m), 20.1-mile-long (32.3 km) tunnel and a 22-foot-diameter (6.7 m), 1.2-mile-long (1.9 km) spur tunnel, two inlets, one outlet, at least four workshafts along the tunnel pathway, "natural" storage areas, channel modifications, ponding areas, levees, and flood walls. The outlet of the tunnel would be located in Newark Bay, 1,500 feet south of Kearny Point.
The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is a U.S. federal agency under the Department of Defense and a major Army command made up of some 37,000 civilian and military personnel, making it one of the world's largest public engineering, design, and construction management agencies. Although generally associated with dams, canals and flood protection in the United States, USACE is involved in a wide range of public works throughout the world. The Corps of Engineers provides outdoor recreation opportunities to the public, and provides 24% of U.S. hydropower capacity.
Newark Bay is a tidal bay at the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in northeastern New Jersey. It is home to the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the largest container shipping facility in Port of New York and New Jersey, the third largest and one of the busiest in the United States. An estuary, it is periodically dredged to accommodate ocean-going ships.
South Kearny is an industrial district and distinct area of Hudson County, New Jersey at the northern end of Newark Bay in the town of Kearny, New Jersey. It is on the larger peninsula once called New Barbadoes Neck, which also include the other Kearny districts of the Uplands and the Kearny Meadows. It has been known as Kearny Point and, along Droyer's Point in Jersey City, marks the mouth of the Hackensack River to the east. The Passaic River flows along its western border opposite a similarly industrial portion of the Ironbound district of Newark. Most of the point is part of Foreign-Trade Zone 49
The 20.1-mile-long (32.3 km) main tunnel would carry flood waters from the primary inlet at the confluence of the Pequannock, Wanaque, Ramapo, and Pompton Rivers just above the junction with the Passaic River; an area that is most prone to severe flooding in the Passaic River basin. A 1.2-mile-long (1.9 km) spur would carry floodwaters from an inlet along the Passaic River, downstream from Two Bridges, to a connection with the main tunnel beneath the borough of Totowa, New Jersey. A Floodwarning and Forecasting System would be pressed into service to establish operating signals for the tunnel. Most of the major channel modifications would be built near the two tunnel inlets. The modifications would modify several portions of the Passaic, Pompton, Ramapo, Wanaque, and Pequannock Rivers. There are also two interim projects that would be constructed prior to the construction of the flood tunnel. These two projects include major stream alterations, including channelization to the Saddle River and Ramapo River. The cost estimate for the tunnel in the late 1990s was $1.8 billion.
The Pompton River is a tributary of the Passaic River, approximately 8 mi (13 km) long, in northern New Jersey in the United States.
Totowa is a borough in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 10,844, reflecting an increase of 912 (+9.2%) from the 9,892 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn declined by 285 (-2.8%) from the 10,177 counted in the 1990 Census.
The Pequannock River is a tributary of the Pompton River, approximately 20 miles (32 km) long, located in northern New Jersey in the United States.
Route 23 is a state highway in the northern part of New Jersey in the United States. The route runs 52.63 mi (84.70 km) from County Route 506 and County Route 577 in Verona, Essex County northwest to the border with New York at Montague Township in Sussex County, where the road continues to Port Jervis, New York as Orange County Route 15. Route 23 heads through Essex and Passaic Counties as a suburban arterial varying from two to four lanes and becomes a six-lane freeway north of a complex interchange with U.S. Route 46 and Interstate 80 in Wayne. The freeway carries Route 23 north to a concurrency with U.S. Route 202. Past the freeway portion, the route heads northwest along the border of Morris and Passaic Counties as a four- to six-lane divided highway with a wide median at places, winding through mountainous areas and crossing Interstate 287 in Riverdale. The route continues northwest through Sussex County as a mostly two-lane, undivided road that passes through farmland and woodland as well as the communities of Franklin, Hamburg, and Sussex before reaching the New York border just south of an interchange with Interstate 84 near High Point State Park.
Pequannock Township is a township in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 15,420, reflecting an increase of 1,652 (+11.9%) from the 13,888 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 1,044 (+8.1%) from the 12,844 counted in the 1990 Census.
Pompton Lakes is a borough in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 11,097, reflecting an increase of 457 (+4.3%) from the 10,640 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 101 (+1.0%) from the 10,539 counted in the 1990 Census.
Wanaque is a borough in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 11,116, reflecting an increase of 850 (+8.3%) from the 10,266 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 555 (+5.7%) from the 9,711 counted in the 1990 Census.
Lake Passaic was a prehistoric proglacial lake that existed in northern New Jersey in the United States at the end of the last ice age approximately 19,000-14,000 years ago. The lake was formed of waters released by the retreating Wisconsin Glacier, which had pushed large quantities of earth and rock ahead of its advance, blocking the previous natural drainage of the ancestral Passaic River through a gap in the central Watchung Mountains. The lake persisted for several thousand years as melting ice and eroding moraine dams slowly drained the former lake basin. The effect of the lake’s creation permanently altered the course of the Passaic River, forcing it to take a circuitous route through the northern Watchung Mountains before spilling out into the lower piedmont.
The Watchung Mountains are a group of three long low ridges of volcanic origin, between 400 and 500 feet high, lying parallel to each other in northern New Jersey in the United States. The Watchung Mountains are known for their numerous scenic vistas overlooking New York City, Newark and New Jersey skylines, as well as their isolated ecosystems containing rare plants, endangered wildlife, rich minerals, and globally imperiled trap rock glade communities. The ridges traditionally contained the westward spread of urbanization, forming a significant geologic barrier beyond the piedmont west of the Hudson River; the town of Newark, for example, once included lands from the Hudson to the base of the mountains. Later treaties moved the boundary to the top of the mountain, to include the springs. The Watchungs are basalt uplifts, geologically similar to the Palisades along the Hudson river. In many places, however, the mountains have become sinuous islands of natural landscape within the suburban sprawl covering much of contemporary northeastern New Jersey. Parks, preserves, and numerous historical sites dot the valleys and slopes of the mountains, providing recreational and cultural activities to one of the most densely populated regions of the nation.
The Ramapo River is a tributary of the Pompton River, approximately 30 mi (48 km) long, in southern New York and northern New Jersey in the United States.
The Newark-Pompton Turnpike, is a roadway in northern New Jersey that was originally a tolled turnpike. The roadway was first laid out in the mid-18th century and given its name in 1806. As originally designed, it connected Newark with the area north and west of the Pompton River in what is now Riverdale. Its south end is Broadway in Newark; its north end is the Paterson-Hamburg Turnpike. As such, it was part of an alternate route between Newark and Paterson.
The Wanaque River is a tributary of the Pequannock River in Passaic County in northern New Jersey in the United States.
Pompton Township is a defunct township in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States, that existed from 1797 until it was dissolved in 1918.
The Pomptons or Pamapons were a sub-tribe of Algonquian-speaking Native Americans, who once lived northern New Jersey. The Pompton historically lived along Pompton and Pequannock Rivers, near what is now Paterson, New Jersey, but they left New Jersey after their lands had been taken without compensation by European colonists.
The Pompton Dam is a run-of-the-river spillway constructed as part of the Morris Canal system in Pompton Plains section of Pequannock, New Jersey, United States in the 1920s to increase land value and provide water retention by creating a backwater on the Pompton River. The structure is listed as part of the Morris Canal on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places as well as the National Register of Historic Places.
The Pequannoc Spillway is a run-of-the-river spillway constructed in the 1920s as part of the Morris Canal system in the Pompton Plains section of Pequannock, New Jersey on one bank of the river and Wayne, New Jersey on the other bank. The spillway creates usable waterfront land out of swamps and provides water retention by creating a backwater on the Ramapo River. The structure is listed as part of the Morris Canal on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places as well as the National Register of Historic Places. It is a sister structure to the Pompton dam which lies on the Pompton River.
Wanaque Reservoir is a man-made lake located within Wanaque and Ringwood, New Jersey along the Wanaque River. The reservoir came into being in 1928 by the construction of the Raymond Dam along the river in Wanaque. Besides the Wanaque River, the reservoir receives water from two diversions: the Pompton Lakes intake, which takes water from the Ramapo River, and the Two Bridges intake, which takes water from the Pompton River. It is the second largest reservoir in New Jersey by volume, after Round Valley Reservoir.
Pompton Lake is a 175-acre man-made lake on the Ramapo River which is located within the towns of Pompton Lakes and Wayne in Passaic County, New Jersey. The lake was formed by the construction of the Pompton Lake Dam in 1908 after a prior wooden dam was destroyed by a flood in 1903. The waters impounded in the lake serve as a supplemental drinking source. It is primarily fed by the Ramapo River, but also receives inflow from Acid Brook and smaller tributaries. The Ramapo River continues downstream of Pompton Lake Dam, flowing into the Pompton River and ultimately the Passaic River. The area of the Pompton Lake watershed is 176 square miles.
The estate of the author Albert Payson Terhune, Sunnybank, is on the Wayne shore of the lake.
The Passaic River Coalition (PRC) is an organization based out of Willow Hall in Morristown, New Jersey. The coalition is an urban watershed association active since 1969 in protecting water quality and quantity of the entire Passaic River watershed of northern New Jersey and Rockland and Orange Counties, New York.
