The
Hackensack Plank Road, also known as
Bergen Turnpike, was a major artery which connected the cities of
Hoboken and
Hackensack,
New Jersey. Like its cousin routes, the
Newark Plank Road and
Paterson Plank Road, it travelled over
Bergen Hill and across the
Hackensack Meadows from the
Hudson River waterfront to the city for which it was named. It was originally built as a colonial
turnpike road as Hackensack and Hoboken Turnpike. The route mostly still exists today, though some segments are now called the Bergen Turnpike. It was during the 19th century that
plank roads were developed, often by private companies which charged a toll. As the name suggests, wooden boards were laid on a roadbed in order to prevent horse-drawn carriages and wagons from sinking into softer ground on the portions of the road that passed through
wetlands. The company that built the road received its charter on November 30, 1802.