Finding its footing
Pedestrian bridge installed at Great Falls; work remains
By: Joe Malinconico
Paterson Press
PATERSON - The Great Falls got a new footbridge on November 7, [2025] more than four years after officials closed the previous one because of safety concerns.
.....
The prefabricated span isn't open to pedestrians yet. It still needs to have the concrete walkway installed and other work done.
.....
But officials hope that before the end of this year [2025] Great Falls visitors will be able to sue the footbridge for up-close photo opportunities of the waterfall as well as for a shortcut from one side of the national park to the other.
..... Just before 8:30 AM on Friday, [11/07/2025] a construction crew engaged in the Herculean task of putting the new crossing in place.
..... Before that an 80-foot precipice loomed at the end of the path where people once had been able to walk above the gushing with water at the bottom of the Great Falls.
..... Four 60-ton capacity straps connected to a heavy-duty, 220,000-pound crane hoisted the new footbridge off a platform, gently swung the span around, and lowered it into place on abutments on booth sides of the Passaic River.
..... The crane needed 206,000 pounds of additional counterweight to keep it sable as it maneuvered the 30,000-pound, 100-foot-long bridge into place. Then, work crews drilled and bolted eight steel rods - four at each end - to secure the span. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity," said Dustin Forzono, project superintendent for Colonnelli Brothers Incorporated of Hackensack, the contractor handling the $1.1 million job. "You can put a bridge over a highway any day. But when else are you going to get a chance to put a bridge across the Great Falls in Paterson."
..... "This is one of the funnest jobs I ever had," he added. Mayor Andre Sayegh was thrilled as he watched the footbridge being installed. The mayor noted that when the previous span was shut down, there had been little to do on the north side of the river at the Great Falls. In the intervening years, Hinchliff Stadium reopened, a museum highlighting Negro League Baseball and Hinchliff;s history began operation, and a new senior citizen, apartment building was built, he pointed out. the footbridge will give people attending events at Hinchliff, visiting the museum, or living in the senior building, more complete access to the national park, the mayor said.
..... "My goal is to make the Great Falls New Jersey's number one tourist destination," Sayegh said. "this helps," he added, nodding toward the footbridge.
..... The bridge itself was still wrapped in canvas, which will remain in place until after the concrete gets poured for the walking surface.
..... Paterson's Historic Preservation Director Gianfranco Archimede arrived at the Great Falls before 7 AM. on Friday [11/07/2025] to scout out good locations to photograph the footbridge instillation.
..... "I want to make sure I get the money shot,' he said.