By Agustin Torres
Journal staff writer

The 68-year-old and some-times troublesome Wittpenn Bridge over the Hackensack Riv-er will be replaced by a new span, requiring several years of construction that could begin about 2004.

The old drawbridge will continue to be used by traffic heading between Kearney and Jersey City while a new one is built right next to it.

A pair of state Department of Transportation engineers told about 30 members of the South Kearny Industrial Association yesterday that there will be a series of meetings about replacing tbe drawbridge.

About 23,000 cars cross the Wittpenn Bridge daily, just from the Kearny side. The Wittpenn and Hackensack River bridges are two main arteries connecting West Hudson to the rest of Hudson and New York.

For years, the Wittpenn drawbridge has been subject to occasional breakdowns, leaving the bridge stuck in the open position and Route 7 jammed on both sides of the river. The backups snarl the Tonnelle and Charlotte traffic circles in Jersey City and clog area side streets.

The new bridge is expected to help alleviate delays and reduce the number of times the span must be opened by increasing the clearance between the water and the bridge, DOT officials said.

At the start of yesterday's SKIA session, the engineers said the state plans to keep open Route 7, which includes the existing 1,000-foot approaches and bridge.

"We listened to the community and they don't want Route 7 closed," said Yosry Berkhiet, a DOT engineer.

This was a relief to Howard Hull, postmaster for Kearny, who said the bridge is an important artery for U.S. mail trucks.

"We have the Dominick V. Daniels postal facility here in Kearny, which is the third-largest in the country and from which 950 daily trips are made by trucks," Hull said. "The postal Bulk Mail Center in Jersey City, largest in the nation, often makes deliveries to the Kearny postal center and uses the bridge."

The DOT engineers said that once environmental impact studies are completed, public hear- ings are held and all approvals obtained, construction will begin just north of the bridge.

Federal regulations require the state to study various types of bridges. DOT favors a lift bridge , which would rise up along 130-foot towers at the ends of the span, providing a 60-to-70 foot clearance from the bridge to the water level at high tide, Berkhiet said.

The current bridge has a 30-Federal regulations require foot clearance.

The lift bridge would reduce of bridge openings by 60 percent.

Association members, many of whom are connected to trucking interests, voiced concerns about the number of lanes proposed for the new bridge.

Having either a four-lane or a six-lane bridge will be studied, the engineers said. The DOT representatives and most of the SKIA members favor six lanes, three each way. The Wittpenn now has a narrow four-lane span without shoulders.