The Paulinskill Viaduct has been a bridge to nowhere since 1978, when the last train rumbled across this majestic crossing 115 feet above the river.

It is also the definition of an attractive nuisance.

Hikers, ATV riders, climbers, graffiti artists - even bungee-jumpers - have been spotted over the years.

“You’re not supposed to go up there, but people do it all the time,” said Rene Mathez, whose home is about a quarter-mile from the 109-year-old span.

No one seems to know what, if anything, the future might hold for the viaduct, which for a time was the largest reinforced concrete structure in the world.

An eastbound freight train crossing the Paulinskill Viaduct en route to Hoboken in March 1952.John Treen, from the collection of Mike Del Vecchio / Tri-State Railway Historical Society

For at least two decades, there has been talk of reviving rail service along the Lackawanna Cutoff, which ran for 28 miles between Roxbury in Morris County and Slateford, Pennsylvania, and utilized the viaduct.

NJ Transit is lengthening the current line about three miles to Andover Township, in Sussex County, but there is no plan at present to head farther west, a spokesperson said.

Knowlton Mayor Adele Starrs said she would prefer seeing the viaduct incorporated into the region’s extensive rails-to-trails network.

“Our main issue is the township of Knowlton does not own the (viaduct). It just passes our land. It’s a constant, ongoing problem to get the graffiti off,” Starrs said.

In 2016, it took a lengthy rescue to free a 20-year-old women who fell down a manhole cover and injured her ankle.

“Our fire and rescue has responded multiple times to people who got stuck up there,” Starrs said.

“It’s a landmark of historical significance. This is a treasure and it needs to be kept up, not left to fall into disrepair,” Starrs said.

The N.J. Department of Transportation, which owns the right of way that includes the Paulinskill Viaduct, did no immediately respond to a request for comment on possible future uses.

DOT spokesperson Mairin Bellack, in an email, reiterated that “public access is strictly prohibited.”

Aerial view of the 109-year-old Paulinskill Viaduct. The 1,100-foot-long, 115-foot-tall seven arch span was built by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad in 1910. The tracks were removed in 1982 and the Viaduct abandoned. Knowlton, N.J. Oct. 27, 2019.Andre Malok | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Mathez has lived in a stone house, built in 1789, for 51 years. His property covers 50 acres on both sides of the Paulins Kill River (the river uses a different spelling than the viaduct).

“Mostly it’s kids with motor bikes,” he said when asked what he typically sees up there.

That’s nothing compared to bungee-jumping, which Mathez said was popular for a time about a decade or two ago.

“It was pretty nuts,” he said.

A rogue entrepreneur set up a horizontal pulley system, someone managed to get a car onto the viaduct, and was charging $75 per jump, he said.

“Then somebody was hurt pretty badly and the police put a stop to it," Mathez said.

New Jersey State Police have jurisdiction over the viaduct, whose nearest road - Station Road - prominently displays no-trespassing signs.

State Police Sgt. Jeff Flynn said that troopers respond both to complaints and do periodic checks of unattended cars in the area.

“We would tell people that, aside from it being illegal to go back there, it’s not deemed a safe area to hike,” Flynn said.

“We would encourage people, if they want to hike in the woods, to do it in a state park or on the state trail system. They’re approved for a reason,” Flynn said.

Chuck Walsh, also of Knowlton, recalled spotting bungee jumpers as far back as the 1980s.

“They did it over the river, at the highest point. They were jumping off the middle of the bridge on the south side,” Walsh said.

Walsh said he no longer sees anything like that, adding that technology has likely played a role in discouraging extreme adventures.

"In those days, there was no fast way to get ahold of anyone. Now you have cell phones,” said Walsh, who runs the Lackawanna Cut-Off Historical Committee Facebook group.

Mathez said efforts have been made, to varying degrees of success, to limit access to the viaduct from the woods on either side, or at least minimize the potential harm.

For a while, viaduct visitors were throwing stones into the Paulins Kill, but sometimes their aim was off and the rocks were landing on Station Road.

Officials installed fencing making it difficult to toss anything off the viaduct in that area, he said.

“That seems to have abated,” Mathez said.

About four or five years ago, some “enormous concrete blocks,” about 10 feet long and 3 feet wide, were installed to block ATVs and other vehicles.

“They did a good job,” he said.

But it didn’t completely solve the issues.

“I asked one person, ‘are the blocks stopping people?’ He said, ‘no, they’re put up a ramp,’" he said.

The passenger train known as the "Phoebe Snow" is seen heading west on April 8, 1951, with the Paulinskill Viaduct in the background.John Treen, from the collection of Mike Del Vecchio / Tri-State Railway Historical Society

Misuse of the site is distressing to those who respect the viaduct’s legacy as an engineering marvel of its time.

Mike Del Vecchio, president of the Tri-State Railway Historical Society, Inc., hasn’t given up on fully restoring the Lackawanna Cutoff.

“In an era before interstates, and before automobiles were common, everyone traveled by rail. Rail lines were like today’s interstates,” he said, adding that restoring the Lackawanna Cutoff would especially benefit commuters from eastern Pennsylvania seeking an alternative to driving on Route 80.

Mathez recalled boarding the train in Blairstown, but never actually rode across the viaduct.

He said he doesn’t favor restoring the rail line.

“I don’t like the idea of having a train through here. Not because of the train itself. The thing I don’t like is the impetus for development if the train comes through here,” he said.

The train itself remains a distant memory, even if the Paulinskill Viaduct - aside from the graffiti - looks much as it did from more than a century ago.

This article is part of “Unknown New Jersey,” an ongoing series that highlights interesting and little-known stories about our past, present, and future -- all the unusual things that make our great state what is it. Got a story to pitch? Email it to local@njadvancemedia.com.

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Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@RobJenningsNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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