George Washington Bridge
Suspension bridge between New Jersey and New York / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The George Washington Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting Fort Lee in Bergen County, New Jersey, with Upper Manhattan in New York City. It is named after George Washington, the first president of the United States. The George Washington Bridge is the world's busiest motor vehicle bridge,[5] carrying a traffic volume of over 104 million vehicles in 2019[update],[6] and is the world's only suspension bridge with 14 vehicular lanes as of 2012[update].[7] It is owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, a bi-state government agency that operates infrastructure in the Port of New York and New Jersey. The George Washington Bridge is also informally known as the GW Bridge, the GWB, the GW, or the George,[8] and was known as the Fort Lee Bridge or Hudson River Bridge during construction. The George Washington Bridge measures 4,760 feet (1,450 m) long and has a main span of 3,500 feet (1,100 m). It was the longest main bridge span in the world from its 1931 opening until the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco opened in 1937.
George Washington Bridge | |
|---|---|
 The bridge seen from New Jersey in July 2010 | |
| Coordinates | 40.8517°N 73.9527°W / 40.8517; -73.9527 (George Washington Bridge) |
| Carries | |
| Crosses | Hudson River |
| Locale | Fort Lee, New Jersey, and New York City (Washington Heights, Manhattan), New York, United States |
| Other name(s) |
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| Named for | U.S. President George Washington |
| Maintained by | Port Authority of New York and New Jersey |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Double-decked suspension bridge |
| Material | Steel |
| Total length | 4,760 ft (1,450 m)[1] |
| Width | 119 ft (36 m)[1] |
| Height | 604 ft (184 m)[1] |
| Longest span | 3,500 ft (1,067 m)[2] |
| Clearance above | 14 ft (4.3 m) (upper level), 13.5 ft (4.1 m) (lower level)[3] |
| Clearance below | 212 ft (65 m) at mid-span[1] |
| History | |
| Designer | Othmar Ammann (chief engineer) Edward W. Stearns (assistant chief engineer) Allston Dana (design engineer) Cass Gilbert (architect) Montgomery Case (construction engineer) |
| Construction start | September 21, 1927; 95 years ago (1927-09-21) (bridge construction) June 2, 1959; 64 years ago (1959-06-02) (lower level) |
| Opened | October 25, 1931; 91 years ago (1931-10-25) (upper level) August 29, 1962; 60 years ago (1962-08-29) (lower level) |
| Statistics | |
| Daily traffic | 289,827 (2016)[4] |
| Toll | (Eastbound only) As of January 8, 2023:
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| Location | |
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The George Washington Bridge is an important travel corridor within the New York metropolitan area. It has an upper level that carries four lanes in each direction and a lower level with three lanes in each direction, for a total of 14 lanes of travel. The speed limit on the bridge is 45 mph (72 km/h). The bridge's upper level also carries pedestrian and bicycle traffic. Interstate 95 (I-95) and U.S. Route 1/9 (US 1/9, composed of US 1 and US 9) cross the river via the bridge. U.S. Route 46 (US 46), which lies entirely within New Jersey, terminates halfway across the bridge at the state border with New York. At its eastern terminus in New York City, the bridge continues onto the Trans-Manhattan Expressway (part of I-95, connecting to the Cross Bronx Expressway).
The idea of a bridge across the Hudson River was first proposed in 1906, but it was not until 1925 that the state legislatures of New York and New Jersey voted to allow for the planning and construction of such a bridge. Construction on the George Washington Bridge started in September 1927; the bridge was ceremonially dedicated on October 24, 1931, and opened to traffic the next day. The opening of the George Washington Bridge contributed to the development of Bergen County, New Jersey, in which Fort Lee is located. The upper deck was widened from six to eight lanes in 1946. The six-lane lower deck was constructed beneath the existing span from 1959 to 1962 because of increasing traffic flow.