George Washington Bridge
The George Washington Bridge is a suspension bridge over the Hudson River, connecting the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan Island in New York City to Fort Lee, New Jersey. The pillar on the Manhattan side of the bridge stands on Jeffery’s Hook, above the Little Red Lighthouse.
The GWB is named in honor of George Washington, the first President of the United States of America. Its chief engineer was Othmar Ammann. Construction of the bridge began in September 1927, a project of the Port of New York Authority. It was dedicated on October 24, 1931.
When it opened, the bridge had the longest main span in the world; at 1067 m (3500 ft), it nearly doubled the previous record of 564 m (1850 ft), which had been held by the Ambassador Bridge. (The record has since been exceeded numerous times.) The total length of the bridge is 1451 m (4760 ft).
The bridge was originally constructed with only a single deck, but a second, lower deck, which had been anticipated in its design, was added in 1962. It was also originally planned that the towers of the bridge would be encased in concrete and granite. However, due to cost and favorable aesthetic critiques of the bare steel towers, this was never done.
Current tolls for cars is $6, $5 peak hours with E-ZPass, $4 off-peak. Trucks are charged $6 per axle. The toll is only charged one way (into New York).
The George Washington Bridge carries Interstate 95, United States Highway 1, and United States Highway 9 from New Jersey to New York. Interstate 80, United States Highway 46, and New Jersey State Highway 4 terminate at the state border in the middle of the bridge. In 2003 the bridge traffic was 105,942,000 vehicles.
GW Bridge in arts and entertainment
The GW's first movie appearance was in Ball of Fire (1943), and it subsequently appeared in How to Marry a Millionaire, The In-Laws, and Desperately Seeking Susan. The bridge features prominently in the 1997 movie Cop Land, its lower deck serving as a site for an important early scene and the entire bridge acting as a symbolic barrier between Manhattan and the small towns across the river in New Jersey.
American composer William Schuman wrote "The George Washington Bridge" for concert band in 1950.
The bridge was featured in the Amazing Spider-Man comic books (issue #121) when Spider-Man's girlfriend, Gwen Stacy, is kidnapped and held at the bridge by the Green Goblin. However, the artwork in the comic book is of the Brooklyn Bridge. Further confusing things is that a similar scene in the 2002 Spider-Man movie is clearly set on the Queensboro Bridge.
In the video game Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, the bridge is featured in the opening sequence when Solid Snake jumps off the bridge onto a passing tanker.
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