 |
| The George Washington Bridge from the Fort Lee, NJ side of the Hudson River. |
Happy birthday to the George Washington Bridge, which opened to traffic on this day 80-years ago today.
The bridge, which links Upper Manhattan with Fort Lee, NJ, was build during the Great Depression, when millions of Americans were out of work. Upon completion, it surpassed the Ambassador Bridge, which links Detroit, MI with Windsor, Ontario, Canada, as the longest suspension bridge in the world. It would hold that record until the completion of the Golden Gate Bridge in 1937.
The GW, as it's sometimes referred to by local traffic reporters, was named in honor of George Washington, the first President of the United States who lead the fight for independence during the American Revolutionary War.
Originally designed as a single deck bridge by structural engineer Othmar Ammann with a provision for a lower deck to carry additional traffic in the future, the George Washington Bridge became the only bridge in the world with 14-lanes of traffic in 1962 when the lower roadway was added.
Today, nearly 300,000 vehicles cross the George Washington Bridge each day between Manhattan and Fort Lee. The bridge is part of the I-95 Corridor, which runs along the East Coast of the US from New England to Florida.
