Photograph by Edward Steichen, 1931, courtesy MutualArt.
WHERE: The George Washington Bridge, from Manhattan to Fort Lee, New Jersey and back
START/FINISH: 175 Street subway station (A train, fully accessible)
DISTANCE: 3.2 miles (5.1 kilometers)
Photographs by Michael Cairl except where noted
I’ve biked across the George Washington Bridge many more times than I’ve driven across it, and the ride back to New York has usually been faster than the car traffic without my even trying. But until today I had never walked across the bridge. So, taking advantage of a beautiful day, I left the state of New York for the first time since February 2020.
The George Washington Bridge, linking upper Manhattan and Fort Lee, New Jersey, opened in October 1931 and is the nation’s busiest bridge. The upper deck (8 lanes) was supplemented by the lower deck (6 lanes) in 1962 and carries Interstate 95 and U.S. Routes 1 and 9. Other highways feed traffic to the bridge at either end. The bike and pedestrian path on the south side of the bridge gets a lot of use, and the approach to it on the New York side is to be rebuilt. A suburban and intercity bus terminal, designed by the great Italian architect Pier Luigi Nervi, is at the Manhattan end of the bridge, elevated over Fort Washington Avenue and Broadway. The bridge is almost as iconic as the Brooklyn Bridge and has been photographed countless times for its mass and beauty.
At the New Jersey side of the bridge is the southern end of Palisades Interstate Park. I had planned to go into the park but the pedestrian entrance at the bridge is being rebuilt as part of a rebuilding of the interchange with the Palisades Interstate Parkway. I’ll just have to go back in a year or so.
Getting to the bridge from either side is easy. Whether biking or walking, crossing the George Washington Bridge is truly rewarding.
George Washington Bridge from Washington Heights, Manhattan, 1988.
Plaque at the elevator at the 175 Street subway station, honoring disability rights advocate Edith Prentiss (1952 - 2021); a small park at the New York end of the bridge with plaques honoring those who perished aboard American Airlines flight 587 in November 2001, and local activist Louie Stern; memorial at the New Jersey end of the bridge to Port Authority Police Officer Bruce Reynolds, who died on September 11, 2001.
View looking south from the bridge; the New Jersey tower; obligatory selfie.