GEORGE WASHINGTON BRIDGE

George Washington Bridge is probably the world's only bridge that has its own and very famous red lighthouse.  A red lighthouse stands at the New Jersey end of the bridge at the Hudson River and is the subject of a popular children's book entitled The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge by Hildegarde Swift with illustrations by Lynd Ward.

Known to New Yorkers as the "GWB," this suspension bridge has a main span of 3,500 feet and its length is 4,760 feet.  The 14 lanes (8 upper, 6 lower and both pedestrian and biker sidewalks) of this bridge carry over 108 million vehicles per year making it one of the busiest bridges in the world.  Vehicles move so slowly that they are rarely able to reach the permitted speed limit of 45 miles per hour.  The double-decked bridge was first named the Hudson River Bridge for the river it spans from the upper Manhattan's Washington Heights neighborhood at West 178th Street to the city of Fort Lee, New Jersey.   New York State Governor and future President, Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the bridge in 1931.

The bridge's architect, Cass Gilbert, also designed the Woolworth Building, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower. the U.S. Customs House -- all in New York City and the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, DC.  Chief engineer was a Swiss immigrant, Othmar H.  Ammann.  Constructed from 1927 - 1932, the bridge has four supporting towers.  Its wire rope cables were manufactured by the John A. Roebling Sons, Co. of the same Roebling family that built the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883.  Each cable has 64 strands containing 434 wires with a total of 26,474 wires in every cable.  Its cables are currently being restored and replaced.  The lower lanes of the bridge, which opened in 1962, have been humorously nicknamed "Marthas" in honor of Washington's wife, Martha Dandridge Custis Washington. 

The massive bridge is a fitting tribute to George Washington who was known for his impressive size (6 feet, 2 inch, tall for his era) and confidence.  General George Washington's troops fought important Revolutionary War battles in both Washington Heights and Fort Lee in futile attempts to keep British forces from occupying New York City in 1776.  

During national holidays the world's largest free-flying American flag (90 feet) can be seen hanging from the upper arch of the bridge's tower on the New Jersey side.  (The above photos were taken on a Memorial Day weekend and if you look carefully, you can see the large flag in the far background.)  Numerous films and television series, including Citizen Kane, How to Marry a Millionaire, I Love Lucy, and Friends, have featured the bridge in brief appearances.

The neighborhood above W. 181st Street is often called Washington Heights, but it is actually Fort George where a fort had been built in 1776.  The actual fort was at W. 192nd Street and Audubon Avenue.  Once the Fort George Amusement Park, it is now the George Washington Educational Campus and a part of Highbridge Park.