The Bear Mountain Bridge, ceremonially named the Purple Heart Veterans Memorial Bridge, is a toll

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridges, which lack vertical ...

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. sta ...

. It carries US 6 and US 202 across the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between Ne ...

between

Bear Mountain State Park Bear Mountain State Park is a state park located on the west bank of the Hudson River in Rockland and Orange counties, New York. The park offers biking, hiking, boating, picnicking, swimming, cross-country skiing, cross-country running, sled ...

in Orange County and Cortlandt in

Westchester County Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population ...

. At completion in 1924 it was

longest suspension bridge The world's longest suspension bridges are listed according to the length of their main span (architecture), span (i.e. the length of suspended roadway between the bridge's towers). The length of main span is the most common method of comparing ...

in the world until this record was surpassed 19 months later by the

Benjamin Franklin Bridge The Benjamin Franklin Bridge, originally named the Delaware River Bridge and known locally as the Ben Franklin Bridge, is a suspension bridge across the Delaware River connecting Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Camden, New Jersey. Owned and ...

between

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

and

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a city in and the county seat of Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Camden is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area and is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 20 ...

. The Bear Mountain Bridge is unconventional among suspension bridges: though its main span (between the towers) is suspended by cables in the usual manner, the approach spans (outside the towers) do not have suspender cables and are instead unsuspended

trusses A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assembla ...

, like the

Williamsburg Bridge The Williamsburg Bridge is a suspension bridge in New York City across the East River connecting the Lower East Side of Manhattan at Delancey Street with the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn at Broadway near the Brooklyn-Queens Expressw ...

in New York City. The span enables connections between the

Palisades Interstate Parkway The Palisades Interstate Parkway (PIP) is a limited-access highway in the U.S. states of New Jersey and New York. The parkway is a major commuter route into New York City from Rockland and Orange counties in New York and Bergen County in New ...

and

US 9W U.S. Route 9W (US 9W) is a north–south U.S. Highway in the states of New Jersey and New York. It begins in Fort Lee, New Jersey, as Fletcher Avenue crosses the US 1–9, US 46, and the Interstate 95 (I-95) approac ...

on the west bank near Bear Mountain and NY 9D on the east bank as well as

US 9 U.S. Route 9 (US 9) is a north–south United States highway in the states of Delaware, New Jersey, and New York in the Northeastern United States. It is one of only two U.S. Highways with a ferry connection (the Cape May–Lewes Ferry, betwe ...

and the

Bear Mountain Parkway The Bear Mountain State Parkway (also known as the Bear Mountain Parkway) is a parkway located in northern Westchester County, New York, in the United States. It is an incomplete highway, with a 3.85-mile (6.20 km) western section and a 0.73- ...

farther east. It also carries the

Appalachian Trail The Appalachian Trail (also called the A.T.), is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian ...

and New York State Bicycle Route 9 across the Hudson. The bridge has two undivided vehicle lanes flanked by sidewalks. Cyclists may ride with motor vehicle traffic or walk their bikes on the sidewalks.

History

Hudson Highland Suspension Bridge

Plans for a bridge at the site began with the charter of the Hudson Highland Suspension Bridge Company in 1868 after a bill was passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Fenton. Early investors in the company included

Erastus Corning Erastus Corning (December 14, 1794 – April 9, 1872) was an American businessman and politician from Albany, New York. A Democrat, he was most notable for his service as mayor of Albany from 1834 to 1837, in the New York State Senate from 1842 ...

, Isaac Bell, and Addison P. Jones. The following year, ''The New York Times'' reported that a contract had been signed and construction would "speedily commence" on the "Hudson Highland Suspension Bridge" between

Fort Clinton Fort Clinton was an American Revolutionary War fort erected by the Continental Army on the west bank of the Hudson River in 1776. Protecting the chain It was one of a pair of fortifications which straddled the confluence of Popolopen Creek, st ...

and Anthony's Nose. The intent was to carry a railroad toward

Derby, Connecticut Derby is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, approximately 8 miles west-northwest of New Haven, Connecticut, New Haven. It is located in southwest Connecticut at the confluence of the Housatonic River, Housatonic and Naugatuck ...

, to supply coal and iron for industry in the lower

Naugatuck Valley The Naugatuck River Valley is the watershed area of the Naugatuck River in the western part of Connecticut. The Naugatuck Valley straddles parts of Litchfield County, New Haven, and Fairfield counties. The Route 8 corridor and Waterbury Branch ...

. The surface of the bridge was to be above high tide. In 1871, a board of engineers had been selected to work on the bridge, including

Horatio Allen Horatio Allen (May 10, 1802 – December 31, 1889) was an American civil engineer and inventor, and President of Erie Railroad in the year 1843–1844. Biography Born in Schenectady, New York, he graduated from Columbia University in 1823, ...

George B. McClellan George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was an American soldier, Civil War Union general, civil engineer, railroad executive, and politician who served as the 24th governor of New Jersey. A graduate of West Point, McCl ...

, Edward W. Serrell, and

Quincy Adams Gillmore Quincy Adams Gillmore (February 28, 1825 – April 7, 1888) was an American civil engineer, author, and a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was noted for his actions in the Union victory at Fort Pulaski, where his m ...

. It was reported that

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...

of $2.5 million was needed and that much of it had been raised from the railroads who would benefit from the bridge. At this time, construction was expected to begin in June 1871 and to be complete by 1875. In 1887, reports said the bridge would be finished in two years. By 1889, "work on the anchor pits was progressing rapidly." On March 5, 1896, the Hudson Highland Bridge and Railway Company filed for incorporation with capital of $84,900. The company was a reorganization of the former Hudson Suspension Bridge and New England Railway Company. None of these attempts to build the bridge were successful, with only foundation preparations having progress made. Much of this period coincided with the so-called

Long Depression The Long Depression was a worldwide price and economic recession, beginning in 1873 and running either through March 1879, or 1896, depending on the metrics used. It was most severe in Europe and the United States, which had been experiencing st ...

, including stock market crashes called the

Panic of 1873 The Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that triggered an economic depression in Europe and North America that lasted from 1873 to 1877 or 1879 in France and in Britain. In Britain, the Panic started two decades of stagnation known as the ...

and

Panic of 1893 The Panic of 1893 was an economic depression in the United States that began in 1893 and ended in 1897. It deeply affected every sector of the economy, and produced political upheaval that led to the political realignment of 1896 and the pres ...

. A charter for construction of the bridge expired in 1916.

Bear Mountain Hudson River Bridge Company

In March 1922 through a bill introduced by C. Ernest Smith, the state legislature authorized creation of the private Bear Mountain Hudson River Bridge Company to complete the project. The bridge was now for automobiles instead of rail, and included a approach road from the Albany Post Road north of Peekskill. The 11-member board of directors included financiers E. Roland Harriman and George W. Perkins. Under the 1922 charter, ownership of the bridge was to revert by 1962 to New York State, which also had the right to acquire the bridge at any time. A $4.5 million bond issue was completed in April of that year through the Harriman banking and brokerage firm.

Completion

When the bridge formally opened on November 27, 1924, it was the longest suspension bridge span in the world, and the first of its type to have a

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...

deck. It was the first automobile bridge to cross the Hudson south of Albany, and surpassed the 1888 Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge as the southernmost crossing of the river. Construction methods pioneered on the Bear Mountain Bridge influenced much larger projects to follow, including the

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

(1931) and

Golden Gate The Golden Gate is a strait on the west coast of North America that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. It is defined by the headlands of the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Peninsula, and, since 1937, has been spanned by t ...

(1937) bridges. Completion also inspired the state to extend the

Bronx River Parkway The Bronx River Parkway (sometimes abbreviated as the Bronx Parkway) is a long parkway in downstate New York in the United States. It is named for the nearby Bronx River, which it parallels. The southern terminus of the parkway is at Story Aven ...

from Kensico Dam northward, work which evolved into the

and the first phase of the

Taconic State Parkway The Taconic State Parkway (often called the Taconic or the TSP and known administratively as New York State Route 987G or NY 987G) is a parkway between Kensico Dam and Chatham, the longest in the U.S. state of New York. It follows ...

New York State Bridge Authority

Ownership was transferred to the New York State Bridge Authority on September 26, 1940, and the toll was reduced to a flat rate of 50 cents per automobile. Originally, tolls were collected in both directions. In August 1970, the toll was abolished for westbound drivers, and at the same time, eastbound drivers saw their tolls doubled. The tolls of eleven other New York–New Jersey and Hudson River crossings along a stretch, from the

Outerbridge Crossing The Outerbridge Crossing, also known as the Outerbridge, is a cantilever bridge that spans the Arthur Kill between Perth Amboy, New Jersey, and Staten Island, New York. It carries New York State Route 440 (NY 440) and New Jersey R ...

in the south to the

Rip Van Winkle Bridge The Rip Van Winkle Bridge is a cantilever bridge spanning the Hudson River between Hudson, New York and Catskill, New York. Affording of clearance over the water, the structure carries NY 23 across the river, connecting US 9W and NY 385 on t ...

in the north, were also changed to eastbound-only at that time. In 1982 the bridge and its then-abandoned original toll house several miles away on the Peekskill approach road, Routes 6 and 202, were added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. The bridge was also designated as a local historic civil engineering landmark by the

American Society of Civil Engineers American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

in 1986. In 2019, the bridge authority announced that tolls on its five Hudson River crossings would increase each year beginning in 2020 and ending in 2023. As of May 1, 2021, the current toll for passenger cars traveling eastbound on the Mid-Hudson Bridge was $1.75 in cash, $1.45 for E-ZPass users. In May 2022, tolls will rise to $1.55 for E-ZPass users and $2 for cash payers. In 2023, the E-ZPass toll will increase to $1.65, and the cash toll will rise to $2.15. Tolls are collected from eastbound travelers only. At midnight on October 1, 2021, the bridge was converted to all-electronic tolling in the eastbound direction.

Maintenance innovation

The Bridge was used to test several new materials designed to lower the cost and environmental impact of bridge cable maintenance. One of them proved promising. During routine inspections, bridge cables are unwrapped and wedges are used to separate the individual strands. Inspectors look for signs of moisture and corrosion throughout the cable. For over 100 years, a

red lead Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

paste was used to seal the strands against moisture intrusion. In addition to emerging as an

environmental hazard An environmental hazard is a substance, state or event which has the potential to threaten the surrounding natural environment or adversely affect people's health, including pollution and natural disasters such as storms and earthquakes. It can i ...

during that span, the paste was also prone to drying out and cracking after a few years, creating an ongoing maintenance task. In the 1990s engineers experimented with several materials on a small section of the cables of the Bear Mountain Bridge. After a year the test areas were reexamined and one

polymer A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + '' -mer'', "part") is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic a ...

-based, non-toxic paste was found to be superior. The bridge cables were then rewrapped in 2000 using the material. Seven years later the cables were found to be free of additional moisture or corrosion. New York State Bridge Authority chief engineer William Moreau expressed hope that the new material may lengthen the life of the cables, and lower the need for inspection and maintenance.

Gallery

Image:Bear Mountain Bridge WB.jpg, Heading westbound over the bridge Image:Bear Mountain Bridge, NY from river level loking East.JPG, Looking east Image:Bear Mountain Bridge from below.jpg, Looking northwest from the east bank Image:Bear Mountain Bridge Toll House.jpg, Old Bear Mountain Bridge Toll House along Routes 6 and 202, between the bridge and Peekskill, today used as an information center for surrounding parkland Image:Bear_Mountain_Bridge_EZPass_Toll,_August_2011.jpg, The Bear Mountain Bridge EZ Pass Toll in August 2011.

References

;Sources * ;Notes

External links

New York State Bridge Authority site

Bear Mountain Bridge at nycroads.com

Bear Mountain Bridge at bridgemeister.com
{{National Register of Historic Places Bridges over the Hudson River Toll bridges in New York (state) Suspension bridges in New York (state) Bridges completed in 1924 U.S. Route 6 U.S. Route 202 Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) National Register of Historic Places in Westchester County, New York New York State Bridge Authority Transportation buildings and structures in Rockland County, New York Appalachian Trail 1924 establishments in New York (state) Bridges of the United States Numbered Highway System Metal bridges in the United States