Next Level

The George Washington Bridge spurred substantial economic and community development, and approach roads were built and expanded to keep pace. Two additional lanes were paved on the bridge's upper level, and a second deck was later added to bring the total to 14 traffic lanes, the most of any suspension bridge in the world. The lower roadway deck opened on August 29, 1962, with a ceremony at the midpoint of the bridge, where a bronze bust of Othmar Amman was unveiled; it is now displayed in the George Washington Bridge Bus Station, which opened the following year. Built from the start to support an additional deck as traffic steadily increased, the bridge gained six more lanes when construction of the tower level, nicknamed Martha, began in September 1968. River barges brought preassembled sections of the lower deck to the bridge for lifting into place by cranes, while maintenance crews repaired the upper deck and construction workers prepared the lower level for its first layer of reinforced concrete. The Little Red Lighthouse, a protected landmark that predates the bridge, was not disturbed during construction. At the lower deck's opening ceremony, New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller shook hands with New Jersey Governor Richard J. Hughes. The expansion project received an Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award of Merit from ASCE in 1963, and the bridge itself was designated a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1981.

New York, New York · United States